Extend Your Spring-Blooming Garden With Wildflowers

Erin planted Zinnia and Black Eyed Susan on top of her spring-blooming bulb bed for color all season long.

The spectacular blooms of Tulips, Daffodils, Crocus and more add much-needed color to the spring garden. However, if you don’t have something ready to take over after those flowers fade, your flower bed could look a little underwhelming come late spring. An easy solution to this problem is to plant wildflowers in the same bed as your spring-blooming bulbs! Once your spring bulbs are done blooming, the wildflowers take over with bold color from late spring all the way into fall.

Try to remove as much existing growth around your bulbs before spreading your seed. Wildflowers prefer to be planted on bare soil.

This companion planting couldn’t be any easier. Wildflowers are extremely easy to grow in any sunny spot that gets at least six hours of full sun per day. In late spring, once there is no more chance of frost in your area and your bulbs are starting to fade, sprinkle a mixture of annual wildflowers in your bulb bed. Annuals will come up and bloom in the first year, ensuring you’ll have color this season. We also recommend adding in perennial varieties so you don’t have to plant every year. Our regional mixtures are a perfect mix of annuals and perennials.

Learn how to plant wildflowers from our wildflower expert "The Seed Man".

As the Tulips fade in Erin's garden, perennial Lupine is getting ready to bloom.

Erin, one of our employees, did this companion planting last spring once her Tulips and Daffodils faded in her yard. She planted Perennial Lupine, Shasta Daisies, Echinacea, Black Eyed Susan and Zinnia mix. Last year she enjoyed a fabulous display of annual Black Eyed Susan and Zinnias, and this year the perennial Lupine, Daisy, and Echinacea are all starting to come up.

Zinnia and Black Eyed Susan are a great first-year combination for your bulb bed, blooming from early summer all the way through fall.

If you don’t want to try a mixture, select your own varieties like Erin did! You could plant your favorite varieties, plant all in one color, or design your own mix if you’d like. The possibilities with wildflowers are endless! Your bulb & wildflower bed is sure to become the focal point of your garden all season long.