I goofed when I planted wildflowers....help!

[CoffeeCat]

I was wondering if anyone could tell me what awaits our front yard? :)

I planted wildflower seed in a 12 x 1 patch in our front yard. The box on the wildflower seed reads, "Covers 100 square ft." I accidentally used the entire box on that 12 x 1 space.

I planted the seed a couple of weeks ago. I see small, green plants sprouting up. Everything looks ok so far.

So tell me...what have I done? What problems will this cause? Does anyone have any insight or advice into what I might do as this stuff grows?

(Some of the wildflowers listed on the box are as follows: Adonis aestivalis, Calendula, Dyanus, Shasta Daisy, Cosmos, Coreopsis, Dianthus, Digitalis purpurea, Echinacea, Poppy, Gypsophilia Elegans, Linum perenne, Papaver, Rudbeckia hirta.)

Thanks ahead of time, for any info!

:)

[dcfirefighter]

1. You'll be fine

some will get choked out, some may not sprout, but mostly, you'll just have a very thick bed of wildflowers. If it bothers you, you can cull the ones you don't like.

[Gormy Cuss]

2. Oops! No problem. Weeding is in your future.

Depending on how well the stuff germinates, you may have no problem at all, or a Darwinesque fight with the faster growing varieties crowding and shading out the slower growing varieties. When I used to spread wildflower mixes I learned quickly that the 100 SF coverage claim was optimistic.

I would suggest either that you 1)weed out the excess by scooping out clumps of seedlings ever other inch or two creating a checkerboard effect. The remaining seedlings will fill in the space OR
2)wait until the new sprouts have a couple of sets of true leaves then snip off about 50% of the plants. Don't pull because that would disturb the roots of the other baby plants. The advantage to this method
is that with true leaves you can make a guess about the variety of flowers in each clump and select ones to keep that reflect the broadest range.

It sounds like an interesting mix. Good luck!

[wildflowergardener]

3. no problem I think

I'd imagine when wildflowers seed themselves, they don't pay attention to how much seeding rates. As others as said the more dominant ones will probably end up taking over. If you have more space, you could transplant some of them once they get to a large enough size - just like you do with seeds.

I just let my wildflower areas go, and they are pretty much the most weed-free and care-free areas in the yard because there are so many of them they keep out the weeds though I do find certain plants like rudbeckia taking over.

Meg

[sazemisery]

4. Something to look out for

I planted beds of wildflowers in my earlier years as a gardener and included in the mix (it was a hummingbird mix) was a vining plant that still gives me fits every year. It surrounded everything in the bed and choked it out. Now every spring I pull up the seedlings as I have become very familiar with it. As a result I haven't bought this seed mixes since.