Should You Mix Grass and Wildflower Seed?

In nature, grasses and wildflowers often grow side by side. It looks beautiful—and ecologically, it works well too. Their compatible root systems help create dense ground cover that reduces weed germination. So, the idea of seeding a large space with both grass and wildflower seed to create a naturalized meadow makes perfect sense... in theory.

Unfortunately, nature is rarely simple, and creating a true meadow takes several years. Planning for easy maintenance early on will save you a lot of time and frustration.

The Problem with Mixing Seeds

Grass seed tends to germinate uniformly within a few weeks. Perennial wildflower seed? That could take days, weeks or even a year or two. And before the first blade of grass pops up, you’re likely to see something else: weeds.

This is natural succession. Your soil is full of dormant weed seeds, just waiting for a little moisture and bare ground. While it’s expected, it’s probably not the lush wildflower patch you envisioned.

Now imagine trying to weed that space. Do you know which seedlings are weeds and which are wildflowers? Don’t feel bad—most people don’t! Fortunately, there’s another way.

Try "Wildflower Islands" Instead

We recommend planting wildflower islands within a larger grass-seeded area. This approach has several benefits:

• You can give special attention to the wildflower areas, including hand-weeding.

• You can mow the surrounding grass to prevent annual weeds from setting seed.

• Over time, mowing suppresses annual weeds, and the grasses will fill in.

Yes, there will still be some perennial weeds that need addressing, but overall this approach makes maintenance far more manageable.

Eventually, the wildflowers will begin to spread beyond their islands—and at that point, you’ll want to stop mowing in those areas, as most wildflowers won’t tolerate regular mowing.

To learn more about this method, Click Here.

A Mix That Lets You Choose

We do sell a Short Grass Wildflower Meadow Mix that includes wildflower seed, but the flowers are packaged separately from the grass. This allows you to choose how you want to seed them—together or in islands.

The grass in this mix covers 375 - 1125 sq ft, depending on how dense you want your grass to be. This is manageable area for hand-weeding if you decide to seed grass and wildflowers together. From our experience, anything larger quickly becomes overwhelming.