0 down vote favorite I know almost nothing about gardening and landscaping so I can really use some advice. In our backyard (zone 7, long island NY) we had a hillside that was covered with ivy and weeds for years. I finally had it cleared this week and I plan to seed it with wildflower seeds in an effort to draw butterflies and hummingbirds. I haven't measured but I would guess it's about 50' long by 20' deep, and it faces south. Right now the hillside is just muddy dirt. There's a bit of tree cover overhead, so about half of the hill will be partial shade, the other half will be full sun. The soil is dark brown so I assume it's good for planting. So I have a few questions for anyone willing to help out: - how should I 'plant' the seeds? should I just toss them around and rake them in? - when should I 'plant' the seeds? do they need to sit in the cold dirt for a few weeks to be 'activated'? or should I just plant them when I'm ready for them to grow (this spring)? - I see on the website where I'm going to order the seeds, the various species have a 'spacing' - usually something like 18". Does this mean I'm supposed to put down one seed per 18"? that seems strange, I want the hillside to be covered in wildflowers - any suggestions on keeping the weeds and ivy from returning? it was cleared using hand tools so I suspect roots etc are waiting to regrow as soon as the weather warms up. - the website I'm ordering from has flower seeds which I can purchase individually, but they also have pre-packaged bundles of various flowers. That seems nice but I was surprised to see the bundle I want (for attracting hummingbirds and butterflies) is 50% grass. Is this wild grass somehow beneficial? should I go for that, or just put down 100% flower seeds? - any suggestions on types of wildflowers? Right now my list is: Garden phlox (Phlox paniculata) Blanket flower (Gaillardia) cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa) Aster novae-angliae (New England Aster) Echinacea purpurea (Purple Coneflower) Rudbeckia fulgida (Orange Coneflower) Monarda didyma (Red Bee Balm) Aquilegia canadensis (Wild Columbine) Salvia coccinea (Scarlet Sage) Salvia farinacea (Blue Sage)
Welcome to GardenStew; try the website www.wildseedfarms.com They have and market regional specific seed collections, they also have good instructions for prep, planting, tending.. Hank
