We’ll be carrying out planned website maintenance on Tuesday 29 September from 4pm, so the website may be temporarily unavailable during this time.
How to grow wildflowers in your school
Introduce biodiversity and beauty into your school by planting wildflowers, providing food for a wide range of pollinators, including bees and butterflies.
Follow our easy how-to guide developed by the National Wildflower Centre.
Tips on growing your wildflower seeds
How to plant your seeds
Sow in a sunny spot that doesn’t already have wildflowers growing there. Prepare the ground by digging and raking until the soil is fine and crumbly, then sow the seeds on the surface. Gently rake over the seed, then press them down with the back of the rake. Water in dry weather.
When to plant wildflowers
Sow your seeds in spring or autumn. Spring is from March to May, but the weather varies depending where you are. Avoid sowing when there is still the chance of a frost. If you want to see flowers before the summer holidays, move swiftly! The most important thing is that they are watered if you’re sowing in late spring.
However, the best time to sow is in autumn – late September/October, when wildflower seeds would naturally drop. We don’t advise sowing wildflower seeds in June or July, as it is too hot. It’s better to wait until autumn. That way they will be in tune with their natural cycle and nature will water them for you.
How long will it take before we can see our flowers?
If sowing in spring, it will take about 60 to 80 days for your annuals to flower after sowing, depending on when you sowed them. If sowing in Autumn they won’t flower until the following Summer.
Identify your wildflowers
Poppy
Corn chamomile
Corn marigold
Corncockle
Cornflower
FAQs
Not to worry! You can plant them in pots, raised beds, hanging baskets or containers instead. If you don’t have any pots, get creative and upcycle!
For the purpose of sowing wildflower seeds, a large pot can be 7-10 litres.These vary from 20-23cm deep.
You can pretty much use any plastic, tin or wooden container to grow your seeds in. Ice cream tubs, coffee pots, yoghurt pots (big and small), fizzy drink bottles (cut at the base of the bottle neck) etc. Just fill them with peat-free compost and sprinkle the seeds on top. Then use your hand to lightly cover them with soil, and water. You could even make a planter out of pallets, a disused bath tub or even a toilet! Go to your local garden centre and see if they have a pot recycle scheme and ask if they would be happy to donate some used pots.
If you sow wildflower seeds directly onto grass, unfortunately they won’t grow. If you want to sow an area in your field with wildflower seeds, you will need to dig up the grass with a spade to expose bare soil. Use a rake to break up the ground until fine and crumbly. Sow your wildflower seeds on the surface and rake over. Pat the surface of the soil with the back of the rake. Water if dry.
We recommend using peat-free compost. Learn more about why here.
Your packet will cover an area of 1-2sqm (e.g. 2sqm = 1m wide x 2m length).
Planting seeds can be accessible and enjoyable for all. One option is to pre-mix the seed with some horticultural sand or horse bran, which will make the mix go further and sowing less fiddly. Ask everyone to take a handful of the seed mix to sow. That way everyone has been involved in sowing seeds. You can assign groups different tasks e.g. some prepare the pots or beds, while others sow and water.
It is hard to tell until everything starts to flower. The most common weeds are dock and thistle.
Moist soil looks darker brown in colour and sticks to your fingertips. Whereas, dry soil is light and crumbly, leaving a dust on your fingertips. Using your fingertips, lightly press down on the soil. If it is moist to touch then it does not need watering.
You can fill up an empty plastic drinks bottle, flask, cup or mug to water your seeds.
Once your wildflowers have finished flowering you can harvest the seeds to use next year – a great lesson in sustainability. When the seed heads have dried and turned brown, you can either snip them off with a pair of scissors or shake the seeds from the heads into an envelope. Store the envelope in a cool, dry place, such as in an air tight container in your fridge.
Here’s the risk assessment we used when planting seeds with local schools.
Seeds for schools
