profdc9

At long last some of the wildflowers I planted last year are blooming. I can see that there are frequently bees on them, so hopefully they are being pollinated.

I would like to collect wildflower seeds from flowers that I would like to propagate and then spread them over bare patches to try and fill them in. How do I recognize when the seeds are ready to be harvested? How do I harvest them, just yank the bloom off of the stem? I planted a flower assortment with:

Purple Giant Hyssop, Dwarf Columbine, Siberian Wallflower, Shasta Daisy, Lance-Leaved Coreopsis, Sweet William Pinks, Purple Coneflower, Blanketflower, Gayfeather, Blue Flax, Perennial Lupine, Russell Lupine, Maltese Cross, Dwarf Evening Primrose, Mexican Hat, Dwarf Red Coneflower, Black-Eyed Susan, Moss Verbena

I probably will spread them after the first frost so they grow in the spring.

Last week my landscaper mowed down the mostly perennial, but a few annual wildflowers I was growing from seed. The landscape thought they were weeds because they were mostly not flowering yet (and there were a few weeds in there as well). So now what do I do? I have been watering it every day to see if I can grow some of the plants back. I put a lot of seed down, I hope something will last.

I made a poster of my eclipse photos taken in southern Illinois. The PDF of the poster is downloadable as a 24 by 36 inch poster.

It seems to me these giant grants to a small number of organizations (Climate United Fund, Coalition for Green Capital, Power Forward Communities) seems like it could be delivering pork to well-connected people. Is this actually going to produce "clean" energy and help disadvantaged people? These seem like very large awards to a small number of organizations.

I would like to get plots started with perennial flower seeds. However, it seems like the weeds will overgrow the plots while the perennial seeds get started.

Could I mix perennial and annual flower seeds and have the annuals try and crowd out the weeds while the perennials take root and come back next year more strongly? Or will the annual seeds prevent the perennial seeds from growing?