Seed Volume

I think the thing that surprises people the most about our Seed Mixes is the actual volume of seed in the envelope. We don’t add any filler to conceal this because it would cost more money, take more time, require larger packaging and cost more for shipping. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t add some filler before you seed the mix but we just feel like you can do that when you seed it and this keeps unnecessary costs down. Peat, sand, vermiculite all work, even field soil would work – you can be creative.

I’ve had people say “That doesn’t look like 1800 seeds!” and I understand why people feel that way at first glance but when you stop and think about it, it’s not that surprising because most seeds are very small. Fireweed for example is a tiny seed but the plant itself grows to 5’ tall. One of the largest seeds we work with is Lupine seed and yet it is about 1/6th (or smaller) the size of a kernel of corn.

We are all used to the idea of seeding our sod forming lawns quite densely which works well for the purpose of a dense lawn. You would never think of seeding corn the way you seed grass and a full-grown Fireweed plant is almost equal in size to some varieties of corn; it wouldn’t make sense to seed Fireweed like grass seed either.

For our Seed Mixes we recommend a general seeding rate of 15-30 seeds per square foot, 15 if you are really looking after it and 30 if you are not able to give it as much care or it is less sheltered. If even one of those seeds germinates that is plenty, in most cases, once the plants are full grown.

This is a shot of one of our Dry/Rocky Seed Mix batches, the fluffy seeds like Prairie Crocus sit on top and the heavy small seeds fall to the bottom. This is exactly why we hand package each species into each mix so we can guarantee that each mix contains every species of wildflower listed on the envelope. If you have not yet read "What to expect when seeding Native Perennial Wildflower Mixes" we recommend that you check it out.