Having a garden full of wildflowers has grown in popularity over the last few years. A wildflower meadow is a wonderful way to add some natural beauty to your outdoor space and they don’t just look lovely, they’re also brilliant for wildlife and encouraging biodiversity.
But when it comes to working out the best way to start a wildflower garden, it can be difficult to choose between wildflower seeds, wildflower bulbs or wildflower plants. Here, we’ll talk through the pros and cons of each so you can decide which is the best for you...
Why choose wildflower seeds?
Wildflower seeds are the most popular and cost-effective way to create a wildflower meadow or area in your garden. Buying wildflower seeds allows you to cover large areas at an affordable price, making them the best option if you want a natural-looking display full of colour and variety. With the right seed mix, you can establish a wildflower meadow that supports bees, butterflies, and other pollinators while transforming lawns, verges, or unused ground into a biodiverse habitat.
Sowing wildflower seed mixes gives you maximum choice and flexibility. You can select seed for clay soil, sandy soil, shaded areas, or species-rich seed mixes for a classic meadow look.
Compared to wildflower plugs or bulbs, wildflower seeds offer the widest range of species and flowering times, from early spring right through to late autumn.
If you are looking for the most natural and affordable way to grow wildflowers, wildflower seed is the best starting point.
When planting bulbs or plugs, you need to plant each individual flower which can be a time consuming task. With the use of a seed spreader, seeds can easily be sown in a matter of minutes. Of course, larger spaces will take longer than this but it is still quicker than planting individual wildflower plants or wildflower bulbs.
Wildflower seed is also much easier when it comes to awkward, hard to reach spaces such as road verges and woodland edges, as you don't have to get into the ground to plant them - just scatter and wait for the flowers to bloom.
Which Wildflower Seeds To Use?
With so many wildflower seeds for sale, it can be tricky to know which are right for your garden. If you’re looking for a long-lasting, colourful wildflower meadow, our Restore & Enrich Mix is ideal. It combines perennial and annual British wildflowers that bloom at different times from early spring, providing a vibrant display through summer with the majority returning the next year and for many years to come.
You might also want to consider a wildflower seed mix with grass. The addition of grass helps to create a more natural look and make it easier to create a dense, rich, meadow of wildflowers you can enjoy throughout the year. Look for 70/30 which means 70% are grasses, or 80/20 which means 80% are grasses.
Products like the Bees and Butterfly Seed Mix allow you to easily sow a mixture of wildflowers that are full of rich nectar and insects love.
Along with our wide variety of bulk wildflower seed mixes, we offer single species individual seed packets too, allowing you to easily create your own flower seed mix. This enables you to easily focus on specific colour schemes, scents or focus on either annual or perennial wildflower species, or both if you’d prefer.
What are the cons of wildflower seeds?
Wildflower seeds do allow you more variety, but they also require some extra attention to reach their full potential.
When sowing seeds, it’s important to make sure you don’t bury them too deep. This is because they won’t be able to get the light they need to germinate. One way to ensure they are covered with soil, without being buried too deep, is running a rake over them after sowing.
You’ll also need to be more patient with wild flower seeds as they will take longer to reach full bloom than a transplanted bulb or plant.
Why choose wildflower bulbs?
Wildflower bulbs are the best option if you want reliable, early spring colour that comes back year after year. Unlike seeds, which take time to establish, bulbs such as bluebells, wild daffodils, snowdrops, and fritillaries will return every year and gradually spread to form natural drifts. This makes wildflower bulbs perfect for woodland areas, shady gardens, or places where you want a low-maintenance but long-lasting display.
Planting wildflower bulbs in autumn gives you a head start compared to seed, with higher establishment rates and fast results. They are especially valuable for filling the early Spring flowering gap before most wildflower seeds begin to bloom, providing vital food for pollinators emerging in spring.
Wildflower bulbs can be used on their own or combined with wildflower seed mixes and plugs to extend the flowering season and add structure to your meadow planting. If your goal is long-term naturalisation and a display that gets better year after year, wildflower bulbs are an excellent choice.
For many gardeners, half the fun is designing your garden and wild flower bulbs are an easy way to add a pop of colour and change the overall look. With the Autumn Planted Wildflower Bulbs for example, you can start building colour in your garden from as early as January.
Our Autumnal bulbs will arrive dormant, and can be planted in preparation for the spring seasons. Wildflower bulbs are a great choice for existing flower beds around lawns, and using tools such as a bulb planter can help you get the job done more quickly and precisely.
All of our wildflower bulbs are native to the UK and as they are more established than wildflower seeds, you’ll find they’re incredibly easy to grow. This is especially true of our Wildflower ‘In the Green’ Bulbs which arrive when the bulb is actively in growth.
Daffodils are an especially popular choice for gardens that want to add a pop of colour in spring and varieties like the Tenby Daffodil can even grow on rocky ground and in shaded areas.
What are the cons of wildflower bulbs?
Bulbs are easy to grow, but they will take slightly more patience when planting. You’ll need to thoroughly inspect each bulb to ensure none are damaged or diseased. If you see anything like yellow mottled foliage, this is generally an obvious sign of damage to your bulb.
It’s also important to be careful with bulbs as they can spread and become invasive. If you’re letting your wildflower meadow grow naturally, this isn’t necessarily a problem. If you do want to keep your bulbs in line, spring is the best time to do this.
Why choose wildflower plants?
Wildflower plugs are the ideal choice if you want quicker results than seed, but don’t want the cost of planting large areas with bulbs. Wildflower plug plants are supplied as small established plants in trays. They have already germinated and developed roots, so they settle in faster and face less competition from weeds than direct-sown seed.
Planting wildflower plug plants gives you stronger early establishment and visible flowers sooner, making them popular for smaller areas, borders, or topping up existing meadows. They’re especially useful for tricky spots where seed can struggle, such as heavy shade, or areas near high foot traffic.
It’s normal for plugs to look small or sparse when they arrive, but don't worry, what matters is the root system, which is already well developed. Those roots are the key to quick establishment and healthy growth once planted out, even if the top growth looks minimal when you receive them that doesn't matter.
While plug plants cost more per square metre than seed, they provide the reassurance of higher success rates and are easier to manage in targeted areas.
If you want reliable establishment, faster flowers, and flexibility in planting, wildflower plugs are the perfect middle ground between seed and bulbs.
All of our high quality wildflower plug plant collections feature a variety of species that compliment each other to create an idyllic wildflower meadow, like our Hedgerow Wildflower Plant Collection and options like the Chalk and Limestone collection feature plant species that can grow even in difficult conditions.
What are the cons of wildflower plug plants?
Wildflower plants will offer you the least amount of choice when it comes to curating your wildflower garden. This is because you will need to rely on what is already growing. If you like to plan your garden in advance, wildflower plants will require you to wait until they’re in season until they can be planted in your garden.
If you want to add some depth to your garden, wildflower plugs can help easily fill out spaces during the growing season.
Choosing The Right Wildflowers for Your Garden
Whether you prefer wildflower seed, bulbs or plants will entirely depend on the effect you’re looking to achieve. Wildflower seeds remain the most popular choice for gardeners as it gives you the biggest variety of choice, easiest to sow and they tend to work out cheaper than buying bulbs or plugs, especially if you have a lot of ground to cover.
Whichever wild flowers you choose, we have a number of guides to establishing your wildflower garden and then maintaining your wildflower meadow.
Still unsure which wildflower options are right for you?
Get in touch with a friendly member of our team who’ll be happy to help.
