A perfect mix of wildflowers producing nectar and pollen to help bees and pollinating insects!

Why there are annuals AND perennials in the packet. It isn't a chance of composition, it's the strategy of the mix itself. In the first year, the perennials spend most of their energy underground building roots and flower little or not at all: it's the annuals that give the colour and already feed the bees. From the second year on, the perennials take over and settle in for good, while several of the annuals self-seed. A mix of annuals alone is spectacular for one summer then vanishes; a mix of perennials alone is disappointing the first year. This one covers both.

Annuals: Borage, Common Poppy, Lemon Mint, Mignonette, Forget-me-not and Partridge Pea.

Perennials: Canada Columbine, Milkweed, New England Aster, Wild Bergamot, Lance-leaved Coreopsis, Purple Coneflower, Blanketflower, Lupines, Black-eyed Susan and White Clover.

Two species on that list deserve a mention. Milkweed is the monarch's host plant: it's the only thing its caterpillars eat, and its decline is one of the direct causes of the species' collapse. Sowing it is a concrete contribution to the migration. And the New England aster flowers in September and October, when almost everything else is finished: it's often the last meal of the season for the founding bumblebee queens that have to build reserves before overwintering.

Grower's tip: the most common failure with wildflowers has nothing to do with the seed, it comes from the soil. Sown into a lawn or grassy ground without preparation, they're smothered by the established grasses before they even emerge. You have to clear the surface, scratch down to bare soil, broadcast the seed, then press firmly without covering, with the back of a rake or by walking on it. Most of these seeds need light and good contact with the soil, not to be buried. One last thing: don't fertilize. Rich soil favours grasses and foliage at the expense of flowering.

• Open-pollinated.
• Sow ~4 g per 3 square metres.
• Prefers full sun or part shade.
• Sow directly outdoors early May to mid-June, or mid-September to late October.
• Press without covering: most of these seeds need light.
• Don't fertilize: rich soil favours grasses over flowers.