You Have to Know Your Seedlings

Wild Petunia - Ruellia caroliniensis

As I continue to plant, remove the previous grass, and see the impacts of summer rains and exposed soil, more and more seedlings emerge from the bare soil I have created in my wildflower area. The vast majority of them are weeds and I weed in this area daily. In my mind anyway, a weed is anything I did not intend to plant. It doesn't matter to me if it has some tenuous connection to nativity. A great many things that are native have no place in my wildflower collection. A good example is the native yellow wood sorrel (Oxalis corniculata). Yellow wood sorrel has little appeal to me as I have no idea what its presence supports in this landscape. It pops up everywhere in what is left of my lawn and it is welcome there, but if left to its own devices it would pop up everywhere among my wildflowers too. I prefer to use that space for species that I have targeted and whose roles I am trying to foster.
I have purposely planted in such a way that there is space between my plants. I want some open soil for ground-nesting bees to be able to use and for birds to dust in, but leaving bare soil puts a welcome mat out for weeds as well. The seed bank for my lawn weeds is tenacious and I pull the newly emerged seedlings out as the appear. When I first began, this was easy as none of my wildflowers and native grasses were blooming and going to seed. These days, however, that is not the case and it is imperative that I recognize those seedlings from those of the weeds.
Over time, many of my wildflowers will multiply, but only to the extent that I allow it. The tickseeds (Coreopsis spp.) are one such group. As common tickseed (C. leavenworthii) is an annual, it must be allowed to reseed if it is to persist. The black-eyed susans (Rudbeckia hirta) are biennials here in Florida and after they bloom later this fall or next spring I will have to let them reseed too. What this means, of course, is that I now have to pay close attention to each and every seedling that emerges from my bare soil because some of them are the "good guys."
Native wild petunia (Ruellia caroliniensis) has been blooming in several locations of my wildflower area for at least two months. As its seed capsules ripen, they split open forcibly and scatter the seed great distances away. Because of this, I find new seedlings nearly everywhere now. I have to have some restraint when I weed and to wait until at least the second set of leaves form so that I can recognize it from some of my least favorite weeds that start out looking pretty much the same.
As gardeners, learning to recognize the seedling forms of our plants is a necessity. Many of the folks I see posting to social media want to plant their wildflower areas with seed. This is a very risky approach if you cannot recognize the weeds from the intended targets. The seed bank in nearly every location we might plant in contains far more weed seeds than seeds of useful species, especially in areas that have been turf.  A wildflower "meadow", to be successful must allow for the reseeding of our target species; it must evolve over time, but to do that we also manage aggressively and eliminate the weeds as soon as they sprout and well before they get large enough to reseed too. Establishing a wildflower area is not a passive pastime; it requires vigilance especially in the early months. I've taken on the size of wildflower meadow that I feel I can adequately manage for now. I may extend it someday, but at this time it is just the right size.