Native Plants

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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.

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Sunday - February 23, 2014

From: Dallas, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Propagation, Seeds and Seeding, Transplants, Wildflowers
Title: Starting wild plant seeds indoors from Dallas TX
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

Is it possible to start some Phlox drummondii or other native wild flower from seed indoors, and then transplant to my garden? If so, can you suggest some?

ANSWER:

The first thing you want to be sure of, before you go to all that trouble, is whether the wildflower is native to where you are gardening. According to this USDA Plant Profile Map, Phlox drummondii (Annual phlox) is native as close to Dallas County as Denton County, so we feel relatively sure it would thrive when you transplant it to your garden.

We just finished answering a question on planting wildflower seeds indoors and then planting them outside. It has several research references that should help you and to save ourselves the trouble of typing all that information again, here is a link to that previous answer.

From the Image Gallery

Annual phlox
Phlox drummondii