How to Grow a Cornfield Wildflower Mix: A Practical Guide from Seed to Flowers

A cornfield wildflower mix is one of the easiest ways to create a colourful patch of flowers without having to decide exactly which wildflowers to grow. These mixtures usually contain traditional annual cornfield flowers such as poppies, cornflowers and corncockle, Depending on the mix it may have a range of other wildflowers giving you a mixture of colours and flower shapes from one sowing.

They're also a good choice when you want to grow something for wildlife. Different flowers attract different visiting insects, so a mixture can provide a more varied food source than growing one flower on its own.

One thing that's worth understanding from the start is that a cornfield mix isn't the same as a permanent wildflower meadow. Most of the plants are annuals. They grow, flower and set seed in one season, so the ground will normally need some disturbance each year if you want to keep that traditional cornfield display going.

The good news is that they're very easy to sow.

Give them an open, sunny patch, prepare the ground reasonably well and don't make the soil too rich. After that, I prefer to let the flowers mingle together and do their own thing.

When to Sow

Cornfield wildflower mixes can usually be sown in spring or autumn.

For spring sowing, March to May is a good time. Wait until the worst of the cold, wet weather has passed and the soil is workable.

You can also sow from August to October. Autumn sowing gives some of the hardy annuals time to establish before winter and they can get away quickly the following spring.

I like the idea of autumn sowing for a cornfield patch because it follows the natural cycle of many of the flowers in the mixture.

If you've missed autumn, though, don't worry. A spring sowing can still give you a lovely display that summer.

You can even split your seed and make an autumn sowing followed by another smaller one in spring. Gardening rarely has to be all or nothing.

Preparing the Ground

Ground preparation is probably the most important part of establishing a wildflower mix.

Choose an open, sunny position and remove as many existing weeds and grasses as you can.

This doesn't mean the soil needs to be rich or heavily improved. Quite the opposite. Wildflowers generally don't need lots of fertiliser, and rich soil can encourage vigorous weeds and grasses to overwhelm the flowers.

What the seeds do need is contact with the soil.

Rake the surface to produce reasonably fine, crumbly ground and remove large stones and persistent weeds.

If you're converting an area of lawn, simply scattering wildflower seed over established grass is unlikely to give you the result you're hoping for. The existing grass already has a considerable head start.

Create some open ground first and give those little wildflower seedlings a fighting chance.

How to Sow

Wildflower mixtures contain seeds of different sizes, and it's surprisingly easy to scatter most of the seed in the first few steps.

I like to mix the seed with some dry sand before sowing. This gives you more material to work with and makes it easier to see where you've already been.

Divide the seed mixture into two portions.

Scatter the first half while walking across the area in one direction, then sow the second half walking at right angles to the first. — we're just trying to avoid one end having all the poppies.

Once you've sown, lightly rake or press the seed into the soil.

Don't bury it deeply. Many wildflower seeds are small and only need to be close to the surface with good soil contact.

Water gently if conditions are dry and try to keep the area reasonably moist while the seeds germinate.

Germination and Growing On

Don't expect every seed in the mixture to germinate at exactly the same time.

Different wildflowers have different germination speeds, and temperature and moisture will affect what appears first.

Initially, the difficult bit can be working out what's a wildflower and what's a weed.

If you know your patch has troublesome perennial weeds, it's worth dealing with them before sowing because trying to identify them amongst hundreds of tiny seedlings afterwards isn't nearly as much fun.

Keep the area watered during prolonged dry weather while seedlings establish.

Once the plants begin growing strongly, they need very little attention.

There's usually no need to thin a broadcast wildflower mixture unless one area is incredibly crowded. The plants will naturally compete for space and grow through one another.

That's part of what gives a cornfield display its relaxed appearance.

Watering and Feeding

Newly sown wildflowers need moisture to germinate and establish.

Water during dry weather after sowing, using a gentle spray so you don't wash the seeds away.

Once established, plants growing in the ground are generally much less demanding. During a prolonged dry spell, a thorough watering can help keep the display going.

