A colourful ‘meadow’ of wildflowers is a beautiful sight and a magnet for pollinating insects. You don’t need a whole meadow to grow a wildflower patch. They will grow just as easily in a narrow border, among vegetable plants and fruit trees, even in a pot. 

What we generally call wildflowers are not native to New Zealand. They originate from overseas meadows, woodlands, riverbanks and mountain slopes. They flower over spring and summer then die down when temperatures drop in autumn, leaving their seeds behind for the next spring and summer flowering. 

In New Zealand, wildflowers can be sown anytime between spring and autumn, but ideally not in the middle of a dry summer. Beautiful flowers that grow easily from seed scattered over the ground and then scatter their own seed for the following season include: cosmos, Shirley poppies, borage, Californian poppies, cornflowers,calendula, larkspur, linaria, nemophila, alyssum, and phacelia. Bees love them and many have long stems for picking. Make a mix of your favourite flowers or choose a readymade wildflower mix, like Rachael does.

1. Remove the grass and weeds from a sunny patch of soil. Rake lightly to about 1cm deep.
2. To get rid of more weed seeds, wait 2–3 weeks for weeds to come up, then clear them away again.
3. Scatter your wild flower seed evenly over the soil and rake lightly.
4. Water the soil with a gentle hose spray attachment.
5. Water to keep the soil moist as your flowers grow and bloom. Feel free to remove weeds, but absolute perfection isn’t essential!
6. In autumn, mow, cut down or pull out the dead plants once they have dropped their seeds. You can leave them on the ground to drop their seeds. The dead leaves will act as a mulch to protect the soil. 

Self sown flowers will appear the following spring. You may want to sow more wildflower seed in the second spring to add to your wildflower population.

Over time the strongest wildflower varieties will begin to dominate and weeds will ultimately take over. This may be the time to give the space over to trees and shrubs, or clear the weeds and start again with wildflowers.  

TIP: Wildflowers don’t love rich soil so don’t feed them with fertiliser. This only encourages weeds.