Pretty Wild Seeds

Slow-worm · February 2023

Has anyone bought from them?

I want to turn the front lawn to mainly wildflowers.

https://www.prettywildseeds.co.uk/

Buttercupdays · February 2023

A few things to think about:

If you want flowers your lawn will need a decent amount of sun, for best results. Wildflowers do best on poor soil, rich soil makes for more leaves than flowers.

If you want only native wild flowers then check contents carefully. Many mixed packets contain things such as escholtzias and nigella, which though pretty and wild where they come from, are not native here.

Once a flower is pollinated its job is done. They tend to die back after this, so later in summer the area starts to look straggly and untidy with fewer flowers. Growing them with grass helps a bit with appearance and you can cut them down if you don't want to collect the seed for next year.

Despite all this, our local council seeded a partly shaded patch of grass verge with wild flowers and it looked lovely for much of the summer and still had flowers well into autumn, mostly alyssum and escholtzia by then!

Fairygirl · February 2023

As @Buttercupdays says, it depends on your site and soil as to what works. Having a look around at the type of wildflowers in your general area can often help.
No point trying to establish something that simply doesn't suit your conditions and climate

nutcutlet · February 2023

packets of annual wild flowers don't grow in established grass, the grass come up too quickly and they get swamped, you can't mow or you lose the flowers. They are just annuals like any other packet of annuals and need prepared soil.
I wouldn't waste money on perennial seeds to sow into grass, if you have access to loads of free seed you may have some success, otherwise sow into pots and treat as any other plant and add them to the grass in Autumn.
The exception is Yellow Rattle, sow that into grass in Autumn and don't mow thereafter

Fairygirl · February 2023

nutcutlet said:

packets of annual wild flowers don't grow in established grass, the grass come up too quickly and they get swamped, you can't mow or you lose the flowers. They are just annuals like any other packet of annuals and need prepared soil.

The exception is Yellow Rattle, sow that into grass in Autumn and don't mow thereafter

Indeed.

thevictorian · February 2023

I tried the same thing with some excess seed that I had and nothing came up despite me following all best practices (heavily scarifying the ground, trampling them in etc) simply because the grass was to strong. I have had much better success by growing plugs and planting them and I've also added lots of daffodil, crocus and a few other bulbs.
The problem I have is the grass is still to strong for most plants to gain a foothold. This is despite it being really poor grass that hasn't been fed or looked after (inherited from a non gardener) for a very long time. I planted daisies, some achillea, self heal, red clover and a couple of other species and the only one that's come naturally is cats eyes. It was looking good before last summer where everything just died off, so im starting again this year.

Slow-worm · February 2023

My garden is perfect for them, I'm fine with information, I just wondered what their seeds were like, as I've had some which have been rubbish - my 'DEFRA' stamped grass seed for example..
So it'd be good to know if anyone else has had a successful crop from them - or even people's recommendations.

jaybeeq-udQPOo · February 2023

Add some yellow rattle here and there , is parasitic to the grass.then put your wild flower plugs in , you’ll have success with that method.

jaybeeq-udQPOo · February 2023

Also find out if your soil is acid or calcareous—- plant according to that .

Slow-worm · February 2023

Thanks for the yellow rattle tip, I'll look into that.
I don't need planting advice, lol, I was asking about just the company.

McRazz · February 2023

Slow-worm said:

Has anyone bought from them?

I want to turn the front lawn to mainly wildflowers.

https://www.prettywildseeds.co.uk/

Hi Slow,

I've bought from their Amazon store before with no issues.

If you're serious about the whole wildflower thing then I would recommend Emorsgate

https://wildseed.co.uk/

R

Pretty Wild Seeds

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