Wildflower Seeds?

15 years ago

I am working on a project across from our elementary school to reseed the wildflower meadow - again. I did this several years ago and it started to fill in with more grasses and fewer flowers over the years. The cost of reseeding the meadow several years ago was around $700 (that was when our club was directly sponsored by our PTA). We just don't have the funds like we did last time. It is now to a point where we had the city mow the meadow and I'm having the city disk the area so there will be good seed to soil contact. We plan on having the students spread the seed in September.

I have looked at several websites for the wildflower seed mixes, but noticed some of the seed in the mixes are not all native. Native American Seed has the highest percentage of native seed, but cost $39 per pound where the less expensive seed mixes from other companies (with the non-native seed) range from $25-29 per pound. I plan on using part of the money from a grant from Keep Allen Beautiful to purchase some seed (we only get $200 and need a good portion of that for the bi-monthly environmental club meeting supplies), but was wondering if anyone out there might be willing to help out by mailing some native Texas seed for this project? I can't reimburse any mailing costs and don't have anything to send in return except my thanks (that is why I'm not posting this on the exchanges page or the discussion page), but the cost of a stamp isn't much.

The mailing address is: Vaughan Elementary, Attn: Vaughan Environmental Club, 820 Cottonwood Dr., Allen, TX 75002. I know the students at the school will really appreciate your seed donations and the meadow will look beautiful next spring. I will definitely take photos and post them under the gallery section so you can see the meadow next spring. Thanks in advance!

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Comments (7)

mommyfox
15 years ago
You might try contacting your local county extension office, they might be able to put you in contact with master gardeners in your area, who may in turn have some good ideas for you.

One passing thought - some wildflowers, like bluebonnets, don't respond well to fertilizer. If you've been fertilizing the meadow, you might stop, because fertilizer may be encouraging the grass to overtake the flowers.
pjtexgirl
15 years ago
How cool! I'll mail you some seeds! I'm moving right now so it's all boxed away. PLEASE remind me in Sept I will write it on my calendar too! PJ
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denisew
Original Author
15 years ago
mommyfox - No, we're not putting any fertilizer on the meadow at all. That would be extremely expensive. We have the city mow it then till it before we have the kids spread the seed. I am in contact with the master gardeners and hopefully they will be able to give a little seed too. I'm just trying to reduce the total cost by asking for whatever wildflower seed from people's own gardens that they could send. Every little bit helps. The grass (including invasive Johnsongrass) tends to grow there without any help or encouragement.

PJ - Thank you! I'll make a note to myself to contact you at the beginning of September.
bobbi_p
15 years ago
I'm sure you've probably tried this, but have you let Native American Seed know what you're trying to do?

I'd send a letter to every one of the seed companies you know and ask for native varieties of seed as donations. If you explain that you already have a grant of $200 and it's for a school, you might be surprised at who might donate seed.

If you've done this with no success, I wonder if someone at the Lady Bird Johnson Center might know of granting agencies who might help??
denisew
Original Author
15 years ago
I will give that a try. Thanks for that idea.

I also sent the information to some master gardener friends of mine after posting the information here. They forwarded it to the entire master gardener group here in our county. Our local master gardeners may also help out with a partial purchase of seed or possibly purchase all the seed needed for this project. They still have to meet and vote on it officially. I'm still waiting to hear back from them.

I even have a bucket of native seed from my garden that I plan on tossing out into the meadow. Everytime I go out to inspect my garden, I will take a little zip lock baggy with me and just hold it opened under the dried seeds and pull them off the flower let them drop into the bag. Then I empty my little bag into the bucket. It all adds up.

For those of you who are sending seed from your gardens, I thank you very much.
seamommy
15 years ago
It has been three weeks since your last post, Denise. Have you heard fom the master gardeners, and are they going to purchase seed for your project? I am very interested in this kind of project, even though I don't live in your area. Cheryl
denisew
Original Author
15 years ago
The master gardeners are going to supply the remainder of the seed. The meadow is about 1/4 acre and we had two pounds of seed donated already - one from a Texas garden webber (THANK YOU!) and one from a local nurseryman. The master gardeners are donating the other four pounds. We did a little research and found that a piece of land that size needs around 5-6 pounds of seed for good coverage, so we're going to make sure we have plenty and spread six pounds. Plus, I have native seed I have been harvesting from my own garden and probably have about another 1/2 pound - maybe a little less. The city is also helping out by killing the Johnsongrass and tilling the soil. It should all be ready by the end of the month or the latest beginning of October to seed. I know the kids will have a lot of fun with this (especially when they see it in the spring) and we appreciate any and all assistance with this project.