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<br /> ' • - 'lam :�= •• Y : t
<br /> By Virginia L. Beatty
<br /> of lawn care. In the cast this is due in part Not many garden plants do well in the
<br /> • This month Nancy Wheeler of Environ- to many new homes being built in wooded shade. Although many people want showy
<br /> mental Seed Producers, Inc., of El Monte, areas (wooded land is less expensive than annuals there is a decreased interest in
<br /> California, sold more wildflower seeds in farm land) which means that the home
<br /> a single order than the total company sales owner starts right off with a shady garden. Please turn the page
<br /> seven years ago.
<br /> • Mel 'I'csscnc, one of the early wild- TEXAS. Texas State Department of Highways and
<br /> flower advocates, now with Barris Seals
<br /> in Rochester, New York,comments, "The
<br /> Public Transportation.
<br /> use of wildflowers is really taking off.” Craig Steffens, Chief Landscape Architect.
<br /> • Myrtle Stevens of Geo. W. Park Seed Texas has been encouraging wildflowers on their highways for over 50
<br /> co., Inc., sums it up, Our I98l retail years. When the Texas highway department was organized in 1917 they
<br /> wildflower seed sales arc 25 tithes what
<br /> they were when we started selling them in soon found that highways were never built on natural ground—it is either
<br /> 1972 and six limes our sales in 1978. Sales cut or fill—and that the first revegetation on disturbed land was always
<br /> show that our customers are pleased with annual wildflowers. This was attractive, and in 1929 the Texas Highway
<br /> them." Department started a policy to preserve and continue that beauty.
<br /> Today wildflowers in Texas have become an economic factor in tourism.
<br /> TWENTY YEARS ago if you wanted to
<br /> use wildflowers you collected the plants or We are now adding a third season as people are coming to see our wild-
<br /> seeds yourself. 'len years ago there were flowers in the spring.
<br /> a limited number of species commercially Much of our recent wildflower research has come from our cooperative
<br /> available by the plant, the packet, or the project with the city of Dallas Park and Recreation Department and the
<br /> pound. Today there arc hundreds of wild- Dallas County Museum of Natural History.
<br /> flowers available commercially and single The city of Dallas has 75,000 acres of parks. Three and a half of them
<br /> sales of an individual seed can reach several were in a bermuda grass lawn—around the Dallas Museum of Natural
<br /> metric tons. History—which was watered and mowed two or more times a week during
<br /> According to Steve Atwood, Clyde Ro- the growing season.
<br /> bin's first large-scale wildflower seed sales Wildflowers seemed a viable alternative to this high level of mainte-
<br /> started with supplying the Bureau of Land nance. We used pelletized seed of 25 species. We planted the seed in solid
<br /> Management and the Forest Service with blocks of primary colors and potpourri over turf that had been aerated and
<br /> material for their range restoration and re-
<br /> clamation projects. Next came the growth
<br /> flail-mowed.
<br /> of the highway beautification market which The wildflowers germinated in the fall and produced rosettes which
<br /> was followed in turn by sales to contractors stayed green all winter. There was no brown as there would have been with
<br /> who were interested in economically land- mowed turf.
<br /> scoping large areas of their housing Bevel- After the wildflowers were planted the site was watered twice and not
<br /> • opmcnts. The latest addition to their wild- mowed at all from October 1, 1980, to July 31, 1981.
<br /> flower seed market has been retail sales. This meant a reduction of about 100 mowings and 100-150 waterings.
<br /> With inflation and increased interest rates At mowing costs of $19.00 an acre the savings in mowings alone came to
<br /> people are staying home, planting wild- over $6,600 a year . . . not to mention the savings in water.
<br /> flowers, and enjoying their property. We found out how the plants grew but we have many questions for the
<br /> rhe increased use of wildflowers-, second year. We don't have the recipe yet on how to plant wildflowers and
<br /> according to William Flemer,ill,President
<br /> of Princeton Nurseries,Princeton,New ler- grow them successfully every time.
<br /> sey,"is part of a trend toward the reduction
<br /> NatureScape September 1981 9
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