Wild flower seeds

jonbeeza

jonbeeza

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Question for anyone into gardening, or growing plants...

Is this what wild flower seeds look like? Me and the missus, thinks it looks like a cross between sawdust and porridge oats.
 
Looks like vermiculite to me, probably to carry the small wild flower seeds. This way they will be easier to handle and plant. If I'm right, you should be able to spot some very small seeds if you look?
 
Whitefiver said:
Looks like vermiculite to me, probably to carry the small wild flower seeds. This way they will be easier to handle and plant. If I'm right, you should be able to spot some very small seeds if you look?
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There probably is seed in there, I just can't see it with my eyesight.

Thanks, will get sowing now. ;) (y)
 
Definately vermiculite. A lot of wildflower seeds are tiny, would be interesting to see if they have used some sort of "glue" to atttach the seeds to the vermiculite to aid sowing evenly
 
Yep quick google from reputable sources says slightly damp vermiculite shoud be mixed with seed mix and that the seeds merge with the vermiculite. Aids sowing and acts as a visual marker for even sowing. Yours has been pre-done. Ive used sand with grass seed in the past, learn something everyday.
 
I could not see any seeds within that mix, they must be really tiny. I have sown them now, and given a little watering.
Fingers crossed, will they grow?
 
Mine have, looked the same as yours, ie mixed with vermiculite as others have said. I've got no idea if they are wild flowers or weeds, but there is a lot of them growing!
 
Looks like one (seed) on your index finger, one on your middle fingertip and another further towards your palm, a couple on your ring finger and one on your little finger. Not all seeds are the size of coconuts!
 
stevewestern said:
Mine have, looked the same as yours, ie mixed with vermiculite as others have said. I've got no idea if they are wild flowers or weeds, but there is a lot of them growing!
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Weeds are just plants growing in a place that the viewer doesn't want them - grass in a flower bed is a weed, as is a Bellis perennis in the middle of a lawn.
 
stevewestern said:
Mine have, looked the same as yours, ie mixed with vermiculite as others have said. I've got no idea if they are wild flowers or weeds, but there is a lot of them growing!
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Just hope mine grow, as I made a lovely bed for them. :)
 
Nod said:
Looks like one (seed) on your index finger, one on your middle fingertip and another further towards your palm, a couple on your ring finger and one on your little finger. Not all seeds are the size of coconuts!
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So tiny hard to tell, but enlarging the photo helps.
 
jonbeeza said:
Just hope mine grow, as I made a lovely bed for them. :)
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Weirdly (or perhaps not!), wildflowers often do as well on unprepared ground - it's their natural habitat after all.
 
Nod said:
Weirdly (or perhaps not!), wildflowers often do as well on unprepared ground - it's their natural habitat after all.
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Wish I had of known, before I started clearing it all nicely.
 
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The result after just five days. Pretty pleased, how quickly they have sprouted up. Going by the photo on the pack of the box, they should be a nice colourful mixture of wild flowers.
 
can you keep this up to date with photos? i want to section off a part of my garden just for a lump of wild flowers and interested how these come up. I did something similar last year but all that seemed to grow were weeds! didn't see a single flower.
 
AshleyC said:
can you keep this up to date with photos? i want to section off a part of my garden just for a lump of wild flowers and interested how these come up. I did something similar last year but all that seemed to grow were weeds! didn't see a single flower.
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This was the pack that I used, it cost £10 off Amazon.

If they do flower, I will stick a photo or two up.
 
Interesting that in your OP you said it was a wild flower mix.

The picture on the box does not look quite 'right' for a UK native wild flower mixture???

PS however all flowers are pollinator beneficial so good on you for thinking of the wildlife. :)
 
Box Brownie said:
Interesting that in your OP you said it was a wild flower mix.

The picture on the box does not look quite 'right' for a UK native wild flower mixture???

PS however all flowers are pollinator beneficial so good on you for thinking of the wildlife. :)
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Missus wanted something for the Bees. Oh, and something low maintenance.
 
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Looking good, this is after ten days of sowing the seeds.
 
Box Brownie said:
Interesting that in your OP you said it was a wild flower mix.

The picture on the box does not look quite 'right' for a UK native wild flower mixture???

