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By Barbara Elmore, HCMG |
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Wild(flower)ly
Successful
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If you want to try
planting bluebonnets
that turn Hill Country
fields a hue that rivals
the sky, get busy now.
But beware — this flower
is willful enough to
make grown men weep, or
at least go gray or bald
while trying to coax it
out of the soil. Growing
other wildflowers might
be a bit easier,
especially if you follow
the directions of John
Thomas, founder of
Wildseed Farms. The
balding Thomas jokes
that he had a full head
of hair when he began
his business trying to
grow bluebonnets. |
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“They’d come up and
die,” Thomas said. “I
found out the hard way.”
The mistake was trying
to grow them around
Houston, which is flat
and gets a lot of rain —
two things bluebonnets
don't like, he said.
Bluebonnets do not like
"wet feet," and they
prefer slopes. Those
preferences make the
Hill Country a natural
habitat for the flower.
Even so, “They are
probably one of the
hardest wildflowers to
grow,” Thomas noted. |
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Some of Thomas’ advice,
based on years of
experience, translates
well to other locales. |
■ Plant what grows in
your area. Look at the
roadsides, on fences and
in ditches to see what
comes up
naturally.
■ Early fall through
November is the best
time to plant. The month
of October is a good
time. December is
getting late.
Wildflowers will grow in
January, Thomas says,
but "people who plant
then and get any are
lucky."
■ Buy scarified seed
for quick germination.
Scarified seeds are
treated to remove
growth-inhibiting
properties. Collecting
the seed from your
plants after they have
bloomed and
transplanting them
likely won’t produce the
results you’d like.
■ Use about a pound
of seed for 2,000 square
feet. Distribute seed
evenly between two
buckets. Take one bucket
and broadcast seeds by
hand, as if you are
feeding chickens. Walk
north and south, until
you have walked the
whole plot back and
forth. Take the other
bucket and walk east and
west, broadcasting the
seed in the same way, to
make sure you cover your
area completely. This
will give an even
distribution.
■ The best seeding
time is the afternoon
when dew has
disappeared. Rake the
seed lightly or walk on
top of it to make it
stick to the soil.
Broadcast the seed on
loose soil, not soil
with a thick crust on
top.
■ Keep the ground wet
until you see seedling
heads. Then put your
hose away. Seedlings
that get too much water
will grow leggy and fail
to thrive.
■ Most Texas
wildflowers are
reseeding annuals. They
die and reseed, and next
year’s crop must start
over from seed on the
ground as well as what
you add. A healthy stand
takes two to three years
to establish, Thomas
said. “We have good
years and bad,” he said,
noting that the beauty
of the wildflower
depends largely on fall
rains. “Start out slow
and build up.” |
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Bluebonnets
growing among the rocks |
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