Native Plants
Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?
A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.
Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?
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.
rate this answer
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.
More Planting Questions
Search for Silver Magnolia from Coram NY
July 11, 2012 - Hi, 20+ years ago I purchased a small tree labeled Silver Magnolia from a catalog. It was a sapling about 8 inches high when I first received it but amazing! The bloom the first year was as big as my ...
view the full question and answer
Propagating plant cuttings in cut potato from Columbia MO
June 26, 2012 - Hello.
I belong to a garden group and one of the members posted a "tip" she found in an early 2000 garden magazine. I wanted to see if there was any truth to the tip?
Basically the tip was to use...
view the full question and answer
Repotting of lemon cypress for drainage
October 26, 2008 - Hi, I bought a lemon cypress tree in a nice tin,
It is in Plastic and the bottom has about 1.5" of water with no drainage in the plastic or tin.
It will be kept inside. Does the plant need to be in...
view the full question and answer
Moving a large red horse chestnut tree in Jackson MI
April 20, 2012 - I have a red horse chestnut that is maybe 12 inches around, can I move it after the sap goes down about 10 miles to our new place? Sadly, I cannot afford to hire a tree truck. What are its chances?
view the full question and answer
Rose bush varieties and time to plant from Hutto TX
October 31, 2013 - What rose bush varieties are recommended for the Hutto Texas area and what time of year is the best time to plant into ground? Thank you.
view the full question and answer
| Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today. |