Native Plants

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Monday - October 03, 2011

From: Castle Rock, CO
Region: Rocky Mountain
Topic: Seasonal Tasks, Seeds and Seeding, Wildflowers
Title: Time for seeding wildflower seeds in Castle Rock CO
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

I live in Castle Rock, CO. When is the best time to plant wildflower seed?

ANSWER:

In Texas, we recommend planting wildflower seeds in the Fall, to wait in the soil over Winter and, encouraged by winter rains (when we have some), begin to sprout in late Winter. Castle Rock, at 6200 ft. elevation between Denver and Colorado Springs, with an average 17" annually in precipitation, you may need to use a different timetable.

Happily (for us) we found several websites that can answer your questions about planting wildflowers in Colorado far better than we could.

Colorado Wildflowers

Wildflowers in Colorado

Colorado State University Extension Office for Douglas County

All of these sites can provide information on seeds, when to plant, care, etc. We would urge you to limit seeds to those wildflowers native to Colorado. There are many wildflower seed mixes available; please use only those that are designated as native to Colorado. Otherwise, you might find yourself raising some non-native plants which may even be invasive and spread to crowd out the ones that belong.