Most of my garden is planted with wildflowers, almost all of them grown from direct-sown seed. The technique works very well. However, I have yet to find a prepackaged mix that will work well in Central Florida. You will be far better off creating your own mix with flowers that will do well on your site. Most wildflowers are best sown in fall here, but there are some wildflower-like exotics you can sow now for a spring/summer show. Can you tell us more about the site? Bill

Thanks all for the compliments. narcnh: I can't put that sort of information into a FAQ - any specific references to a website would be considered too ephemeral. The FAQ is supposed to be timeless (or at least last for longer than the average website). Treeskate: My guess is that you will need to retest and probably amend the soil regularly, since soil particles will continue to erode slowly and reestablish the original pH. ..................................................................................................................... I'll leave the draft here for about a week and then move it into the FAQ page if there's no objection. Remember that I can still edit the FAQ when it's on the FAQ page. Claire

Hi Sharon, Just wanted to add another welcome to New England. My mom lived in Peabody until last year, and I used to live in Peabody, but that was another lifetime ago. It's a nice town. Now I live a little further south and west of you. You will get snow. My mom always used to get snow whenever we did, just a little less, because of your proximity to the coast. I grew up here, but I did buy the Northeast Gardening book by Sunset. I guess it's an ok book, I don't know why I bought it. A compulsion to buy books, I guess. :-) There is nothing like actual experience, and I have gardened and lived here all my life, so I can't really say if the info in there will be useful to someone from Calif. But just wanted to let you know that there is a Sunset gardening book for the Northeast, and it's a big thick book. Besides all the other stuff people have mentioned, I would recommend that you get a good book about New England wildflowers, if that interests you. (I have one, but unfortunately I can't put my hands on it right this second, so I can't tell you the title, but I'll keep looking for it) There are a lot of wildflowers and spring ephemerals that show up briefly in the spring along with the early bulbs that help make spring a joy after all the cold and snow. You don't want to pull one thinking it's a weed. Some ARE weeds, but others like bloodroot and jack-in-the-pulpit, are great to have. If I were you I would wait to order bulbs and see what you may already have in the spring. All the foliage from daffs and tulips and crocuses has died back, so like others have said, you may not know what else you have. Oh BTW, the fall foliage is a real treat. Just wait a few weeks. You don't have to go anywhere special to see it. Just drive or walk anywhere and you will see some gorgeous fall colors. Keep coming here to GW too, it will keep you sane in the winter. Alison

Here's one for fall-blooming wildflowers. Here is a link that might be useful: Field Guide to Fall Wildflowers of New England