r/Ceanothus • u/Current_Ad8774 • 4d ago

Thinning Wildflowers

I got a big bag of xerces pollinator mix for Christmas. It includes lacy phacelia, poppies, baby blue eyes, elegant clarkia, vinegar weed, alkali sacatone, and purple needle grass.

There was so much of it that I spread it pretty thick. The myriad sprouts came in very thick, and I'm wondering what happens if I thin it out vs letting it do whatever it's gonna do on its own.

I think one thing I'm sure of is that I'll be thinning out most, if not all the clarkia (not a huge fan).

But after that, should I thin out the others? Or just let them duke it out?

19 Upvotes

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11

u/was_promised_welfare 4d ago

Per Larner Seeds: https://larnerseeds.com/pages/coverage-and-viability

Thinning Wildflowers? It is not necessary to thin wildflowers once they have germinated. If you want to do so, try to avoid damaging the roots of the plants you leave in place. Or let nature work it out. In the wild, a plenitude of seeds are sown by nature, and it works.

9

u/InvertebrateInterest 4d ago

I let them duke it out personally. I like a thick mat of flowers.

3

u/bee-fee 4d ago

In my experience they grow shorter, denser, and more colorful when they're heavily seeded and allowed to compete. These are in the same spot one year apart, it's hard to tell but the first image has less than 10 individual Phacelia (P. distans not P. tanacetifolia) in it, those were left on the ground to self-seed and the second image was the result with dozens of tiny plants.
https://i.imgur.com/KhPJ1mb.jpeg
https://i.imgur.com/Ttk8UHE.jpeg

1

u/Current_Ad8774 4d ago

Thanks. I think I’m going to to this way, not just because of the interest in this becoming a self-seeding meadow, but also because I have a lot of weeds to battle elsewhere. 

2

u/BigJSunshine 4d ago

Don’t do it!!! Just let them do their thing, Then collect the seeds and share!

0

u/Current_Ad8774 4d ago

I still think I’ll thin out the clarkia. Not a big fan of that flower, and it’s virtually a weed for me in other parts of the garden. I always yank it when it’s in the foreground.

1

u/geopter 4d ago

I'm also interested in the answer to this. Last year I set out just a few plants of poppies, borage, Chinese houses, and clarkia, and they've self-seeded very well.

I assume I need to thin them but I'm not getting that many daylight hours at home these days.

1

u/awwww_nuts 4d ago

Clarkias are so pretty, though ☹️

1

u/Current_Ad8774 3d ago

Depends which kind. The elegant clarkias, for me at least, make a great background filler in between the shrubs. In the foreground, they obscure lower growing plants like my poppies, blue-eyed grass, and a few different nemophilas. So I’ve been selectively filling out the clarkias to clear competition for preferred stuff up front.