Eddy wrote:
..

So I took this idea back to West Wales with me and ordered a vast
quantity of wildflower mix, weeded and tilled and sowed all in
accordance with the best directions to be found (in fact, I think
people on this group gave me a lot of help). And the next year, wow,
what a show! In autumn I did the prescribed and mowed the whole
area down. Come spring, however, I noted that grasses and buttercups
were getting a grip. I pulled out as much as I could but this
wildflower area of ours was about 50 feet by 30 feet and I am afraid
the grasses and ranunculus won. The second year, only the toughest
wildflowers managed to compete. The third year, we had the most
blinding blaze of shining buttercups for three weeks and in the
entire area not more than a handful of wildflowers.

Mr Darwin had a way to explain this! I am afraid that this is the way of
things, unless you have grass-free and "rank-weed" free seed at the start,
and even then your area will eventually fall to those very successful
species. Some years ago you could have used alloxydim (now no longer
available) to get rid of the grass, but this would have been rather
pointless as it would have eventually blown in from elsewhere.

There are areas in the south of France where wildflowers abound
naturally. And there are fields on certain Greek islands which are
full of them too. So a lack of moisture is clearly one factor. I'ld
also seriously look into the ground-type of those areas.

It is probably more due to pretty infertile soil than moisture, although the
latter plays a part. The world's best wildflower displays are in
impoverished soils.

Good luck.

I'll second that.

--
Jeff
(cut "thetape" to reply)