Welcoming wildflowers

As European settlers came to North America and, over the years, pushed westward, they found a continent in bloom with wildflowers. In the East were golden marsh marigolds hand- some white trillium with its three distinctive petals, goldenrod, oxeye daisies, and milkweed. The Midwest bloomed with false indigo, evening prim- roses, ironweed and black-eyed Susans. Farther west, the settlers found blazing stars, wild sunflowers and asters, swamp thistle, bluebonnet, Indian blanket, cone- flowers, and California poppies.

On high mountain peaks, delicate wild- flowers such as fringed gentian, dwarf col- umbine, old man of the mountain, and Alpine forget-me-not bloomed during the short summers. Wildflowers even bloomed in the scorching heat of the southwestern de- serts — wild cotton, verbena, desert mari- golds, and several kinds of flowering cactus.

Native Americans and early settlers found uses for many of these native plants. For ex- ample, yellow coreopsis which grows wild in Texas, was used to produce dyes, and its seeds were put inside mattresses to repel bedbugs and fleas. Joe-pye weed, a wild- flower of the East, was thought to ease fe- vers. It was just one of the many wild plants - used for medicinal purposes by the Indians.

- To many settlers, however, most of these wildflowers were nothing more than weeds. Native wild- flowers began to disappear as forests were cleared and meadows were p lowed into farmland for growing crops. - More vanished as towns and cities spread. Around their homes, people preferred trimly mowed lawns to meadows of wild- flowers. And when people planted flower gardens, - they usually preferred plants from abroad - - tulips, hybrid roses, peonies, and others. - These plants had been cultivated for years to produce showy flowers. They soon filled the gardens of North America, just as in Europe. Wild- flowers in the garden were gatecrashers - to be ripped up and weeded out.

Today, however, wild- flowers are more appriciated. appriciated There are several reasons. Con- cern for the environment has made many people - more aware of the value; native species of plants. .- Many wild- flowers are much tougher and more re- sistant to drought, pests and disease than are cultivated plants. They thrive in conditions are too poor to support tra ditional garden plants.

Native wildflowers are also part of the heritage of North America. Today there are very few areas on - the continent that look as - they did when settlers first arrived. Some people are concerned that, as the pop- ulation continues to grow and cities and towns con tinue to spread, many kinds of wild- flowers will die out altogether. If that were to happen, it would affect the birds, birds insects, and other animals that depend on these plants. And a piece of North America’s heritage would be lost forever.

Thus people are studying native flowering plants flowering working to preserve the areas where these these plants are found, and even planting meadows and gardens that are filled with masses of beautiful and fragrant wild- flowers.

LEARNING ABOUT WILDFLOWERS

There are about 4,000 different kinds of wild- flowers in North America, and learning about about them can be both challenging and fun. Many Man nature centers have information about wild- flowers and provide wildflower walks in spring and summer, so that people can see and learn about these plants. There are also fields fuild guides and other books that give infor- mation about the plants.

If you live or vacation in the country, take ur own wildflower walks in the woods and fields and see how many native flowers you can spot. If you live in the city, take a closer look at vacant lots — some of the "weeds" in the neglected areas may be tough little wild- flowers trying to make a comeback to the middle of the city. On your hikes carry a wildflower guide and a pocket magnifying glass, to help you identify the plants, and a notebook in which to record your observations. If you like to draw, you might want to - make sketches of the flowers.

Identifying wild- flowers can be tricky. Examine the structure of the flower, the way the flowers and leaves are arranged, and where you find the plant growing. Then check your observations against the information in a wildflower guide to find the plant’s name. The common. or folks names of many wild- flowers are fascinating. Often there's a story behind the name. Joe-pye weed, for example, is supposed to have been named for an Indian medicine man.

To identify wild- flowers accurately, how- ever, you'll need to use their scientific names. That's because the same plant often has several common names. For instance, the great mullein is also called velvet dock, Aaron's rod, Adam's flannel, blanket leaf, bullock’s lungwort candlewick, feltwort, hare’s-beard, and stamp-pad leaf. And those are just the English-language names — there are more names, in more languages, in Eu- rope, where this plant also grows. But you can.'t go wrong with the scientific name, which is Verbascum thapsus. which isw

One thing you shouldn't do on your walks i. dig up wild- flowers and take them home. In some cases doing this may even be illegal - some wild- flowers are so rare that they are protected by law. It's not even a good idea to pick the flowers of rare plants — if the flowers are picked there will be no seeds to produce the next generation of plants. Even some of the more common wildflow- ers are having a hard time surviving the spread of towns and cities. They should be left to grow in the wild, too. But usually you can pick the flowers of common plants with- out doing great harm. Just make sure that there are several plants of the same kind nearby — and don't pick all the flowers. That way, you can be sure that some of the plants will set seed and that wild- flowers will bloom in the same place next year.

You may want to preserve the flowers that you pick by pressing or drying them. By doing this, you can build a collection of wild- flower specimens. Keep notes on each of your specimens — the name of the flower and where and when you found it.

A WILDFLOWER GARDEN

If you have an unused corner in your yard why not plant a garden of wild- flowers? A wildflower garden needs less watering than a traditional garden, and there is less need for - pesticides, fertilizers, and other chemical - that can harm the environment. Growing wild- flowers also helps preserve these native plants. And wildflower gardens have a natural beauty- ral all their own.

Although a wildflower garden requires less work than work a traditional garden once it's established getting started takes some effort The best way to obtain plants is to grow them from seed. Rather than collecting seeds from the fromthe wild, buy them — that will help protect wil- tecd plants. Many garden centers sell mixtures of wildflower seeds, and dozens of seed companies specialize in wild- flowers

By learning about the plants, you can sure make sure that you plant wild- flowers that do well in your region. You can select plants that attract wildlife — hummingbirds love Indian - dian paipaintbrush, and monarch butterflies are attracted attracted by milkweed, for example. And you can plan to have flowers blooming all through the spring and summer. Choose the site for your wildflower garden carefully. Most wild- flowers including the ones That are usually included in seed mixtures, need lots of sun. For these plants, your garden should- de have six to eight hours of sun-shine each day. If you want to plant your garden in a shady spot, be sure to choose plants that do well in shade.

To plant your garden, begin by tilling the soil to break up the ground and eliminate unwanted weeds. Then scatter the wild- flower seeds over the ground and press them down. (If you're planting a large area. a good way to sow the seeds evenly is to first mix them with sand.) If the weather is dry, water the area regularly until the seeds sprout and the seedlings are beginning to grow.

Once your wildflower garden is estab- lished, it will almost take care of itself. You may want to pull out unwanted plants and add some new ones from time to time. If you've planted a large area, mow it once a year in early spring. to keep trees and bushes from taking hold. But if you let the wild- flower plants set seed, your garden will bloom year after year with very little help from you. You'll have a natural garden that's good for the environment. And you'll have a beautiful piece of North America's heritage, too.