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Monday - August 31, 2015

From: Austin, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Meadow Gardens, Seeds and Seeding, Wildflowers
Title: Wildflowers for April wedding near Austin TX
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

Home wedding April 2016. Live North of Austin.on 200 acres ranch and would like to plant wildflowers. What to plant? When to plant? Flowers that will sustain in vase or bouquet?

ANSWER:

Normally, the first weekend in April is when we expect of the peak of the Lupinus texensis (Texas bluebonnet) bloom—so, this is is a definite flower species to plan on. Another plant you generally see blooming with the bluebonnets is Castilleja indivisa (Entireleaf indian paintbrush). Both of these species are listed in our Cut-flower Suitable Species, a list of native Central Texas plants suitable for cut-flower arrangements. The list contains 200 species, but you can narrow the list to those plants that bloom in March and April by selecting those two months from the option, BLOOM TIME, in the NARROW YOUR SEARCH sidebar. Native American Seed in Junction TX is one of the Associates in our National Suppliers Directory. They have a great inventory of native seeds and I think their mix, Lady Bird's Legacy Wildflower Mix, would be perfect for you. All of the species on that list also occur on the Cut-flower Suitable Species list and more than one half of them bloom in April.

Here are the species that occur on both lists that bloom in March and/or April:

Callirhoe involucrata (Winecup)

Castilleja indivisa (Entireleaf indian paintbrush)

Coreopsis tinctoria (Plains coreopsis)

Echinacea purpurea (Eastern purple coneflower)

Glandularia bipinnatifida var. bipinnatifida (Prairie verbena)

Lupinus texensis (Texas bluebonnet)

Oenothera speciosa (Pink evening primrose)

They do also have seeds of individual species of many of the other wildflowers on the Cut-flower Suitable Species list.

We have special "How to Articles" telling you How to Grow Bluebonnets and Scarification FAQs under ALL ABOUT BLUEBONNETS. Since you have 200 acres, you would probably be interested in the articles under LARGE SCALE WILDFLOWER PLANTINGS also on our "How to Articles" page—Getting Started and Meadow Gardening.

You will see in the "How to Grow Bluebonnets" article that it is recommended to sow the seeds by early October since they will germinate then and grow throughout the winter season. The "Meadow Gardening" article also recommends sowing other wild flower seeds in the fall since many of the seeds require exposure to cold temperatures in order to germinate in the spring.

You need to keep in mind that the abundance of the wildflowers that will bloom depends on several factors—the main one being the weather and, in particular, the rainfall. In spring 2015 we had a spectacular show of bluebonnets and other March and April bloomers because we had more than adequate rainfall during the winter and spring. As you no doubt know, we are not so lucky with our rainfall every year so you should have some plans to supplement the use of wildflowers for your wedding.

If you follow the guidelines for maintaining your meadow garden, you should have beautiful flowers there for many years to come.