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I have developed an enduring fondness for Nodding Wild Onion, Allium cernuum. This soft, pink wonder isn’t flashy or famous like Blanket Flower or Purple Coneflower. Nodding Wild Onion is that soft-spoken friend who knows what to say or do in the garden at just the right time.
In mid- summer when my garden is fairly frantic with color, Nodding Wild Onion provides a soft, pink backdrop where ever I dream I need one. Long blooming in undulating sunny borders or shady woodland sites, Nodding Wild Onion cooperates fully in any soil – from gravely sand to compacted clay and as an added bonus is deer resistant!!
This accommodating native onion plays a tasty supportive role in salads or sautés and offers visual charm in garden and vase.
I like to grow Nodding Wild Onion from seed in January or February so they have ample time to experience winter in my refrigerator (also known as Cold Moist Stratification.)
Here’s a link to the the easy growing instructions
Some reasons why I love this plant so much:
* Endlessly cooperative and flexible no matter where you put it.
* Long blooming, soft pink colour
* Great mid-summer timing
* Versatile in floral arrangements
* Cheerful and charming in bouquets
* You can eat it! Use in salads, sauteed or add to long cooking casseroles for oniony flavour!
*It’s easy to grow!
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November 13, 2012 – 10:46 am
Start Wildflower Seeds in Fall & Winter – Cold Moist Stratification 101
Growing wildflowers from seed not only saves you money – it’s a great way to banish fall and winter doldrums!
Most perennial wildflowers are creatures of habit- thousands of years of habit. In fall, after seeds drop from the plant and fall to the ground they are programmed by nature to germinate only after they have experienced freezing temperatures for several months followed by warm moist conditions. In other words – winter followed by spring. We recreate these conditions in order to fool wildflowers into thinking it’s time for the little darlings to germinate. Horticulturalists call this process “Cold, Moist Stratification.”
Here are three equally effective ways to coax perennial wildflowers to germinate. None of these methods requires a professional greenhouse or any special gardening skills – what so ever!!!
1) The Lazy Wildflower Gardener Method 
Simply plant seeds outside and let Mother Nature do the work.
Rough up the soil, then plant the seed just below the soil surface, spacing them 8”-10” apart. Then cover and press to ensure good seed to soil contact.
Use markers and maps to remember the exact location where you planted! A ring of stones works nicely or a sturdy stick plunged deep in the ground that will not be disturbed by winter’s fury. Sketch a primitive map of the area. Be sure you can find that sketch in spring!
2) The Sheltered Outdoor Method
Plant seeds in pots and places the pots outside in a sheltered area that is not subject to freeze thaw cycles in the spring, like a garage or a garden shed. Find a small pot that can withstand freezing temperatures. Place moist but not wet sterile growing medium in pot. Then, plant several seeds just below the surface of soil approximately 2”-3” apart. Cover and press to ensure good seed to soil contact. Label and date the containers so you can accurately remember what you have planted. Store the planted containers outdoors in a cold garage or garden shed.
3) The Indoor Method 
Mix seed with moist but not wet, sterile growing medium. Place mixture in a labeled, sealed plastic bag and store in your refridgerator. The label should have the name of the wildflower and two dates – the date you seeded and the date you’ll remove the seed from the fridge. Six to eight weeks later, fill the pots you will be growing the plants in with more of the sterile growing medium, remove the seed from the fridge and sprinkle mixture onto the surface of the pots. Press the mixture to ensure good seed to soil contact and place the pot in a warm sunny window and water periodically. Plant outside when a substantial root system has formed.
A stunning swath of
Coreopsis
(Coreopsis lanceolata) |
White False Indigo
(Baptisia alba)
Note this rare beauty’s
elegant purple stems!
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Blue False Indigo
(Baptisia australis) |
You can’t beat the Baptisias for Garden Drama. Check out their massive spires and stunning foliage |
Sweet smelling
Meadow Rose
(Rosa blanda)
blooms all summer long. |
Wild Quinine’s
(Parthenium integrifolium)
nubby textured, cream colored
blossoms grow beautifully in sun or shade. |
June Blooms in the Scree
Harebell
(Campanula rotundifolia)
Spiderwort
(Tradescantia ohiensis)
and Wild Columbine
(Aquilegia canadensis)
tumble across a hilly rock garden. Perfect for the full-sun cottage garden with sandy, gravelly soil!
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Support your wildflower habit! Visit our Wildflower Seeds page
As homeowners, like it or not, we are saddled with the responsibility of maintaining our home turf – and that includes paying increasingly hefty water bills.
Until recently your financial status had everything to do with how large a car you drove – the bigger the better. These days, if you’re thinking about buying a new car you are looking long and hard at fuel efficiency studies. As water prices continue to rise, many of us are seriously considering planting a water-efficient lawn.
Drought Tolerance Slam Down
Last week, Quinn, an Eco-Lawn customer in Canada shared with us the results of a modest comparison exercise he created between three widely available turf seed blends – Perfect Patch, Scott’s Patch Right and Scott’s Coated Blend – and Eco-Lawn. He grew all four blends in peat moss for two weeks, keeping each container moist. Then he abruptly cut off the water supply for thirteen days. Quinn was so impressed with Eco-Lawn’s dramatic drought tolerance he hastily snapped the pic below and emailed it along with the following words: “My grass seed test no water for 13 days. Guess which one is Eco-Lawn?! Perfect Grass left, scotts patch right, scotts coated far right…”
 I was excited to see his results so I tracked him down to thank him for sending along his findings. Then I asked him what prompted him to do the experiment. He said that he’s bought Eco-Lawn many times over the years from his local retailer and it continues to work wonderfully well for him. He added that he was thrilled to grow grass successfully under his pine trees. He explained enthusiastically, “At first the Perfect Grass and Scott’s Coated Grass grew longer, quicker and sooner. But then the Eco-Lawn not only caught up with the other brands it surpassed them; and that was after I cut off the water supply.”
