gardenin, the Scarecrow motion activated sprayer works great on deer, crows, dogs, cats, herons...and I suspect turkey but I can't tell you that from experience, the only wild turkeys around here were re-introduced a few years ago and they don't seem to have really established yet. It needs to be connected to a water source (hose) so can't be used in freezing weather. Flash tape and bird netting are two things that are recommended for deterring them, but remember they roost in trees - if you are trying to protect a woodland planting you might have to get creative with the netting or you would have them flying up and over it.

How about Silene regia for dry sun, or Silene virginica for a somewhat more shaded section? I haven't grown them myself, and I'm not sure they're as easy as some wildflowers, but I don't think they're difficult. They're definitely hummer flowers. Maybe Monarda punctata or Monarda fistulosa would also be possibilities, but probably require some moisture to do well. Like Monardas in general, I've read that fistulosa can get really ratty looking from mildew, but I don't suppose that matters in a wildflower garden. Maybe someone out there has actually grown the Silenes or Monardas from seed and can give you some first hand advice. From your other plant selections, it sounds like you may be dealing with a sunny, dry place. You didn't say where you live, so it's a little hard to come up with geographically appropriate selections. Another thought is Salvia coccinea. Hummingbirds do visit mine, and although I bought them as plants, I know they are not hard to grow from seed. I'm not sure if they're native to the United States, or further south, but they're definitely appreciated by hummingbirds. I don't know if Easy Wildflowers is a good company, but I found them (and many other wildflower seed suppliers!) through google. Good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: Easy Wildflowers.com

Since your seeds were labeled as "North American Natives", it seems like they surely must be natives. Hope so! Usually when you see mixed seeds at a box store, they say "wildflowers" rather than "natives". You may get some plants that you don't like but I think you should go ahead and plant them. You'll undoubtedly get some that you DO like. Orange Butterfly Weed (asclepias tuberosa) is hard to beat. It blooms a long time, attracts butterflies and shows up well from a distance. That one may be in the seed mix that you bought as well as purple coneflowers which I never tire of. Rudbeckia hirta and gaillardias are nice too. Your mix may also contain a lot of plants that won't tolerate hot summers very well. I would love to have a wildflower meadow but have gotten the impression that it's one of those things that's not easy to do successfully, and I've just never tried. I did plant a long mixed shrub/perennial border along one side of our property several years ago and haven't done a very good job at keeping the weeds out. I enjoy it immensely though. I love gardening/wildlife etc. If you're doing it only to save time mowing, you definitely may be disappointed. Otherwise, there's no harm in trying. If your wildflower garden doesn't work out the way you want, you can always collect free seeds from your favorites and start over. Just my opinion but - Since you're in an area of new homes and you may be pressured to have a tidy yard, I think it would make the area look more intentional and attractive to put a section of split rail fence or picket fence across the front to separate it from the rest of your yard. That way your snooty neighbors won't think you're just being lazy about mowing. : ) I would also leave several feet of mowed area between your house and the wildflower patch to make it look neater and so you can easily walk from the front of your house to the back without having to spray yourself with Off every time to keep the ticks and chiggers away. Opinion again - I think you would appreciate having a couple mowed paths through the middle to make it easier to get from one side to the other and so you can see what's growing. Ticks don't hang out in mowed grass nearly as much as knee or waist high areas. Planting shrubs might make it more difficult to maintain. Maybe some others will give you opinions on that. I have trouble with invasive vines, undesirable trees, poke, poison ivy, etc. coming up around my shrubs close to the base where it's hard to remove them. What I think you had in mind is a prairie type area that you can just mow down once a year. Right?

For future years you might want to try just collecting a little seed for propagating and leaving the rest standing for the birds and insects. It not only provides food and shelter for wildlife but the dried plant material helps protect the crown of the plant and the soil. I always think the sturdier stems like echinacea are quite pretty with little snow caps on them during the winter. While eating the birds will drop some seed that will germinate too. In the spring you can cut back or pull away the plant debris and chop up some to use as mulch. Too much mulch though and the fallen seeds won't germinate and grow. In the winter use the seed you collected or bought and wintersow them in a weed free potting mix in the proper containers (see the wintersowing forum faq or wintersown.org if unfamiliar with method). They will have much higher germination rates than scattered seed and you can protect them until they are a little bigger and sturdier. Then you can use these seedlings as a guide to help you see what in your wildflower bed is desirable and what is a weed if you aren't familiar with the seedlings. You can use them to plug any holes in the bed or plant them elsewhere if the bed is filling in nicely on its own. This method has worked pretty well for me so far.