From Lawn to Urban Meadow: My Wildflower Lawn Guide

My wildflower lawn has turned my house into the talk of the town. Everyone loves it! What was once a drab, uneven, and neglected lawn has turned into an urban meadow that is not only stunning but incredibly low maintenance and eco-friendly. Here’s how to transform your property using a wildflower alternative lawn mix!

When I moved into my new home, I knew it would need a ton of tender loving care to get it into a working and beautiful space. But I was up for the challenge!

The first challenge I gave myself was completely revamping the front lawn. The space was a mixture of uneven ground that quickly filled with water in my rainy Pacific Northwest climate. The lawn was patchy and very neglected.

It was a big UGH.

I’m happy to say that my front lawn is now one of my biggest sources of joy…and that’s because of wildflowers! The previous homeowners struggled with the turf grass for over a decade. But in one gardening season, it completely transformed into a neighbourhood hot spot.

I want to shout from the rooftops that everyone needs to give up the old and demanding process of a front turf lawn and opt for a wildflower lawn instead. If you’re looking for a sign to transform your lawn, now is the time.

If you start seeding today, your lawn can look as beautiful as mine in less than a month. You can seed a wildflower lawn in one weekend and have low maintenance, no watering, no lawn for the entire year.

Let me show you how I turned my front lawn into the heavenly meadow it is today. And keep reading to the end for my wildflower lawn giveaway!

• My Front Yard Wildflower Lawn
• What Bloomed Well?
• Is My Wildflower Lawn Treadable?
• My Wildflower Lawn Planting Methodology
• When to Plant Your Wildflower Lawn
• Sun vs Shade Germination
• Watering Needs
• Mowing My Wildflower Lawn
• A Wildflower Lawn in the Winter
• Wildflower Lawn Mix Giveaway and Discount Code!
• More Alternative Lawn Ideas to Try

Sponsored Content: I’m thrilled to be working with West Coast Seeds for this post. I planted my wildflower lawn over a year ago, and it just turned into the most beautiful and low-maintenance front yard. If you’re looking to change your turf into an alternative lawn, I highly recommend you check out their lawn solutions and use my code Gardentherapy15 for 15% off your lawn mix.

My Front Yard Wildflower Lawn

My front yard project began in the fall when I planted over 1500 bulbs in my front garden to create a bulb lawn in the spring. I won’t go into detail here, but you can read all about that project in this post!

So, in the spring, while enjoying the first blooms of the season from my bulb lawn, I pondered what kind of wildflower lawn mix I would use. Since I loved the flower bulbs so much, I thought, why not keep the flower train chugging along?

I ended up choosing the West Coast Seeds Alternative Lawn Mix Wildflowers. Here’s what’s in the mix:

• Baby blue eyes (Nemophila menziesii)
• California poppy (Eschscholzia californica)
• Creeping daisy (Chrysanthemum paludosum)
• Dwarf California poppy (Eschscholzia caespitosa)
• Five spot (Nemophila maculate)
• Hard fescue (Festuca trachyphylla)
• Johnny jump-up (Viola cornuta)
• Sheep fescue (Festuca ovina)
• Sweet Alyssum (Lobularia maritima)
• White Dutch clover (Trifolium repens)
• Wild thyme (Thymus pulegioides)
• Yellow daisy (Chrysanthemum multicaule)

What Bloomed Well?

What I really loved about the wildflower lawn was the succession of the flowers throughout the year. It’s clear West Coast Seeds put into consideration bloom times so that you would have flowers from spring until fall (or even the winter, in my case).

The first thing to bloom was the baby blue eyes. At one point, my lawn looked like a field of these soft blue flowers. It was so pleasing to the eyes and made me feel so happy.

Then, the sweet alyssum and creeping daisy started to grow. Alongside the baby blue eyes, they bloomed all together, and this is when my yard was really at the most lush.

The sweet alyssum was probably my favourite addition. It started early, grew extremely well in the shade or sun, bloomed the entire season, and still looked nice into December until the hard freeze in January when it died. Yes, it made it all the way to January!

The alyssum looked beautiful alongside my dry river, sweeping around the edges and creating beautiful dried grasses. People would walk into my yard and be overwhelmed by their beautiful aroma.

The white Dutch clover also grew really well, adding a nice carpet of green beneath the wildflowers.

The five spot was also a surprise hit. Thanks to their unique colouring, I picked all of them and used them for eco-printing.

Later in the summer, the California poppies started to bloom. They were absolutely showstopping, with gorgeous vibrant orange shades creating an incredible contrast against the blues.

Around six varieties performed incredibly well in my yard. Not all of the flowers grew in my garden because the conditions weren’t perfect. Certain parts grew better in the shady parts of my lawn. But that’s what’s great about a mix—those best suited to the local conditions will sprout and thrive.

Is My Wildflower Lawn Treadable?

Since this is my front yard, it won’t be getting a lot of traction. Kiddo is no longer a little, and I don’t need to worry about using it as a play space or somewhere for Ozzie to play ball.

So I’m totally okay with it growing about a foot tall or a bit taller. For most of the season, it was only 6-12 inches tall. The highest it got was when the poppies started growing.

If you or your animals step on it, the flowers will flop down where they’ve been and take a while to bounce back up. But they will eventually.

If you want something you can walk on without issues, you’ll want a different mix. That’s exactly what I did for my backyard. I went for the Bee Turf Alternative Lawn Mix instead since you can still walk on it and mow it like a lawn, but it requires less water and maintenance than conventional lawns. And it’s also great habitat and forage for pollinators!

Mid-way through the summer, I ended up changing my design a bit to allow myself to get to the backyard easier if I wanted to get from the front.

