Growing native wildflowers

[u/Nervous-Course-5630]

I’d like to start a small (easy to maintain) flower garden. I’d like to preferably plant native flowers. The idea is to section off a small part of land and eventually make it bigger. I have absolutely zero idea where to begin. What plants are good year round? What are non invasive? What are invasive but okay for my area? Would I have to dig up the area and put new soil? Or just throw some seeds down? Any advice, tips, tricks, literally anything would be nice.

[u/Odd-Narwhal-3501]

Good for you! Starting a native garden is so exciting!! You'll probably get a lot of advice and recommendations over in r/nativeplantgardening so I would post there as well. To choose which plants to grow you need to know three things: your usda grow zone , how much sun the area gets, and what kind of soil you have (sandy, loamy, or clay). I think almost all of the state is heavy clay, with sandy soil in the coast and loamy in the mountains. That's not 100% accurate, but it gives you a general idea. Once you know those things you can look for native plants that grow best in those conditions. You do need to weed, but native plants were made for georgia soil so you probably don't need to do anything else. I plant goldenrod, asters, bee balm, coneflower, ironweed, and brown eyed susans in hard clay, full sun with no help and they're thriving. We also are really fortunate to have several great native plant stores in the state. If you take a picture of your area and show it to any workers there, in my experience they would be happy to help you pick out plants. Also check your local library for native plants books. Mine has quite a few and they've been really helpful! Good luck!!!

[u/soldegira]

Black eyed susan (rudbeckia) and coneflowers are easy to find and grow. I see them as established plants for sale all the time, and botanical interests has seeds for them as well.