Gardening season can be tricky for people who want to have beautiful wildflowers in their yard without having to water them.
Perhaps deer are digging up your plants or maybe you just haven’t had time to water, but either way, sometimes your flowers need a break.
Having said that, many homeowners are now looking for ways to reduce their water bill.
Every drop counts!
If you don’t water your wildflowers, how long can they go without needing more?
Typically, wildflowers can go two to four weeks without needing more water.
So, if you’re planning a trip or think you might forget to water your garden, this is the perfect time to do it!
Some wildflower varieties are much more resilient than others, however.
For instance, California poppies and penstemons can go four to six weeks without water.
Claret cup cactus can go up to six months without needing more.
Fortunately, you don’t have to bring your wildflowers inside!
Read on to learn more on the watering schedule for your wildflowers.
Table of Contents
Watering wildflowers is necessary
Fertilizer is not the only thing that can help your wildflowers thrive.
There are lots of other things you can do to make sure they are happy and healthy this season like mulching and weeding.
In doing this, I’m sure you’ve noticed that some of your wildflowers were dying.
It might seem easier to just let them die and forget about it this year, but there are may be something that you still are not doing quite enough!
Caring for wildflowers can be tricky since there are so many things that could destroy them.
However, nurturing them doesn’t have to be a headache.
While it’s true that wildflowers can go long periods of time without water and still look beautiful, they will certainly prefer to be watered.
According to an article published in the American Society of Horticulture Science journal, wildflowers and native grasses can be very forgiving of soils and drought conditions. They merely stop growing during dry periods, then pick back up when it rains or when the sun comes out again.
They thrive in moist but not wet soil.
In fact, for seedlings to establish themselves after sowing, it’s important to keep the soil moist until the seeds germinate.
Keeping your flowers watered is just good practice for the long term health of your plants, especially during hot and dry seasons!
Wildflower seeds that have been through a drought will take longer to germinate than seeds that have had plenty of moisture.
Some may even need after-ripening, which is a process that dries them out before they germinate to determine potency. Natives are known for this post-drought germination.
Wildflower gardening is a great way to bring more beauty into your yard, but it might be especially hard if you don’t naturally have a green thumb.
How long can you go without watering flowers?
Now that you wildflowers need water, it’s important to know if they will survive without water for long periods of time.
It’s important to know what you can do during the hot summer months when your flowers need water, but it might also be useful to know if they can survive during those times.
Wildflowers are very resilient and it’s not that hard to keep them alive during the summer.
A study on perennial Australian herbaceous wildflower species to determine their responses to water deficit conditions found that only one of the three species examined (Orthosiphon aristatus) died during a water-deprivation cycle.
Even though the plants’ substrate water levels dropped as low as 5% on day 4, they were able to show little-to-no loss of turgor and survived.
Most wildflowers may survive for two to four weeks without needing to be watered.
However, for the most part, wildflowers will likely survive water stress conditions.
This just means that they are not able to grow as actively as they might have otherwise.
Even so, they are still very resistant and will keep growing for a long time if you water them enough!
If you want to be on the safe side, water them at least once or twice a week.
You can also use drip irrigation to water your plants.
Do wildflowers that grow in the shade blossom?
You might already have some wildflowers growing in your yard.
If you want to add more, it’s important to know what kinds of plants will grow in different areas and conditions.
There are many plants that can grow wild like dandelions, but some are not shade tolerant.
Different wildflowers will grow in different conditions.
A study published on Native Plants journal talks about the Canadian wild ginger (Asarum canadense) and its adaptability to shade and sun conditions.
It found that Canadian wild ginger has a positive reaction to less sun exposure.
It’s also hard to grow Epimedium in sunny areas because it requires moist, shady conditions. https://piedmontmastergardeners.org/article/epimedium/
Final words
Wildflowers can go a weeks without water, so not very long.
If you have wildflowers in your yard and don’t want to have to water them every day, consider planting drought-resistant varieties such as clover, everlasting pea, and gaillardia.
But if you have to water wildflowers twice a week or even less often in this heat, that should be enough to keep them thriving all summer long!
Wildflower seeds like some water and will sprout all on their own, so no need to plant them if you haven’t already!
Watering the garden in the morning is best because it gives the plants time to absorb the water throughout the day, when they’re usually hotter and thus need more water.
