Spring-Seeding Meadow Mix
Jump-start your new meadow-making project with this mix optimized for late-winter/spring sowing – or – for over-seeding an existing meadow in springtime to add additional color and diversity!
While autumn is a superior planting time for many meadow wildflowers, we regularly hear from folks who have a site prepared and ready to seed in the spring. If this is you, this mix was designed for your situation.
Additionally, if you have an existing meadow, but would like to give it an extra kick of color, this mix can be over-seeded during the winter or spring.
The species we’ve included in this mix are western-region natives adapted from southern British Columbia south to central California, and from the Pacific Coast, into the inland West – and these species can germinate without prolonged cold-weather treatment. Note that because of the focus on spring-germinating wildflowers, this mix has a strong component of annual species that can establish quickly and set the stage for later establishing perennials.
For optimal results in creating a new meadow, this mix should be sown directly into clean, weed-free, bare-ground site conditions.
PLEASE NOTE: For longevity and maximum species diversity, we recommend that meadows started in the spring with this mix, also be over-seeded in the fall with another mix, consisting of some of our longer-lived perennial species (such as our Northwest Prairie Mix, one of the Native Pollinator Meadow Seed Mixes, the Deer Defense Seed Mix, etc.)
For spring over-seeding of existing meadows, the planting site should be mowed as low as possible, with the thatch raked off the area before sowing.
SEED MIX COMPOSITION:
Annual Wildflowers (41%): Spike Primrose (Epilobium densiflorum), Tomcat Clover (Trifolium wildenovii), Large-Flowered Collomia (Collomia grandiflora), Fringed Red Maids (Calandrinia ciliata), Farewell to Spring (Clarkia amoena), *California Poppy (Escscholzia californica), Globe Gilia (Gilia capitata), Bicolor Lupine (Lupinus bicolor)
Perennial Wildflowers (10%): Canada Goldenrod (Solidago canadensis), Self Heal (Prunella vulgaris), Riverbank Lupine (Lupinus rivularis), Oregon Sunshine (Eriophyllum lanatum), Western Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Grasses (49%): Pine Bluegrass (Poa secunda), **Three Week Fescue (Festuca microstachys), Prairie Junegrass (Koeleria macrantha)
Species Notes:
*Please see the Deer Defense Seed Mix for some notes on California poppy and its range across the Pacific Northwest and broader West. Even with its good adaptability and significant pollinator value, it tends to decline over several years in most meadows outside of California, as longer-lived perennial wildflowers eventually replace it.
**Three week fescue, as the name implies is a remarkably fast-growing native annual grass. In the mix it comprises a significant portion of the grass component, functioning as a meadow “nurse crop” to quickly cover bare soil. In this role it provides a protective and supporting matrix for vulnerable seedling wildflowers, a barrier against weed encroachment, a stabilizer against erosion, and possibly a caterpillar host plant for species such as the Lindsey’s skipper butterfly (Hesperia lindseyi).
SEEDING RATES:
- 100-sqft: 0.5 oz
- 400-sqft: 2.0 oz
- 1000-sqft: 4.5 oz
Finally: While the species in this mix can germinate and grow from a spring planting, most spring-planted meadow species also benefit from some supplemental irrigation during the first summer dry season after planting.