I live on Cape Ann, north of Boston and finally have a chance to make a WILDFLOWER area on a new estate I'll be designing this spring.

I have looked at various wildflower see mixes and am not sure I want to go that way. I would rather plant some starts of the perennials such as coneflower and foxgloves.

I am choosing specific seeds. Some from my own place, and ordering lots of others.

So far my seed list includes

Forgetmenots
Hesperus (Dame's Rocket)
Lunaria (Money plant)
Wild Rudbeckia
Rudbeckia triloba which is small flowered and blooms very late
Anise Hyssop
Perilla
Multi branched smaller sunflowers for the birds
Larkspur
Cleome

I think that all of the above will self seed.

Do you have other suggestions?

I am looking into a couple of seed companies as one doesn't have all of the above.

Think I am going with Harris Seed unless someone suggests someplace else.

I am all set on the perennials to plant.

Thank you

BB

DistinctiveGardenDesigns.com

How about butterfly weed?

I'd love to grow it gingin but it doesn't keep going here for me. I've planted it at my place a couple of times.

;-(

bummer...I love my red butterfly weed

Have you looked at Wildseed Farm http://www.wildseedfarms.com/ ?

They have a great variety and sell mixes for specific areas of the country including the northeast.

You don't seem to be sticking to strictly native plants, so I could suggest foxglove and a nice native would be penstemon. You didn't mention ox eye daisies or chicory and also native autumnal asters extend the season.

Thanks Kathleen. I'll check them out.

Found this one the other day and still studying!

http://www.americanmeadows.com...

I am not sure what penstemon would be wild here. Can you share more?

You are right about the ox eye daisies (have some on one estate that I can transfer as they seem to be perennial).

Certainly going to leave out a few natives that take over - yellow jewelweed is a pain here at my place! HA HA! But will watch for the nice purple aster that I see sometimes. The wimpy pale lav one will get lost against the granite ledges there.

If you go here and click on your state it will give you a list of the plants native to your state,
http://wildflower.org/collecti...

Josephine.

Thank you Josephine. The Ma site has a lot of natives missing and some that I am really not sure are native. Then I noticed it was wildflower 'suggestions', not necessarily natives. BUT, I clicked from there to where to get more info and where to purchase etc and found some interesting places to pursue (not necessarily to buy but to enjoy learning). Thank you for sharing the site.

Whenever a gardener turns a corner there is so much more to learn!

I have an old book on native to Essex county, Ma. THE FLORA OF ESSEX COUNTY, and that was fun reading. It suggests that Cannabis is native here. Doubt if I could get away with that excuse though, huh? lol

The link that Josephine gave was for "suggested" plants for what ever area you choose. If you want a more complete list of plants that are native to your state go to this page http://www.wildflower.org/plan...
you can also add other criteria like amount of sun, soil moisture, perennial or annual etc.

lilylady said:Thank you Josephine. The Ma site has a lot of natives missing and some that I am really not sure are native. Then I noticed it was wildflower 'suggestions', not necessarily natives. BUT, I clicked from there to where to get more info and where to purchase etc and found some interesting places to pursue (not necessarily to buy but to enjoy learning). Thank you for sharing the site.

Some of the plants listed in your original post are not native, including Lunaria, Hesperis, and Perilla, and are potentially invasive. Dames Rocket (Hesperis) is even a prohibited plant in Massachusetts.

Just wondering if there is a wildflower garden? and how is it doing?