Ecosystem-friendly wildflower seed mixes

Series

This is bonus content for #02 of How to Save the World With Plants: “What is a wildflower?”

Do no harm

If you decide to plant a non-native flower, please especially avoid species that are on the state or national Invasive Species databases such as Invasive Plant Atlas of the United States. Plants that have become invasive in one area have already shown their potential to cause problems if conditions change.

Common non-native species to avoid in “wildflower” mixes

These species are often quick indicators that a mix is not all native species. But, check every species in the your list! If species aren’t listed at all, don’t buy them.

As an example, I searched for wildflower mixes on the Walmart website and couldn’t find any mixes that were all native species. If you are buying your seeds at a big box store, you will probably need to buy individual packets of native species and they generally have only a small selection. You can also ask the store to start carrying native species.

Borderline species that are from the Americas but pretty far away

Oddly, most of these species aren’t in “wildflower” mixes very often. I see cosmos in mixes the most. Perhaps they are perceived as “landscape” specimen plants instead?

  • Cosmos
    • They will share some host plant and nectar associations with pollinators here
    • The one species native to the United States, Cosmos parviflorus, is not the commonly sold species
    • Two of the most commonly cultivated species (Cosmos sulphureus and C. bipinnatus) have become naturalized, which means they have escaped cultivation to become invasive
  • Marigolds (Tagetes species)
    • Again, they are generally indigenous to the ecosystems farther south than the Great Plains
    • They will share some host plant and nectar associations with pollinators here, but still have a risk of escaping cultivation, especially as the weather changes
  • Zinnias
    • They will share some host plant and nectar associations with pollinators here
    • Z. elegans and others have occasionally escaped cultivation much farther south from us in central Oklahoma. Right now they are probably not a major invasive risk (in my personal opinion) relative to many other commonly cultivated non-native species
    • Z. grandiflora is a small species native to western Oklahoma, but is not a great substitute for where we usually garden with cultivated Zinnias, which prefer more moisture

Native “wildflower” mixes to substitute

I only know of one Oklahoma-specific and two Texas-specific seed mix vendors, which I list below. (Feel free to contact me with others if you know of them!)

Even other North American native seed mix sources are from other regions and are less likely to have success here. Some examples:

  • Prairie Moon’s seed mixes, for example, are great in the northern Great Plains where they are based. I stick to buying individual species only from them though, as I’ll get more success for my money that way.

  • High Country Gardens labels their native seed mixes well, but again they share only limited species with us. Even their Little Prairie Mix and Native Midwest Mix has some species that probably wouldn’t thrive or even germinate here.

Known native-only wildflower mixes suitable for central Oklahoma

Each of these sources has a few caveats but you can get quality, known seed mixes from them.

Johnston Seed Co.

We are fortunate to have Johnston Seed Co.’s individual species seeds as well as three mixes that should do well here in central Oklahoma. These mixes are most likely to have a good chance here!

Beware, the “Wildflower Mix” listed in the wildflower page actually contains multiple non-native species, including Dame’s Rocket which is invasive in some parts of North America.

Additionally, they sell other non-native seeds, so choose any grasses or other flowers carefully. For example, many of the wildlife mixes contain or are majority non-native species.

Moving on to their central-Oklahoma-suitable-mixes!

  • Pollinator Mix

  • Okies for Monarchs Wildflower Eastern Mix or Western-Central Mix

    • The lists are almost identical, and most species in both will do well in the average conditions here

    • However, they advertise Western-Central for Cleveland County, so if it’s available, go with the one for your map since it looks like they sometimes make decisions about which species to use by availability

  • Yard by Yard mix

Native American Seed

Most of this company’s seed mixes would do well here, but I’ve selected mixes here that most closely match what we need in central Oklahoma. Check their descriptions of moisture, sun, and soil needs. Norman is generally clay, sand, or loam.

Unfortunately I do have one caveat to this company. In their marketing materials, they depict even specific Native American Tribes as mystical and historical. For example, in one seed mix description, they write as if the Comanche Tribe is gone. However, over 20,000 people are in this Tribal Nation and their government is currently based out of Lawton. You can read more about other Tribal Nations and Indigenous communities around the United States and world. Most relevant to our topic of native plants are how many groups are successfully reclaiming stewardship of their lands, often called Landback. Some Oklahoma examples are the Tribal Alliance for Pollinators and Tribal Environmental Action for Monarchs.

That being said, for now Native American Seed is one of the most reliable sources for native species of plant seeds. They have a good variety of species and with climate change, seeds and plants from a little bit south of us are valuable.

Flowers only

Includes grasses

Native grasses are host plants for many of our pollinators, as well as providing hollow stems for overwintering bees. This company has many other grass-only mixes as well as

Wildseed Farms

Wildseed Farms is also based out of central Texas, but they have a relatively limited selection and mostly sell non-native seeds. Occasionlly they have individual species that can be hard to find elsewhere.

American Meadows

Even one of their “native” mixes has a South American species in it; they do list it, but you have to read “what is in the mix” to get to that fact.

Here are their few mixes that were all North American species as of my check in February 2026.

Back to top