Poor soil is best, grow them hard. I think you can buy ready mixtures of wild flowers where presumably proportions are already factored in

Lovely tree BTW

Many of the best wild flowers - Echanacea, Rudbeckia, Coreopsis, Gallardias, Poppies, Lupins prefer a lean gritty soil. I would take a trip to the spring garden center and pick up a few flats. Planting plugs or starter plants (seedlings) will get you off to a good start. You can still sprinkle in wild flower seeds. Look to the native plants, butterfly plants for species in your area.

Thank you I have now ordered some of the suggested seeds.Do you think the ivy will spring up again?

My advice would be to buy a pre mixed seed too and you can always buy wildflower plug plants to supplement what you have growing. exciting times.
the ivy may well re grow so keep an eye out and dig them out as soon as you see them.

The wild flowers will self seed. You should not have to buy new seeds every year, plus the birds will bring in new varieties from afar. I think this is an excellent idea.

THANK you all. I am getting quite excited about it . the area is 40 ft wide by 12 ft at its narrowest and about 16 ft deep for most of it. I just have to pull up all the ivy roots !! It is covered with twigs and debris fom the fallen trees but if i limit myslf to half an hour a day I shall get there. I am 86 and I remember lying in fields full of flowers with the insects humming around. I shall not do that this time though. Although you never know!

I wouldn't go for digging over, reseeding and sowing wildflower seeds at all. Wildflowers from seed look lovely in the first half of the first year but much less so after that and can look very untidy in the second half of summer, and as none of us is getting any younger you won't want to keep reseeding.(I've never seen one that looks anything like as good in the second year) Possibly better to plan for increasing age as lots of us are beginning to have to do. I would simply cut the grass once before you start and then use tough self seeding perennials of the kind that do grow wild - I've seen all of them growing wild at one time or another.

I would put some English bluebell bulbs next Autumn under that gorgeous Magnolia and some snowdrops too - buy snowdrops after flowering is over as they respond best when planted "in the green" - its much more difficult to grow them from bulbs.They are not happy everywhere but it well worth trying as they spread like mad if happy.. Daffodils would be great and with the right selection could have a long season. I'd choose the smaller varieties because large King Alfreds and the like tend to look wrong in a wild setting. It is still possible to get bulbs of the little wild ones.
. Foxgloves are nice and easy and will seed themselves and so will aquilegias, and they will both revert to wild ones as they seed themselves..
Golden rod and Michaelmas daisies naturalise well and are tough as well as colourful,but avoid fancy new varieties, as they look wrong in a wild setting. Oxeye daisies are happy in meadows and vergeswith no care.. Wild primroses and cowslips should come up and spread if happy where you are and you only need a few to start with but they won't grow in longish grass..
These can all be put in as plants, you wouldn't need many and you'd only need to remove the grass where you want to plant.
That shady corner is asking for deciduous ferns, which would make a lovely foil for the bluebells.

This is more effort initially than just broadcasting some seed but would only need doing once and then could be left to get on with it. Plants that are happy will establish and any wrong choices will gracefully disappear. If you wanted to remove dandelions etc. you could use a spot weeder. If you want a tidy up you could strim once judiciously in the autumn.

Oh and red clover...sorry about the essay...

A second for ox eye daisy. Round here the councils have sown / planted them on roadside verges and they look lovely & I assume care free

Well thank you so much. I have planted in advance snowdrops and other small bulbs around the base of the magnolia. They are coming up nicely despite the best efforts of a squirrel who insists on pulling up the bulbs and replanting them up upside down. Whole area is in full sun now. I cant wait to rake up all the twigs and scatter the seed. I shall keep in touch and post pics as we go along. There are bluebells coming up well already and on the sawn off stumps I have nailed 11 black tubs which are planted with hyacinths , tete a tete and other small bulbs.

I love the idea and I think Stera is right in saying starting from scratch as 'they' tell you to do is not viable when you get to a certain age! Bung some hardy natives in as plants, scatter some seeds and see what happens. Don't forget the Yellow Rattle as it will weaken the grass roots. Poppies, which look lovely are field flowers and need the soil turned every year, but if you need Poppies and Cornflowers you could plant some in pots and drop them into the ground for the year. The bees won't thank you for getting rid of the Dandelions Stera, but will love you for the red clover.

Thank you for your advice . I think I will post pics now , during and after. What do you think

True Honey. Much depends on the direction of the prevailing wind.... Must admit in the summer a daily task is to take a litre jug and fill it with dandelions off the lawn. There never get to be any fewer. If the prevailing wind blows toward neighbours' gardens - including yours - you can imagine the results. And bees will prefer clover. Actually we get more little black flies than bees on the dandelions.

You’ve had plenty of good advice. I look forward to seeing it. The magnolia is spectacular and will cast a lot of shade, but you could always plant some ferns under there...they are native and would also give some winter interest. I love the wintergreen ones.

Just pulling out ivy roots. I would love to post pic of site before I rake it over how do I post a pic here

I think you can...edit question maybe? And add it there? If not...write a blog and put it in that. Or even just a photo with a title that refers to the question?

I look forward to following this wild plot. I agree with Stera re the completely sown wild flower meadows, they look nice for a bit & then go over. The perennial mixture is a much better idea. Do please put on some pics & let us see how it progresses.

I can confirm what others have said. The first year my wildflower strip was lovely. This last summer it was mostly grasses and Rose Campion. I do love that, but I preferred a bit more variety. I didn't have any poppies or cornflowers or even oxeye daisies to speak of last year. And dandelions are also creeping back in. The thing is....when you start nurturing wild natives, you end up with what thrives in your area. Here, what thrives is Dandelions, Docks and Creeping Buttercup!

Here dandelion, daisy, primroses . daffodils in bud already

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