Can wildflowers grow in clay soil?

Successfully growing anything in clay soil can be difficult and often leaves most people scratching their heads. However, did you know many species of wildflowers love clay soil? So, instead of digging up your garden soil and replacing it, why not try adding wildflowers for a delightful display of colour that also gives bees and pollinators more food?

How to grow wildflowers in clay soil

Clay soil can cause problems for most plants since it doesn’t drain water away too well. Likewise, in spring and summer clay soil can be extremely dry making it difficult to grow anything. Luckily, there are some wildflower species that are absolutely excellent at growing in both these extremes, and with a bit of prep work, growing wildflowers in clay soils is easy.

It’s worth noting that a special seed mix is required to take advantage of these nutrients and to get the best growth from clay soil. This dense soil can become waterlogged in winter and can crack during the dryness and heat of summer. But thankfully wildflowers are easy to grow and we have the perfect seed mix for clay soil.

If you’re unsure of what soil you have in your garden, then you can use our ‘find your soil type’ guide here.

When is the best time to sow wildflower seed?

We recommend sowing in autumn, this means that your garden, flower bed or border will be blooming with colour come spring. Furthermore, they are a great addition to your garden and they are simple to sow. And since they don’t require pruning, composting or feeding you will nearly forget you have sown them – until you see colour exploding from the ground!

Wildflower seed mixes offer an impressive variety of flowers, more so than what you would usually see in a typical garden. This offers a pleasing variation of beautiful flowers that bloom through spring and summer.

Wildflower seed for clay soil

We have expertly selected a range of seeds that love growing in these conditions and you can find them in our Clay Display wildflower seed mix.

This wildflower seed mix includes wildflower species like Red Clover, Oxeye Sunflower and Corn Poppy (to name a few) that are specially selected for their ability to overcome the difficult conditions that clay soil presents. It also offers a fantastic display of colour throughout the year thanks to the combination of annual and perennial wildflower seeds in the mix. On top of that, perennial wildflowers will continue to return year after year.

Now you know what will grow in clay soils, you can see our guide on how to sow wildflower seeds. You will also find our guide on how to maintain your wildflower meadow useful too.