Landscaping with wildflowers is something you should try as most of them are unknown yet very beautiful – just a few include the black-eyed Susan and garden Columbine.

Landscaping With Wildflowers

They bring surprising colors and smells and will surely attract a lot of visitors to your yard. As wild plants, most wildflowers are very easy to grow, so you can get a very beautiful yard effortlessly. Read this article to see some of the most beautiful wildflowers that you can grow.

Species for Landscaping With Wildflowers

1. Black-Eyed Susan

Black Eyed Susan

Plant Specifications
  • Size: 1-3 feet tall
  • Colors: Yellow and black flowers
Native to
  • Central United States
  • Eastern United States
Care Requirements
  • USDA hardiness zone: 3-10
  • Light: Full sun
  • Water: Medium watering
Common Pests
  • Leafhopper
  • Lace bugs
  • Tarnished Plant Bug

Of course, there’s no reason why you wouldn’t want to beautify your yard with the beautiful Rudbeckia hirta, plant. This plant produces very beautiful flowers with yellow petals and black centers or eyes. If your home is yellow or has a color contrasting yellow, you should consider growing black-eyed Susan plants around it.

Note that these plants are strict when it comes to their lighting needs. If you grow them in a shaded place, you’d notice that they will stretch toward the light as well as produce fewer flowers. Ensure that the Susans get six to eight hours of daily sunlight. Also, make sure that the soil is rich in phosphorus and other nutrients.

2. Cornflower 

Cornflower

Plant Specifications
  • Size: 12-24 inches tall
  • Colors: blue, white, pink, purple, or flowers
Native to
  • Britain 
  • Ireland
Care Requirements
  • USDA hardiness zone: 2-11 (according to the variety)
  • Light: Full sun
  • Water: Regular watering (drought-tolerant)
Common Pests
  • Aphids 
  • Leafhoppers

Do you need a touch of blue or purple in your yard, you should grow the Centaurea cyanus plant. This plant was originally a weed in corn fields and that was how it got the name, “cornflower.”

As a wildflower that is native to Europe but now spread across the world, this plant is super easy to grow. If you are growing it in your yard, you only need to focus on fertilizing and pruning regularly.

Prune the cornflowers regularly so that they do not cover other plants in your yard. So long as you are growing these plants in the right zone, you should see their beautiful flowers blooming in your yard. To help their flowers stay for a much longer time, deadhead the spent ones and ensure that the soil remains nutrients rich.

3. Yarrow 

Yarrow

Plant Specifications
  • Size: 3 feet tall
  • Colors: white, red, yellow, orange, or gold flowers
Native to
  • North America
  • Europe
  • North America
Care Requirements
  • USDA hardiness zone: 3-9
  • Light: Full sun
  • Water: Consistently moist soil
Common Pests
  • Mealybugs
  • Aphids
  • Spittlebugs

This super wildflower, Achillea millefolium, can change the look of your yard from 0 to 10/10 in a few months. All you need to do is to disperse the wildflower seeds in your yard early in the spring.

Yarrows come in different colors (according to the variety) and attract beneficial insects such as butterflies to your yard. They are also super easy to grow and will not need a lot of care from you so long as you are growing them in the right zones.

While some people claim that yarrows are medicinal, you will most likely be growing this plant for the sake of its beauty in your yard. To retain this beauty, ensure that you prune the yarrows often, keeping them at a definite height. Consider adding these Yarrow companion plants as well!

4. Garden Columbine 

Garden Columbine

Plant Specifications
  • Size: 1-3 feet tall
  • Colors: Flowers can be purple, pink, yellow, blue, etc.
Native to
  • Eastern United States
  • Southeastern Canada
Care Requirements
  • USDA hardiness zone: 3-9
  • Light: Dappled sun
  • Water: Water when the soil surface is dry
Common pests
  • Columbine leafminers 
  • Columbine sawfly

There’s no way you’d see Aquilegia vulgaris plants and choose to grow other plants instead. A wildflower garden isn’t complete without columbines, as their flowers are too beautiful to ignore. According to the variety, columbine flowers can come in pink, purple, red, blue, and other colors. Would you not like to grow this beautiful flower in your yard?

Remember to put the needs of the plants into consideration. Even though they are wild and can grow easily in the right zones, make sure that you do not expose them to too much sunlight. You may choose to grow them beside a south or west-facing wall so that they do not get more sunlight than they need daily.

5. Nasturtium 

Nasturtium

Plant Specifications
  • Size: 1-10 feet tall
  • Colors: From yellow to red flowers.
Native to
  • South America 
  • Central America
Care Requirements
  • USDA hardiness zone: 9-11
  • Light: Full sun
  • Water: Frequent watering
Common Pests
  • Aphids
  • Leafhoppers
  • Flea Beetles

The red, yellow, and orange flowers of the Tropaeolum majus plant are enough reasons to add this plant to your wildflower meadow.

Asides from their beauty, nasturtium plants are super beneficial to you, as they attract butterflies and other beneficial insects to the garden. They also attract praying mantises and other predators, so pests attacking other plants will be significantly limited.

Nasturtium plants do not need a lot of effort from you, you just need to remember to prune them regularly so that they do not cover other plants. So long as they get enough nutrients, water, and sunlight, these plants will do their magic in your wildflower garden.