A dry river ended up being the perfect solution. I removed a section of the already blooming wildflower lawn and weaved dry river stones through. This helped move water away from the house when it rained (this house had a major drainage problem) and gave me a pathway through the wildflower lawn.

You can learn more about my dry river project in this post.

My Wildflower Lawn Planting Methodology

To prepare my lawn, I covered it with 3” of a lawn topsoil mix. West Coast Seeds suggests that you remove as much vegetation as possible to loosen up the soil, but I had planted over 1500 bulbs in my lawn previously, so I didn’t want to dig those up.

Seeds require direct contact with soil to germinate, so a top dressing will support germination. Depending on the existing soil conditions, you can use soil, compost, or a mix of sand and soil.

I sowed the wildflower mix three times: February, March, and April. I planned it so I sowed the seeds right before it would rain so I didn’t have to water, and it would stay wet enough for the seeds to germinate.

Once I scattered the seeds, I used a straight rake to evenly spread the seeds through the top 1-2” of soil for the first sowings. It’s also a good idea to lightly tamp down with your feet so the seeds stay in place. For subsequent sowings, I didn’t rake so I would not hurt any of the already germinated seedlings.

Lawn solutions can be spread by hand or by using a seed spreader and following the manufacturer’s instructions. Since my space is small, I spread mine by hand.

My best tip: withhold 15-20% of the seeds so you can fill in any patchy areas after the first germination. It’s also important to remember that establishing a lawn solution can take more than one season.

When to Plant Your Wildflower Lawn

I ended up planting my lawn earlier than expected. West Coast Seeds suggests you plant two weeks before your last frost date, but we had a strange winter, to say the least.

We had a very warm spell in mid-winter, and I saw this as an opportunity to get a head start on the lawn. After all, due to the topsoil and rain, the lawn was mud at this point!

I seed three times in February, March, and April.

This worked out really well for me. Yes, I definitely had some losses, as I saw some heaving after we got a big frost (see below). Because I seeded really early, some of the less hardy seeds that sprouted heaved, but I didn’t mind at all since there were also plenty of hardier seedlings in the mix that would grow in my conditions.

I’ll say, I definitely overseeded. West Coast Seeds suggests that 500g should cover 1,000 sq. ft., and I pretty well doubled that to ensure I would have good succession. To say my wildflower lawn is luscious is an understatement!

It was important to me to choose a blend with varieties that would grow and naturalize easily in my garden.

Sun vs Shade Germination

The sunniest part of the yard had the most and earliest blooms. The plants right by my shady fence all grew, but I supplemented it with some shade turf grass to fill in some of the spaces since some of the flowers weren’t growing without any sunshine.

But that is just the small patch along the fence. It looks pretty even overall. People on the street always stop to look at the lawn, and I get so many compliments for it. It’s the talk of the neighbourhood!

Watering Needs

I didn’t water my lawn once. NO extra water has been needed.

It’s the number one question I get from people who pass by on the street as they ask me how much water it needs.

One of the reasons I planted it early on was so that I could get the seeds in right before it rained. I live in a very rainy climate, so I didn’t need any supplemental watering while the seeds were young and germinating.

According to West Coast Seeds, the lawn should only need water during long periods of hot and dry weather, so they should be able to handle most of the summer without any additional water, which is not something the conventional lawn can say!

Mowing My Wildflower Lawn

I never mowed my wildflower lawn. The wildflower lawn mix is a blend that isn’t intended to be mowed. The plants mature and go to seed, planting themselves and continuing to grow like a meadow.

West Coast Seeds suggests controlling growth with a string trimmer, but if you really want a manicured look, mow once a month to 2 ½ to 3 inches. Keep in mind that the more you mow, the fewer blooms you have.

If you want something more manicured, a low-growing alternative lawn mix like the one I have in my backyard would probably be a better option for you, and you still only need to mow once a month.

A Wildflower Lawn in the Winter

In the fall, I tried to overwinter some of the seeds to see if they’d germinate. Many of the plants in the package are annuals, and West Coast Seeds suggests reseeding each spring to get the best display of flowers.

But perennials in the mix will also naturalize and reseed themselves. In the late fall, I topped the bare spots with some soil and leaf mulch and then added seedlings to see what would overwinter.

As I mentioned, my sweet alyssum bloomed all the way until January, when the hard frost killed it.

Here’s what my front yard looked like for most of the cold season.

And there you have it! That’s how my wildflower lawn turned out, and I absolutely couldn’t recommend it enough. I won’t have to mow or water my lawn, and the bees are absolutely loving it.

If you have any questions about growing your own wildflower lawn, let me know in the comments below, and I’ll answer them as soon as I’m able.

Wildflower Lawn Mix Giveaway and Discount Code!

Thanks to West Coast Seeds, I’m giving away one Alternative Lawn Wildflower Mix to a garden therapy reader.

To enter, leave a comment below about your wildflower lawn plans. The winner will be chosen using a random number generator on March 31, 2025. This contest is open to Canada (except Quebec) and the US.

In addition, you can use the code GardenTherapy15 at checkout to get 15% off any size lawn solution for the month of March. The code is stackable with the free shipping over $99 offer!

If you’re unsure what lawn mix is best for your yard, you can take West Coast Seed’s lawn solutions quiz to help find the best product for your conditions.

More Alternative Lawn Ideas to Try

• Design and Plant a Front Yard Bulb Garden and Lawn
• Trying to Grow a Lawn in Shade? Try This Instead
• What is Now Mow May? And Does it Actually Help Pollinators?
• What is Chaos Gardening? And Why You Should Try It
• Raking Leaves in Your Yard? Stop What You’re Doing!
• The 25 Best Practices for Regenerative Gardening