There are several reasons to consider trading in your lawn for a natural wildflower garden. Although not completely maintenance-free, naturalized wildflower meadows are very low maintenance. Wildflower gardens are a butterfly magnet. When organic gardeners plant wildflowers, the pest and disease problems are negligible. Finally, you can choose wildflower varieties to suit most exposures and climates.

Before you plan and plant your wildflower garden, check your city ordinances or homeowner’s association handbook. Wildflower gardens can blend in beautifully with their surroundings, but in a suburban neighborhood filled with homogenous lawns, your lot may appear a bit weedy while the plants become established.

Buy Wildflower Seeds

While you can buy a box of generic “wildflower seeds” from most garden centers in the spring, it’s worthwhile to pay a premium for a seed mix with a named variety of seeds. Furthermore, look for a seed mix guaranteed to be weed-free, as you don’t want your planting efforts to be wasted on unwanted specimens.

If your soil is thin or rocky, you can grow Mexican hat, Maltese cross, candytuft, and lance-leaf coreopsis. If your soil is rich and moist, plant the seeds of California poppy, cornflower, forget-me-not, and foxglove.

Make sure you buy enough seed to give you the look you desire. One pound of wildflower seed may cover 2000-4000 square feet, depending on the density of the flower display you wish.

A scattered meadow look may satisfy most gardeners in the back yard or across acreage, but plant your seeds densely in your front garden.

Buy Native Plants

Some wildflower gardens have very few flowers at all, but offer gardeners showy foliage. If your lawn is faltering in a boggy or shady area, consider replacing it with ferns and wild garden material suited for a wooded area. Foamflower, Indian pink, and cardinal flower are three good choices for a shady wild garden. These flowers are easiest to start from plants, rather than seed.

Prepare the Soil

If you are transitioning from a vigorous lawn to a wildflower meadow, you must remove all of the grass and its roots the season before you install your new garden. For organic gardeners, herbicides aren’t an option, so this means mechanical removal or solarization.

You can rent a sod cutter, which creates a clean cut between your turf and the soil. You can then transplant this sod to other areas, or put it in your compost bin. If you wish to solarize your grass, you must cover it with clear plastic during the growing season for four to six weeks.

Planting Wildflowers

Many wildflowers need a period of cold dormancy before they will germinate. Your wildflower mix will specify whether you will achieve best germination rates from a spring or a fall planting.

Combine your seeds with a bucket of sand to ensure even distribution. You can then scatter the seeds by hand, or use a seed spreader to cover large areas. You don’t need to cover the seeds, but press them down lightly to help make contact with the soil. Keep the seedbed evenly moist when no frost is present, and you may see signs of germination within one to three weeks.