Planting wildflowers

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Radio interview source: Don Janssen, Extension educator, University of Nebraska

I planted wildflowers over the old cellar years ago. I can't remember their names, probably because only a few got established! I'm ready to try another plot.

Extension Educator Don Janssen at the University of Nebraska says gardeners have the best luck by choosing seed mixes that are native to their area. If the plants are out of your region, you'll have problems.

"That can be as much as 200 miles north or south of where you're located," Janssen says. "That can mean that you'll have flowers for maybe one year, maybe two at the most, but then after that they'll succumb to either summer or winter conditions. And then you just start to weed out your variety of flowers, and then maybe you just have one or two ,and a lot of people don't like that."

The kind of soil you have will also dictate your wildflower mixture.

"Many native plants do quite well in heavier, clay soil," Janssen says. "Especially prairie-type plants will do better in heavier type soils like clay. Some will do fine in sandy soils, but not as well. But deep soils if at all possible. And what does deep mean? Deep means at least 6 to 8 inches of a good topsoil."