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This is a quick guide with my success or failure with starting Native Wildlowers from seed.  Very easy and carefree garden.  I moved to the New Mexican mountains in 2005 once again after living here in New Mexico several years before.  I decided to plant bulbs and flowers with very little success. Many didn't grow due to the lack of moisture and animals ate the rest!   I decided to plant only native new mexican wildflowers instead and I had a good successful first year.  Adding native wildflowers to your property improves the soil and creates areas for wildlife, birds and butterflies to feed on and seek refuge.  Working with nature and keeping it natural is far better than trying to change the environment to suit your needs.  This type if gardening is called xeriscaping or permaculture.

About half of the Native Wildflowers seeds must be stratified.  That is winter must be simulated in order for the seed to germinate.  Unless you plant the seeds outside in fall and let mother nature take care of them, they should grow in spring and summer.  I planted about 150 seeds in small 2" peat pellet pots, slightly moistened and placed them in my refrigerator for a couple of months at around 37 degrees.  (as of summer of 2007, I DO NOT recommend peat pellets, they dry out in the dry air and can kill the seedlings.  Of course if you water often, not allowing the peat pellet to dry out, you may be succesful)  Make sure your fridge does not ice or it will freeze and kill the seeds.  Most took off in spring once I removed them from the fridge and let them grow for another 6 weeks or so in small plastic greenhouses purchased on ebay ... once I transplanted them in the garden in late Spring, I lost a few more, but most of the plants really took off.  Germination success ranged from about 90% for some seeds and about 50% for others. 

Once planted in the garden, I would water them (using collected rain water) four times per week for the first two weeks to get them established.  Then just about twice per week, for another week or so. Collecting rain water in barrels is very good for your plants.  Tap water sometimes contains chlorine or fluoride or other chemicals or minerals which can stress your plants or trees.  Rain water is the best water they can have and you can save the environment and use less water while you are at it and it's free!    Then I just let nature take care of them during our monsoon rainy season and they did VERY well.  Not only did they take off, but they gave me hundreds of seeds to plant more flowers elsewhere.  As they flowered I was visited by many butterflies including my favorite the Monarch.  I was also visited by many Hummingbirds.

I have to say staying native is very rewarding.  Not only are these plants very capable of growing with our hot, windy, wet, dry and cool New Mexican Mountain weather, they thrive.  I feel good knowing I am not introducing non native plants that sometimes can take off like weeds.  I am in the process of stratifying hundreds more seeds for planting in Spring 2007.  I also placed some outside in my garden to let them "stratify" naturally.  It is a good idea to draw a map of your garden and draw and label what is being planted where.  Or of course you can use labels such as plastic spoons or Popsicle sticks to write on and label your plants.  I hope to place several photos here in the next few months, including the success of my new plants that should be germinating.

I purchased all of my seeds here on ebay and through Plants of the Southwest.  A store in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, NM, you can order online doing a google search.  I had great results with their seeds.  Some of the great flowers I planted were:  Firewheel(success), Wild Hyssop(success), Blue Sage(success), Blue Dicks(died both years), Indian Paintbrush, Chocolate Flower(success), Butterfly Weed(died both years), Mexican Hat(success), Cardinal Flower(success), Purple Coneflower(success), Sand Verbena(never grew), Columbines(success), Purple Aster(success), Spotter Gayfeather(success), Rocky Mountain Penstemon(success) to name a few ...  Colors range from pinks, reds, whites, yellows, blue and orange.  Heights range from as tall as four feet to as low as one foot.

My plants range from full sun, part shade/sun to full shade.  Light and sun and/or shade are very important as they will not flower or grow for that matter if they do not have enough sunlight or too much.  Most native wildflowers thrive on little water, but some do require extra moisture as many grow in swampy area or along rivers.  I have thought of selling plants on ebay, but not sure if they would make it through shipping?  I may offer seeds from my plants in the future.

Some other tips with gardens.  For Spring or Fall, its a good idea to fill plastic bottles with water and place them around your garden plants for thermal protection at night.  In the day, the water retains heat from sunlight and releases it at night protecting some plants.  Rocks around plants also serve as thermal islands and help the plants grow better and stronger.

Once you have created your garden it can be certified by the National Wildlife Federation:  (google the name for more info) or go to nwf.org for the requirements.

Any questions, please ask.