Rocky Mountain Gardening: Wildflower seeds, 1 by nele

nele wrote:
My first season of gardening in the foothills above Denver has been a mixed bag, as expected! My successes have been zinnia, cosmos, dianthus, trumpet vine (though the darn thing didn't flower), johnny-jump-ups,...mostly easy things. Failures were portulaca (elk snacked them right down to the ground), potentilla (these were established but I think the wet weather drowned them), geraniums in the window boxes (I think I planted them too deep), etc etc.

But the wildflowers in some of the flower bed are just incredible, and they're all setting seed now. My question is, what's the best way to propagate the wild columbine, skullcap, phlox, flax, around my yard? Should I harvest the seed, and broadcast it before the snow flies? Should I scratch up the soil a bit before doing that? I know some of the seeds would scatter and establish naturally, but I was just wondering if I could help it out a bit, and get even more wildflowers next year.

Thanks in advance!