6. Bishop’s Weed

Bishop S Weed

Plant Specifications
  • Size: 1 foot tall
  • Colors: White
Native to
  • Europe
  • Asia
Care Requirements
  • USDA hardiness zone: 4-9
  • Light: Full sun to partial shade
  • Water: Consistent moisture
Common Pests
  • Fungi
  • Bacteria

One of the hardest wildflowers that you can grow is the Amni majus, a plant in the carrot family.

Besides repelling bugs such as big-eyed bugs, minute pirate bugs, assassin bugs, and lacewings, bishop’s weeds can stay green and beautiful in the fall and winter months when other plants are long dead or dormant.

Did you know that the leaves and stems of this plant are edible? They have a sweet flavor that you’d love to taste. Whether you choose to grow them for aesthetics or pest control, these plants will surely prove to be beneficial in so many ways to you.

7. White Dutch Clover

White Dutch Clover

Plant Specifications
  • Size: 4-8 inches tall
  • Colors: White, sometimes pink
Native to
  • Europe 
  • Central Asia
Care Requirements
  • USDA hardiness zone: 4-9
  • Light: At least five hours of daily sun
  • Water: Consistent watering.
Common Pests
  • Potato leafhopper 
  • Clover leaf weevil
  • Meadow spittlebug

The Trifolium repens plant is super beneficial for landscaping. Asides from beautifying the yard with little white flowers, this clover attracts parasitic wasps of scales, aphids, and whiteflies. What’s more, it enriches the soil with a lot of nitrogen, as it is a leguminous plant. You surely want to grow this plant in your low maintenance wildflower garden.

White clovers are easy to grow so long as you are growing them in the ideal soil. Their soil should be well-drained and organically nutritious. Also, ensure that the plants get enough sunlight so that they can grow brighter flowers.

8. American Vervain

American Vervain

Plant Specifications
  • Size: 2-5 feet tall
  • Colors: Lavender purple flowers
Native to
  • South America
  • Asia
Care Requirements
  • USDA hardiness zone: 4-9
  • Light: Full sun
  • Water: Moist soil
Common Pests
  • Aphids
  • Leafminers
  • Mites

If you are a fan of native wildflowers, here’s the Verbena hastate for you. This perennial plant will save you a lot of stress for many years because you do not need to replant it in the new growing season.

It also self-sows itself, so you only need to plant it once. You just need to remember to prune the plant regularly so that it does not grow wider or taller than what you planned.

The first thing to consider when growing vervains is their USDA requirements. Do not grow them outside their range so that they can grow as perennials. Also, ensure that you give them consistent watering so that their leaves and flowers can look fresh for a very long time.

9. Aromatic Aster

Aromatic Aster

Plant Specifications
  • Size: 1-3 feet tall
  • Colors: Purple, blue, pink, or red flowers
Native to
  • Southern United States
  • Eastern United States
Care Requirements
  • USDA hardiness zone: 4-7
  • Light: Full sun
  • Water: Medium watering
Common Pests
  • Leaf miners
  • Soft scale
  • Leafhoppers

Looking at the colorful flowers of the Symphyotrichum oblongifolium plant, you’d surely want to add this place to your yard.

It attracts beneficial insects to the yard, so other plants will benefit from it. Something special about this plant is that it starts flowering in fall, so when the bloom of other plants in your yard is almost over, the beauty of your yard can be retained.

Aromatic asters need medium watering. This means that the soil should never run dry, as these plants are not drought-hardy. Also, you can grow them in clay or sand if you like, you just need to make sure that the soil stays well-drained.

10. Joe-Pye Weed

Joe Pye Weed

Plant Specifications
  • Size: 6-8 feet tall
  • Colors: Purple flowers
Native to
  • United States 
  • Canada
Care Requirements
  • USDA hardiness zone: 4-8
  • Light: Full or partial sun
  • Water: Consistent moisture
Common Pests
  • Beetles
  • Grasshoppers
  • Slugs

Looking for a beautiful flower that will give your yard the sweetest smell possible? Grow the Eupatorium fistulosum plant.

The sweet smell of this plant is so strong that it easily attracts bees, butterflies, and other pollinators to the plant. This means that even though this beautiful plant is suitable for landscaping, you should also consider growing it near your gardens to help your garden plants produce more fruits.

These plants grow like weeds, so they are very easy to care for. Always control their growth by regularly pruning them so that they do not encroach on the space of other plants. Also, ensure that the soil is well-drained, as these plants do not grow well in compacted soil.

Conclusion

Wildflowers are amazingly beautiful, right? Here are some reminders from this article:

  • Some native plants that you can grow are American vervains, aromatic asters, and columbines.
  • Growing nasturtiums will benefit other plants in the yard, as they attract beneficial insects.
  • The clover plant will not just beautify your yard; it will help enrich the soil with nitrogen for your other plants.
  • If you are looking for a plant that will beautify your yard when other plants are no longer in bloom, grow the Bishop’s weed plant.
  • No matter the wildflower that you choose to grow, ensure that you know and stick to its growing conditions.

Which wildflower would you like to grow in your garden? Remember to follow the useful wildflower garden maintenance tips in this article so that you can grow the plant effortlessly.

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