It's the holiday season and if you're trying to find the right gift for the gardeners in your family, consider wildflowers. Although this isn't the time of year to plant wildflowers, it's the perfect time to get friends and family excited about them. The beauty of wildflowers is they're easy to grow, colorful from spring until fall, they provide color for years with little maintenance, and they attract wildlife such as butterflies and birds to your yard.

Here's how to select and grow the right wildflowers for your area.

It's best to grow the right type of wildflowers for your location. Wildflower seed mixes re often created for different regions of the country. These mixes are a blend of annual and perennial flowers and come in packages ranging from small tins to huge sacks. Although growing all one type of wildflower creates a more dramatic look, growing a mixture is insurance that some of the flowers will thrive. Annual flowers will dominate the mix the first year, and some may self-sow for a second year of flowers. Perennials will take over from the second year onward.

Another option is to plant wildflower seed mats. These contain a mix of annual and perennial flower seeds woven into a 5-foot-long mat. Just lay the mat over cultivated ground, water, and watch the flowers grow. The mat eventually decomposes. It's much simpler and less messy than sowing seeds, and it's great for creating small wildflower patches. The mats also come in themes, such as butterfly garden mats, that are filled with flowers to attract our winged friends.

While late summer and fall are the best times of year to plant many wildflowers, early spring also is an option, especially for wildflower mixes dominated by annual flowers. Also, if you live in USDA hardiness zones 3 to 6, sowing in spring insures perennial wildflowers will be well established to survive a harsh winter.

On the other hand, some warm-season native wildflowers, such as Texas bluebonnet and Indian blanket, need to be planted in late summer and fall for best growth. The winter rains and cool temperatures allow these plants to become established before spring. However, that shouldn't stop you from buying and giving these seed mixes to friends and family members this holiday season. The seeds, if stored in a dark, cool room, should be fine until sowing.