Perfectly Practical #161 - Wildflowers

The Little Pink House has a Little Pink Planter on one side which screams for a little color.

In it we have planted squash which did very well but Engineer was unhappy about the surrounding grass getting too much shade and dying underneath the massive trailing plant.

We have also tried annuals which are lovely but too much effort and I like a big return on my investment.

What we settled on was wildflowers.  Talk about return on investment!

Benefits of planting wildflowers:

• Hardy and tolerant of your particular climate
• Self seeding - no work needed on your part
• Comes back every year
• No weeding necessary since they grow so quickly and choke out any weeds

See the little spider who will munch on pesky bugs or will
become food for one of our beloved geckos or anoles

• Indigenous fauna loves them - sit back and watch the bees and butterflies and lizards
• Surprise - you never know what your going to get
• Beautiful color for the whole season
• You can still plant winter annuals in the same bed as the wildflowers once they've died back

• You have your own supply of cut flowers all season long
• Pay for a package of seeds once and have flowers from here to kingdom come
• They spread like crazy

Drawbacks to wildflowers:

• They spread like crazy so if you only want them in a certain spot you may have to pluck out seedlings from time to time
• Sometimes there is a dominant species and after a few growing seasons you may have mostly one type of flower

For us, wildflowers are a perfect addition to our landscaping; they work for us.