I have a small lawn and would like to grow some wild flowers in it.
http://www.meadowmania.co.uk/default.cfm/loaddoc.47
What do people think about these flowers (as in link)
A good idea or a bad idea that I will regret ?
" 100% Wild Flower Seed mixture for clay soils
This is our wild flower seed mix which is best suited to clay soils.
It is a mixture of 100% wildflowers . There are 17 different wild flowers in the mixture which will cope with heavier soils.
The application rate is 1.5 grams per square metre or yard.
The Poppies and Oxeye daisy may dominate in the first 2 years. Then the other species will come to the fore.
Best sown into existing grass not containing any perennial ryegrass.
The aim once established is to have different species of height , colour and appearance from May through to August.
Wild flower species
%
Betony
Stacchys officinalis
5.0
Birdsfoot Trefoil
Lotus corniculatus
2.5
Corn Poppy
Papaver rhoeas
2.5
Cowslip
Primula veris
5.0
Lady's Bedstraw
Galium verum
10
Lesser Knapweed
Centaurea Nigra
5.0
Meadow Buttercup
Ranunculus acris
15.0
Musk Mallow
Malva moschata
2.5
Ox-Eye-Daisy
Leucanthemum vulg
10.0
Ragged robin
Lychnis flos cuculi
2.5
Ribwort Plantain
Plantago Laneceol.
10.0
Self Heal
Prunella Vulgaris
7.5
Sorrel
Rumex acetosa
2.5
White campion
Silene alba
10.0
Wild Carrot
Daucus carota
2.5
Yarrow
Achillea Millefolium
2.5
Yellow Rattle
Rhinanthus Minor
5.0
Total
100"
if the lawn really is a small one but you plan never to use it for anything else except maybe a small path to walk around it then planting it up as a meadow will be fine but if you want that lawn for anything else then I think you might regret it
I think it's often hard to get wildflowers to establish in a lawn from seed- you might be better sowing in plugs and planting out later, or buying as plugs.
You also need very poor impoverished soil for wild flowers or the grasses will just outcompete the fragile wild flora.
But you'll never know if you dont try.......and it could look stunning. Plugs are a very good idea too, it gets a good root ball so the plants you value have a better start.
Good luck ;)
Have a nice lawn and a nice flowerbed.