Planting Wildflowers - an effort to be bee friendly!

Wildflowers for wildlife

I've been wanting to grow wildflowers for some time now and after our CE gave all staff a token gift of wildflower seeds at Christmas, I decided this was the year to do it.

I've only got a small border in my front garden so there is not much space to grow a lot.  However, there is a piece of wasteland at the end of our cul de sac with a large oak tree and some wild garlic growing, so I decided to put down some wildflowers there too.

Here's some pics including how my border looks currently.  I'll up date when some of the plants start to flower as it is early days yet. It will be interesting to see if the flowers bring bees or butterflies to my garden which is why I was interested in growing them.

I planted a few ready grown plants in order to give my garden an instant lift.  I then put wildflower seed around the plants.

Another ready grown plant in the border - I planted 5 in total and then surrounded them with wildflower seeds.

Here's the seed I am using along with the wildflower seeds gifted by my CE. I've never grown flowers from seed so am interested to see how it all turns out.

Early days - here's some green shoots.  Seemingly wildflower patches are not at their best the first year but get better year on year.  There is a mix of annual and perennial flowers in this patch.

I've moved away from the concept of perfectly manicured gardens and I really hope that my garden begins to look wild and natural as the flowers grow. I also reckon that a more "wild" garden will be easier to start and then maintain overall.

I also started some seedlings in little pots - these are annuals and are starting to shoot.  I'll plant them in the ground shortly.

You can find lots of videos of how to grow wildflowers on youtube if you are interesting in cultivating your own wildlife supporting patch or border. Do let me know if you start growing wildflowers!

Here's the wasteland at the end of the road where I live

And the white flower is the wild garlic growing in abundance - it smells amazing!

It's a nice piece of scrub with a gorgeous old tree in the centre and a newly planted one to the left. Let's see if the wildflowers grow here and what wildlife (bees and butterflies) it brings to the area.

I love reading your comments - let me know what you are up to in your garden these days!