This TikToker Says Your Wildflower Mix Is Not What You Think It Is — Here's Why
Your wildflower seed mixes might not contain wildflowers at all — here's what one social media user has to say about the matter.
Mar. 20 2024, Published 3:29 p.m. ET
Whether you're a beginner to gardening or an experienced planter, if you are in the market for wildflower seeds, you may want to be extra diligent about what you buy. One TikTok user showed their audience the ingredients in a bag, and as it turns out, the packaging might be lying to you.
Although from the outside the bag of wildflower mix shown in the TikTok looks like any other, the ingredients listed that less than half of the product contains actual seed — the rest is comprised of other materials.
Keep reading for one social media user's shocking exposé and what it means for your seed purchasing habits.
Wildflower seed packs may not contain much seed at all.
In a TikTok posted on Jan 31, 2024, user 2 Quacks & 5 Clucks Farm posted about a two-pound Earth Science Perennial Wildflower Mix bag. The product is $10 and seems, on the surface, like a good deal. But once you start looking at the ingredients, you may reconsider.
In the video, the user flipped the bag over to make his point. The list of ingredients as he read them suggested that only 1.83 percent of the entire bag was wildflower seed. 98.15 percent was "Inert Matter," or what 2 Quacks & 5 Clucks Farm calls filler. The final 0.01 percent is listed as "Other Crop."
You can find this exact bag of wildflower mix available at various online retailers. If you're concerned about the ingredients, you might notice that at least online, the wildflower mix has the ingredients list removed from product photos.
2 Quacks & 5 Clucks Farm compares this to another wildflower seed brand called Hoss. He states that what you see is what you get with Hoss brand products.
As a word of caution, this TikTok user does seem to sell Hoss products. Not only is he wearing a t-shirt with the brand's logo, but he also references a link in his bio where you can purchase the wildflower mix ... and doesn't show the ingredients on the bag.
People in the comments have mixed reactions to this TikTok.
While there were some people in 2 Quacks & 5 Clucks Farm's TikTok comments thanking them for the info, others seemed skeptical. One person asked to see something planted with Hoss' wildflower mix to see the results, while another commenter said they hadn't had a great experience with the product.
"I ended up buying Hoss and not a single flower came up," said the commenter. "I bought burpee and planted them elsewhere and saw germination within two weeks."
Of course, the results can vary depending on all kinds of factors. Other mixes from other brands like Burpee's Hummingbird Butterfly Mix lists percentages for what the mix includes on the Walmart website.
There are different factors to keep in mind when buying wildflower mix.
When shopping for a wildflower mix, keep in mind that no one garden is the same. Luckily, there are a number of different options. Eden Brothers features wildflower mixes like specialty, regional, color theme mixes, and more.
It may take time to find the right mix for you and your garden, but the benefits will outweigh the cons when all those pollinators join your garden and your plants begin to bloom.