There's usually no need to feed a cornfield wildflower mix.

Adding fertiliser can actually work against you by encouraging lots of leafy growth and giving vigorous weeds and grasses an advantage.

If you've spent years improving a vegetable bed with compost and manure, it might grow spectacular courgettes, but it isn't necessarily the best place for a low-fertility wildflower patch.

For these flowers, poorer soil can genuinely be useful.

Flowering and Wildlife

A spring-sown cornfield mixture will usually begin flowering during summer, while autumn-sown plants may start earlier.

Exactly what appears depends on the mixture, but the pleasure is watching the different flowers gradually join the display.

A good mixture provides different flower shapes and food sources for visiting insects.

Cornflowers can provide nectar and pollen, while field poppies are particularly useful as a source of pollen. Other flowers in the mixture add still more variety.

You'll probably notice bees, hoverflies and other insects visiting as the display develops.

I wouldn't worry about trying to make the patch look perfectly tidy while it's flowering.

Wildflower areas look better with a bit of freedom, and wildlife isn't terribly concerned about whether everything is standing in a neat row.

What to Do After Flowering

This is the bit that's easy to get wrong.

Once the flowers have finished, don't immediately cut everything down if you'd like the plants to produce seed.

Leave the patch standing long enough for the seed heads to mature and dry.

You'll probably notice poppy capsules, cornflower seed heads and other plants gradually turning brown. It might look untidier for a while, but that's part of the process.

Once the seed has matured and had an opportunity to fall, cut the vegetation down.

Remove most of the cut material rather than leaving a thick layer lying over the soil. This helps prevent fertility building up and leaves open ground where fallen seed can germinate.

I usually think of this stage as next year's sowing being done partly for you.

Getting Flowers Again Next Year

This is where a cornfield mixture differs from a perennial meadow.

Annual cornfield flowers naturally thrive where the soil is disturbed. If you simply leave the ground untouched year after year, grasses and perennial plants can gradually take over and the annual flowers may decline.

After you've cut the old growth down and allowed seed to fall, lightly disturb or rake some of the soil.

You don't need to dig the whole area deeply. You're simply creating patches of open soil where fallen seeds can germinate.

You can also add some fresh seed if the display has become thin.

Don't expect exactly the same mixture every year. Some species will self-seed more enthusiastically than others, and weather conditions will favour different plants.

I actually rather like that. A wildflower patch changing slightly from one year to the next is part of its character.

Common Problems

Very Few Flowers Germinating

The most common problem is competition from existing grass and weeds.

Wildflower seed needs contact with open soil. If you've scattered it over a thick lawn, most seedlings will struggle to establish.

Prepare the ground before sowing and remove as much competing vegetation as possible.

Too Many Weeds

Some weeds will inevitably appear.

Persistent perennial weeds are best removed before sowing. Once the wildflowers are growing, remove obvious troublesome weeds carefully rather than repeatedly disturbing the whole patch.

Lots of Green Growth but Few Flowers

Very rich soil can encourage vigorous leafy growth.

Don't feed the area and remove cut vegetation at the end of the season rather than allowing it to rot down and continually increase fertility.

Patchy Germination

Uneven broadcasting can give you dense areas beside almost empty ones.

Mixing the seed with dry sand and sowing half in one direction and half at right angles helps distribute it more evenly.

Flowers Don't Return the Following Year

Annual cornfield flowers need opportunities to regenerate from seed.

Let seed heads mature before cutting the patch, then create some open ground by lightly disturbing the soil. You may also need to add fresh seed occasionally.

Birds Eating the Seed

Birds may find freshly sown seed before it has had a chance to germinate.

Firming the seed into the soil rather than leaving everything sitting loosely on the surface can help. Don't bury it deeply just to hide it, though.

A cornfield wildflower mix is a great place to start if you want to grow more for wildlife without making things complicated. Prepare the ground, scatter the seed and let the different flowers grow through one another. Then, when everything starts looking brown and untidy at the end of summer, resist the urge to clear it immediately. Give those seeds a chance to mature and you may already be starting next year's display without realising it.