The Gardens on Spring Creek

  Bee Balm What’s Blooming:   Plans for a Wildflower Garden by Sherry Fuller, Horticulturist and Curator, Gardens on Spring Creek   Wildflowers are popular now for good reason: they are often drought tolerant, easy to maintain and provide food and habitat for our native birds and insects. In this article, I’m using the term wildflower loosely to mean herbaceous native plants with showy flowers. Here are a few things to consider when planning to grow your own wildflower garden from seed. Choose a location:  Most showy wildflowers native to our area prefer at least six or seven hours of sun a day.  They won’t thrive directly under a large tree or on the north side of a building in the shade.  And while most are quite drought tolerant, they will still need water to get established. An area irrigated with a lawn system will usually work to get plants started but will ultimately be too much water for native plants. An area accessible with a hose would be ideal to provide more water a