Comments regarding Stover Seed Company

Like the previous reviewer, I too bought my Stover seeds at my local Home Depot. I have sown both their California Native wildflower mixture and their western wildflower mix which includes nonnative species.

I followed sowing instructions carefully. In my western wildflower mix packet I got good germination rates overall. They did well in my dry california climate and a large percentage of the mix turned out to be california poppies. Other species included bachelors buttons, clarkias, scarlet flax and baby blue eyes. Drought tolerant, pretty, and the bees loved it.

The california native mixture germinated poorly by comparison, with the exception of the numerous california poppies once again. I would have had no lupines at all, except that I took special care to sort out, soak and plant the larger lupine seeds even though the instructions didn't mention this. I happen to know this because I have planted lots of peas and pea relatives like lupines over the years. The only lupine listed on the package was golden Lupine, but what came up was definitely NOT Golden Lupine. I still haven't identified it, but it is puny and disappointing with mauve/white flowers that do nothing to enhance or add beauty. Anyway, the other species that were listed on the packet (blue flax, white yarrow, clarkia, tidy tips, five spot, gilia tricolor, etc) did not germinate at all. I ended up with a native garden composed of only california poppies, a few 9 inch tall unidentified lupines, and one baby blue eyes. Sad.

If you buy any kind of wildflower mix from this company, be aware that they apparently use lots of cheap and abundant california poppy seeds as the bulk of their packet.