Well, a glowing testimonial is one thing but going that extra mile to conduct an experiment is another! So, I pressed him and asked again what had prompted him to compare these four lawn seed mixes. He responded, “I hear the local hardware guys bragging all the time about these other products and I always kind of snicker. I farm on the side and I just wanted to do it. It’s good to know that when you are planting this stuff that it’s the best.”
Thanks Quinn, for your loyalty, enthusiasm and straight up product endorsement.
To see exactly how much money you spend watering your lawn, check out our Eco-Lawn Water Savings Calculator
January 11, 2012 – 3:46 pm
Keep your indoor décor green all year round with Eco-Lawn! A blend of seven fine fescue grasses developed by Wildflower Farm, Eco-Lawn is a drought tolerant, low maintenance turf grass that looks amazing in containers! Its emerald green blades are soft, green and inviting. Because Eco-Lawn grows well in full sun, part shade or deep shade it thrives as an elegant houseplant in your living room, office or kitchen. Craving Spring? Combine Eco-Lawn with bulbs for an instant Springtime effect.
Instructions to seed Eco-Lawn in containers:
1) Fill container with moistened potting soil or growing mix
2) Press soil down with flattened fingers to create even, flat surface
3) Cover entire surface with Eco-Lawn
3) Mist the Seed
4) Keep seed damp with repeated mistings
5) Will germinate in 6-14 days.
6) Eco-Lawn germinates best at 60 – 70 degrees F.
Your Eco-Lawn container will thrive in full sun, part shade and even deep shade!!!
September 22, 2011 – 12:46 pm
At the end of the month Wildflower Farm presents ‘Grow Your Own Wildflower Meadow’ on September 24 at 11am. In the seminar Paul Jenkins, owner and co-founder of Wildflower Farm will be sharing his experiences and expertise on wildflower meadows. This seminar has always be a popular one and is one of our favourite to host, but unfortunately not all of you meadow enthusiasts can attend so I am hoping this post will make for a good substitute.
Wildflower meadows are a large part of what we do at Wildflower Farm. With over 15 years experience doing it, we’ve learned what works and what does not.
I started making my own wildflower mixes 15 years ago after purchasing an off the shelf ‘wildflower mix’, which I now call ‘scam in can’. The ‘wildflower’ garden looked great in the first couple years, than it started to become sparse and eventually died off. What I figured out later was that the mix I bought, and what many ‘wildflower mixes’ are made up of, are annuals and exotic perennials. The annuals and many of the perennials were not hardy and many of them did not come back the following year or did not self sow. So I thought I can do better than this and that’s how I started making my own meadow mixes that work!” – Paul Jenkins
We formulate our wildflower mixes for specific soil types or growing conditions. It isn’t a one size fits all approach. We offer 10 unique mixes that range from dry soil to wetland to septic beds. We will also formulate meadow mixes custom order for your specification.
All of our wildflower mixes are formulated with North American native perennial wildflowers and grasses that are hardy to zone 3.
We’ve given special attention to including not only a variety of colour, but providing species that bloom all season from spring to fall.
We provide all the information you need have a beautiful wildflower meadow of your own. Within each native wildflower meadow mix box we include full instructions, way beyond scatter and enjoy.
We would be happy to assist you make the right native wildflower meadow choice for your upcoming project. Feel free to give us a call 1-866-476-9453. Our knowledgeable staff are available Monday through Friday, 9am-5pm EST.
Please be patient. True native wildflower meadows take a few years to become established. In the first two years it is likely that you will see more ’green’ than blooms, but don’t give up hope! With a minimal amount of maintenance your native wildflower meadow will begin to mature and bloom in its third year. Visit the Country Gardenerto see Yvonne Cunnington’s meadow Wildflower Farm installed over 10 years ago.
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Start with bare soil or as free of vegetation as possible. Eliminating the vegetation from the site will give your native wildflowers and grasses free reign to germinate and avoid the competition of the unwanted existing vegetation.
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 Mix the wildflowers with inert material such as peat moss, compost, sawdust or sand- according to the written instructions. Once you have mixed your seed and soil divide it into half. Spread half of your mix walking north to south, then take the second half and spread it walking east to west. This will give you a good even distribution of seed.
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Lightly rake the seed into the soil (1/8 to 1/4 inch deep), then roll the site with a lawn roller. Keeping in mind if the site is wet, wait until it dries out before you roll.
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Watering in the first 4-6 weeks of spring will increase germination and seedling survival.
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Keep the site trimmed at a height of 6 inches in the first year with a weed-eater or flail-type mower. This will stop the annual rye nurse crop and any unwanted weeds from going to seed. Don’t worry about the native grasses and wildflowers since they will be growing slowly in the first year, focusing most of their energy into growing deep roots.
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In the spring of the second year cut back the meadow right to the ground and rake off the cuttings. You may need to trim back your meadow in the second year if you are seeing that weeds remain a problem.
Avoid the temptation to pull weeds. Wildflower seedlings remain very small the first year, and can be easily pulled up right along with the weeds.
Make your native wildflower meadow unique
- Be creative with your site; it doesn’t have to be square block. Add some curves or have it border a focal point in the landscape like a tree or garden sculpture.
Want to know more?
There’s a lot more on www.wildflowerfarm.com or click the topics below
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