Wildflower doesn't necessarily mean native flower. Find out what's in your seed packet before unintentionally planting problems.

Background of flowers with the words Planting Wildflower Mixes: Is it really a good idea?

I recently overheard someone at the grocery store picking up a package of mixed wildflower seeds and saying to the cashier, “I’m just going to sprinkle these around my property and see what pops up. I’d love to attract more butterflies!”. A joyful thought about the upcoming spring season and the possibility of creating a beautiful mix of flowers to support local wildlife. What could be so dangerous about that?

With claims like “pollinator beneficial”, “butterfly and hummingbird mix”, “backyard biodiversity”, it seems that planting a wildflower seed mix would be an excellent ecological choice for gardeners looking to increase plant diversity in their landscapes. However, with little to no regulation, many seed mixes actually include invasive plants and high proportions of non-native plants. Not exactly beneficial or a good ecological choice. (For definitions of native, non-native and invasive plants, click here.)

What is a wildflower anyway?

According to the Oxford dictionary, it is “a flower growing in natural conditions, not planted by somebody”. Sounds pretty vague, doesn’t it? So by definition, you can end up with pretty much any kind of plant on your land when you spread these packages (although technically, if you spread them, they aren’t defined as wildflowers anymore!). Adding to this vague definition, there are minimal regulations about which seeds are allowed to be sold in which region.

Why are native plants the better ecological choice?

Native plants have existed in their ecosystems for thousands of years, co-evolving with native insects to form symbiotic relationships. The plant provides specialized food for the insect and the insect uses their specialized body parts and feeding behaviours to pollinate the plant, thus ensuring survival of both. Many insects rely entirely on one type of plant for a food source during one of their stages of growth. A well known example is that of the monarch and the milkweed - adults lay their eggs on milkweed plants which are the only food they can eat in their caterpillar stage. These interactions provide the richness of biodiversity and fuel the entire food chain.

With declining biodiversity and struggling populations of critical animals like butterflies and bees, planting native species is now more important than ever.

Seed companies, marketing companies and big-box stores are interested in sales, and are not bound by regulations to sell plants to their native regions. But they do know that most people want to support biodiversity, pollinators and birds, so that’s the key information they highlight on their packaging. Oftentimes, they don’t include a list of the species that are in the mix, or they use common names instead of botanical names. Why is this an issue? If you don’t know what you’re planting, you can’t make an informed decision and you may unintentionally be planting problems instead of solutions. Common names vary by language, culture and region, while botanical names are scientifically defined species. If you know the botanical name, you can reliably research its origins and find out if it is native to your region or if it is listed as an invasive species. You can easily search the Database of Vascular Plants of Canada, or the USDA Plant Database to find out if a species is native to your region.

A study at the University of Washington found that of the 19 different wildflower seed packages tested (with marketing words like “meadow mixture” and “backyard biodiversity”), each of them contained from 3 to 13 invasive species. And many of them were not listed on the packaging. This makes it impossible for the consumer to know if they’re making a good choice or not.

One star out of five. A paragraph by an ecologist recommending people not to plant the seeds under review because they contain invasive plants.

A warning on the reviews page for a “Pollinator-friendly wildflower seed mix” that “Grows anywhere in the US”.

A package with the name wildbloom seeds and a drawing of a butterfuly, sitting on top of a pile of seeds.

Let’s look at what plants are in this company’s Partial Shade Wildflower Mix, which is advertised as bee and butterfly friendly. If you live in southeastern Canada or the northeastern US, how many of these plants are considered native to your region? Are any of them listed as invasive? Will any of them support specialist insects like the painted lady butterfly, the monarch or our many native bee species?

A list of plants including botanical names and status of native, non-native and invasive.

Surprisingly, only two plants are considered native to the eastern regions of North America; Coreopsis lanceolata and Echinacea purpurea. Two plants are on the invasive list (Centaurea cyanis and Myosotis sylvatica) and the majority are non-native. Many of the non-native plants have aggressive spreading tendencies that may eventually land them on the list of invasives. Designed to look pretty, but not to provide much needed support to our local insect and bird populations.

A map of the world with plant names listed by continent. Europe has the longest list.

When we look at their native ranges, we can see that most of these plants are from Europe, which reflects the legacy of colonization that has been prevalent in North American landscaping practices since at least the 19th century.

When we are trying to boost biodiversity and support struggling populations of insects and birds, planting invasive species is the worst thing we can do, and planting plants native to far away places isn't exactly helpful.

So what is best when it comes to seeding?

PEI Invasive Plant Council recommends avoiding seed mixes and looking for packages of single species that include their full scientific name on the label. You can then search the species on VASCAN and find out if it’s native to your region.

The Invasive Species Council of BC recommends checking with your local invasive species committee to see if any of the listed seeds are invasive in your area.
The Invasive Species Centre warns about mixes that include bachelor’s button or baby’s breath, and recommends following regional resources like Ontario’s Grow Me Instead to learn more about which species to avoid.

The best things you can do to make sure you are seeding plants native to your ecosystem:

read the label on the package
(no botanical names = don’t buy it! not native to your region = don’t buy it!)

purchase seed from a local native plant supplier
(see resources below)
demand changes to regulations
(Canadian Coalition for Invasive Plant Regulation).

In the end, the responsibility falls on us, the consumers, to make informed choices. While we wait for regulations to catch up, we can skip the generic wildflower seed mixes and opt for native seeds that will help restore our ecosystems. In this way, we will still be creating beautiful gardens but they will also provide healthy habitats for butterflies, bees and birds to thrive!

Wildflower seeds should be native to your region, like these Helenium autumnale (sneezeweed), Lobelia siphilitica (blue lobelia), Eurybia macrophylla (bigleaf asters) and Solidago canadensis (goldenrod) - native to much of eastern North America, valuable food and habitat for insects, and stunning in the garden too!

Interested in adding native flowering plants to your land? Send us a message to find out what you can do to boost biodiversity in your ecosystem.

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