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This Spring Take a Walk on the 'Wildflower' Side

(ARA) - Springtime. Time to start thinking about your flower beds and curb appeal. If you're tired of the same old annuals, or too many choices leave you bewildered where to begin, this spring consider thinking outside the planting box. Plant wildflowers. Lots of them.

In a world dominated by red geraniums, pink begonias and yellow marigolds, wildflowers possess a simple grace and elegance that will enhance any garden or landscape. Wildflowers can magically transform a bare patch of soil into a glorious garden. They constantly color your landscape all season long. No matter your soil or sunshine, wildflowers are the answer to beautiful, bountiful blooms that keep the garden alive with a continual dazzling display of color.

Wildflower gardens are gaining popularity for a variety of reasons:

• They require little maintenance. Native plants are already well suited to your location.

• Wildflowers offer a diversity of unusual foliage shapes and sizes and colorful blooms.

• They can be grown in hard-to-maintain areas -- corners, along fences, slopes that are difficult to mow or water.

• Wildflowers attract a number of garden-friendly visitors, such as birds and butterflies.

  Wherever you live, choose a location that gets six to eight hours of full sun and has good drainage. Most wildflowers can grow in heavy clay or less than fertile soils. The key to growing a hearty wildflower patch is to start with a good seedbed.

• Remove any existing weeds or grasses.

• Till the top 1 to 2 inches of soil. Tilling deeper than that will stir up thousands of dormant weed seeds and the wildflowers will struggle to get established.

• When planting wildflower seeds in a new garden area, don't fertilize unless your soil is extremely sandy; wildflowers don't need fertilizer. They are used to growing in average soils.

If you'd like to try your hand at growing wildflowers, you need to start with good seeds and the right mix for your geographical location. Ousidepride.com has done all the work for you offering a wide variety of wildflower seed mixes created specifically for your geographical region: Remember, a good wildflower mix contains both annuals and perennials. This gives the garden a wider variety of colors, heights and season-long blooms.

The Gulf Coast areas have special environmental conditions that makes this blend especially well suited for its conditions. This mix consists of perennials and annuals that adapt to moist conditions and tolerate rainfall as well as sunny conditions and extreme temperatures.

Midwestern Wildflower Mix is made up of 26 species chosen for their lasting blooms as well as their rugged ability to withstand the extreme temperatures of the Midwestern climates. The mix is approximately 50 percent annual and 50 percent perennial wildflowers.

Northeastern Wildflower Mix is designed specifically for the special needs of the Northeast. This attractive wildflower mix is made up of 19 species of which one third are annuals and the remaining are biennials or perennials.

Southwest Wildflower Mix is specifically designed for areas which have special needs, such as long, hot, dry summers or other similar conditions. This mix will do very well if planted in early to late spring, or as a dormant seeding in fall. The mix consists of annual and perennials.

Most people know a gardening guru-type, but the majority of gardeners are admittedly shy to try new plants, or blame themselves for less than stellar results. Wildflowers will change that and give gardeners fabulous flowers that get great results with minimum maintenance or fuss. This spring is the time to go "wild" right in your own back yard.

For additional information on OutsidePride's unique wild flower mixtures that are specially formulated on the basis of climatic conditions (rainfall, temperature range, humidity) and elevation; blended to give the widest possible range of colors and periods of bloom, visit www.OutsidePride.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent