Native Plants
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Ask Mr. Smarty Plants
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
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Tuesday - December 10, 2013
From: Riverside, CA
Region: California
Topic: Planting, Seeds and Seeding, Wildflowers
Title: When to plant wildflowers in California
Answered by: Nan Hampton
QUESTION:
When is the best time to plant wildflowers in California?ANSWER:
First of all, it depends on where you intend to plant the wildflower seeds. If you are planting in rather small area like a flower bed where you can control the moisture, you can plant them from the fall to the late spring or early summer. If you are sowing them in a field or meadow where they will be dependent on rainfall, then it is best to plant them in the fall when wildflowers would generally be dropping their seeds in the wild. If you are planting a large area in wildflowers, please read our How to Article, Meadow Gardening. There are other How to Articles under the topic of Large Scale Wildflower Planting that you also might find helpful.
There are a couple of articles with information specific to planting wildflowers in California:
- Planting Instructions for California Wildflowers from the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District.
- California Wildflowers from Las Pilitas Nursery (with locations in Santa Margarita and Escondido).
The Riverside/San Bernardino Chapter of the California Native Plant Society has Links that you might find useful.
Be sure that the seeds you buy are native to California. You can search our National Suppliers Directory to find seed companies that specialize in native seeds. Both S&S Seeds in Carpinteria and The Theodore Payne Foundation in Sun Valley have native California seeds.
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