Maintaining a Wildflower Garden

--R.D., Ossining, NY

A. The best way to treat wildflowers is to cut them back only one time during the year--after the first hard frost. Then allow the cuttings to remain there, where you cut them, until early spring. You do this because it contains all the wildflower seeds. This annual cutting also removes any weed shrubs and trees. Never cut the field back in the spring, because many of the wildflowers are spring bloomers. If you cut it back then, not only do you lose your flowers, but also the seeds for next year's bloom--and perhaps, since many are annual, you lose them altogether.

Above all, remember that wildflowers are essentially weeds. Don't be discouraged by their scruffy looks. That's the way they look out in the meadows where they grow naturally. In fact, most wildflowers do better and bloom more on relatively poor soils, so don't be quick to add fertilizer to the area. The birds, bees and butterflies love them just the way they are--au naturel.

--National Gardening Association