Wild flowers....

[Bluesheep8]

Hi everyone. We are having a very scruffy, very steep bank at the back of our house cleared professionally (it's too steep to climb up ourselves) and I love the idea of planting a variety of wild flowers there. The seeds I've seen stipulate that you have to start growing them indoors but I just want to be able to scatter the seeds onto the area. Is this possible? Tia

If you want them to stand a chance, strip off the grass and keep it weeded for the first year. Think about putting in a few perennial plants as well as sowing seeds. I’ve got cowslips, wild primrose, violets and speedwell at the moment, later there’ll be poppies, red clover, vetches, cornflowers, ox-eye daisies and buttercups. Plus all the extras, blown in and transferred.

Aldi were doing massive boxes of wildflower seeds for £1.69 the other week. You can also get a bee pack from Friends of the Earth for a donation, and seeds are included. I just threw them around outside in spring and they grew like wildfire.

Thank you for your replies, I will hunt down seeds and scatter. Looking forward to encouraging bees

I would recommend buying seeds of individual kinds of flowers and mixing them up.

The pre mixed ones are notorious for having other shit in there, and can cause problems later on. So just pick different packets of seeds you like, and mix them up,

Note some flowers won't come up the year of seeding, but the year after.

www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/give-nature-a-home-in-your-garden/garden-activities/startawildflowermeadow/

It’s quite hard to keep maintained. But this year if it’s completely cleared you should get a good show. There’s a Couple of companies on line who sell seed mats which are really good. But buy a decent seed mix www.wildflower.co.uk/wildflower-seed-mixtures.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjw7YblBRDFARIsAKkK-dJtbM_k-L2UBi5geVVTIuSeol9P8LmKxTEsVR20ga0XlRX8wzBhI1QaAmEYEALw_wcB

I've planted a perennial meadow and it was an enormous amount of work, stripping grass and then weeding, weeding, weeding.

It's year 2 now so hoping we're getting there. If I had my time again I might lawn it and put wildflower plug plants and bulbs in, but I've spent so much time and money on seeds that I'm hanging on in there.

There are lots of primroses and cowslips ready to burst into flower now though, so fingers crossed!

Very sorry to be a doom monger but if you are hoping to clear the bank, sprinkle on a few seeds, and lie back enjoying the bees and butterflies then think again. Most 'wildflower meadows' are very hard work and steep banks are very hard work too.

For a successful wildflower meadow you need the right conditions and the right seeds - generally low-nutrition soil with all perennial weeds removed and a careful choice of seed for the level of sun/shade/type of soil. They also need to be cut back to the ground at the right time of year, left to dry a bit on the ground to scatter their seed, then raked off. The soil itself will allow any passing thug weed to germinate - dandelions can take over a space in the blink of an eye so you will have to be able to recognise these and do some weeding to stop them taking over. And all this on a bank too steep to climb up? I love the idea too, but in all honesty I suspect it is going to be pretty difficult to achieve.

I agree it's not easy and the gorgeous pics you get are really utopia .often you just get a lot of different grasses growing wild and making it look unkempt, very few flowers, and a shit ton of weeds.

I love wild flowers. My summerhouse is in a shandy area of the garden surrounded by gravel. Last year I threw a few packets of seeds all around it and they are all coming up! I'll have a summerhouse surrounded by wild flowers this year.
I didn't think they would grow in such poor conditions but they have.

Thanks for the further replies and reality check, I honestly thought it'd be quite straightforward and that flowers being wild would mean they wouldn't need much maintenance....I obviously underestimated things!

If you can provide a photo of the area, you might get some good advice and ideas. Are steps a possibility? If you genuinely won't be able to access the area to maintain it, that should dictate your plans - i.e. whether you need ideas for a no maintenance area, or a low maintenance area.

It's not really the flowers that are the issue op, it's the weeds and grasses that come up, that are the issue.

Can you post a pic of the bank? I know it's over grown at the moment.

Is there a way to have the slope softened ie with additional soil? Or to plant a row of trees to hide it?

What's growing on it at the moment?

Hi, I will post a pic when I get home, thanks for taking the time to read and advise!

I’ve spent years trying to grow a wildflower meadow, but I’ve had very little success, as the grass always wins through.
This year I’m growing annuals in plugs and planting them directly, hoping that they will spread seeds in the Autumn.
Seeds are, Love in the Mist, Cornflower, Flax and Cosmos.

Ok here's a pic. All the undergrowth/scrub is being removed next weekend.

I've just wandered around my meadow and am feeling more positive about the whole thing! Loads of lovely woodland stuff has started flowering: cowslips, daisies, primroses, bluebells and honesty.

I think perennial meadows are more challenging, annual is easier. I started this thread a couple of years ago. Some excellent and inspiring meadows there.

Blimey, is that as steep as it looks?

I honestly don't think that wild flowers would work well there. I volunteer at a nature reserve, we do a heck of a lot of bramble hacking, strumming and raking ... and leave the steep slopes alone.

There's some alternative ideas here - ground cover plants and climbers.

www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=834

Strumming? We're not troubadours- strimming.

errol yes, I promise you it is as steep as it looks! It's almost vertical. It has to be cleared as it looks a dreadful mess but I just hate the thought of bare earth there.

And thank you for the very informative article, much appreciated!

Actually, the area reminds me a bit of the Olympic site. They did wildflowers really well there, it looked glorious. Look at almost any motorway embankment and you’ll see the sorts of things that grow well. You will want grasses to tide you over in the non flowering times.

I love wildflowers but not in my garden! Put them in one year and what a mess! Seemed to be mostly grass and only a few flowers

Op, I'd plant a lot of hedging trees round that, likely cherry Laurel, and cover it up. That's really not something to turn into a wild flower meadow, I'm sorry, it's nearly a wall in it's own right.