PS however all flowers are pollinator beneficial so good on you for thinking of the wildlife. :)
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They are actually an Annual flower mix and all found in the British countryside - or were before the tidying up began!
My wife has just planted some wild flowers and some good pollinators, she even planted some nettles last year, but we get lots of insects on all the flowers we already have. No chemicals or sprays used in the garden and lots of variety to attract a wide range as possible.
Good luck with the mix, they seem to be growing well and should flower this year

The pics are the wife's, she took them to post on our street's WhatsApp group.
bees.jpg
 
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Suvv said:
They are actually an Annual flower mix and all found in the British countryside - or were before the tidying up began!
My wife has just planted some wild flowers and some good pollinators, she even planted some nettles last year, but we get lots of insects on all the flowers we already have. No chemicals or sprays used in the garden and lots of variety to attract a wide range as possible.
Good luck with the mix, they seem to be growing well and should flower this year

The pics are the wife's, she took them to post on our street's WhatsApp group.
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I hope ours are as nice and colourful. :)
 
Suvv said:
They are actually an Annual flower mix and all found in the British countryside - or were before the tidying up began!

Good luck with the mix, they seem to be growing well and should flower this year

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Erm the very definition of Annual means that they growth flower and set seed in a single year. If they dont flower this year they would be a Biennial mix.
 
AgentOrange76 said:
Erm the very definition of Annual means that they growth flower and set seed in a single year. If they dont flower this year they would be a Biennial mix.
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But if you plant them later in the year then they will not flower until next year, he has got them in the ground in time :)
 
Suvv said:
But if you plant them later in the year then they will not flower until next year, he has got them in the ground in time :)
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erm no they wont. annuals are annuals regardless of when you plant them. They have a life cycle of less than 12 months and usually that revolves around daylength and temperature.
That means that if they are sown too late they will not fully complete their life cycle or will produce less growth, reduced flower and potentially not set seed.
An annual cant suddenly become biennial.
 
But some things sold as "annuals" are actually perennials; just far too tender to survive a British winter.

In theory, if a wild flower area is treated right, it should be self perpetuating. Might look a bit scruffy at the end of each season but let everything set and self-sow its seed and the fittest should survive!
 
jonbeeza said:
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This was the pack that I used, it cost £10 off Amazon.

If they do flower, I will stick a photo or two up.
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SOWING: Direct sow from March to June for flowering in the same year, or September to November for flowering in the following spring and early summer
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If the above info is helpful to anyone? Info taken from the seeds, that I have sown.
 
Nod said:
But some things sold as "annuals" are actually perennials; just far too tender to survive a British winter.

In theory, if a wild flower area is treated right, it should be self perpetuating. Might look a bit scruffy at the end of each season but let everything set and self-sow its seed and the fittest should survive!
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Again no. Annuals are purely plants that have a 12 month life cycle regardless of climatic conditions. They grow they die and do not re grow unless self seeding

Perennials are plants that complete a growing cycle and die back to ground level at the end of the cycle and then regrow and perform the same cycle each year from the same rootstock be that a bulb, corm, rhizom, tuber or what ever.


Tender Perennials are Perennials that would follow the same cycle if climatic conditions allowed but in the UK they will not survive the winter. These are usually sold as bedding plants in the UK.

As to the fittest surviving yes they will but as with anything the fittest are not always what you want and most wildflower meadows are managed in some capacity which prevents unwanted species taking over. Self seeding works to some extent but what tends to happen is the perennial species of which there are some you do not want in a meadow will take over and swamp the seeds germinating as the perennial will have an established root structure to grow from and take advantage
 
As I said, some perennials are sold as annuals since they die in the cold. I agree that that's a fudged description - I didn't coin the phrase.

Easy to weed out the plants you don't want before they set seed (on the small scale that the OP is working in).
 
i know absolutely nothing about plants...but we have sewn some wild flower seeds in some raised beds around my lake, they have grown really well, will they grow again or will we have to sew more seeds next year...sorry for my ignorance
 
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Day fifteen after Sowing the seeds, so far things are looking good.
 
Brendan Mulachy said:
i know absolutely nothing about plants...but we have sewn some wild flower seeds in some raised beds around my lake, they have grown really well, will they grow again or will we have to sew more seeds next year...sorry for my ignorance
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If you leave them to set seed (just after flowering is a good time to remove any you don't want back - just pull them up by the roots) they should do so and be back. You might need to do a bit of weeding around the raised beds if you don't want the wild flowers escaping!
 
Just been tidying things up a little, and removing any unwanted grass growing.
 
I think I got to that point with mine, assumed it all looked like weeds and dug it all up!
 
I did sow the exact same seeds in the front garden, but they did not take. Probably due to a lack of sunlight, but the above sown seeds get plenty of sunlight.
 
AshleyC said:
I think I got to that point with mine, assumed it all looked like weeds and dug it all up!
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A weed is (as I've pointed out before!) just something growing in the wrong place, like grass in a flower bed or a daisy in the lawn.
 
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Day 23 and I am going to take some seedlings, and re plant them in the front garden.
 
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