What is the best practice for planting desert wildflower seeds?
| Posted in Southwest Gardening on
I would love your best tips and tricks for planting desert wildflower seeds.
I’m relatively new to Arizona and have only gardened in Florida and Alabama. I absolutely love desert wildflowers and have traveled all over the Southwest to see and photograph them. I’ve been waiting for it to be cool enough to put seeds out and I also know there’s a possibility of rain in the next few days.
We own 5 acres in the Sahuarita/Corona de Tucson area and I’m primarily planning to put the seeds out just beyond my fenced in backyard along a small wash where I can see them from my patio. I’d also like to plant in some other areas, but I’m unsure what would be the best choices. I’m also unsure if I should wait until right before I think it will rain or go ahead and put them out and just wet them down with a hose for now. Also if I should plant every couple of weeks for greater likelihood of success.
I was able to pick up most of my favorites at the library including poppy, lupine, and desert marigold. They also had a “Southwest mix” that looked like it had some of those plus others. I was also thinking of trying to find Parry’s penstemon seeds. Are there any others I should consider? Anyone know where to find the penstemon seeds?
Thank you in advance for your help!
Replies
Some online searches should give you some other seed sources. Penstemon parryi, eatonii, and superbus are all great for drawing in hummingbirds.
Any time now is perfect for planting wildflower seeds. Rains are unpredictable and we often can't count on it until after it's happened!
With that much property, choose a few target areas that you like to spend time in or can see easily from favorite windows. Make these areas a mangeable size so you can easily spot seedlings as they come up. Then rough up the soil a bit with a 3-pronged cultivator and scatter the seeds. Mixing seeds with sand will help with even distribution. I then drag a flexible rake, tines-up, over the area to lightly settle the seeds. You can keep the area moist or leave it up to nature, but nature often has other plans. I like to water to keep the soil stable and discourage birds from eating the seeds. Hopefully more rains will come and you will have a colorful widflower season. Once established, they should reseed on their own, but it never hurts to add more of your favorites.