Good News for Florida's Roadside Wildflowers!



By Lisa Roberts
Florida Wildflower Foundation Executive Director

Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Ananth Prasad recently signed the department's new Wildflower Management Program Procedure, which will allow more of the state's native wildflowers to flourish along roadsides through reduced mowing and other management practices.

Left to right - Jeff Caster, FDOT landscape architect; Jeff Norcini,
FDOT wildflower horticulturalist; FDOT Sec. Ananth Prasad;
Florida Wildflower Foundation liaison Eleanor Dietrich
FDOT state transportation landscape architect Jeff Caster said, “Roadsides are the state’s most visited and visible landscape.  The department is committed to increasing the visibility and enjoyment of native wildflowers.” 

State Road 65 - roadside wildflowers; photo by Eleanor Dietrich
"We salute the department in enacting this forward-thinking program," said Vince Lamb, Florida Wildflower Foundation board chairman. "In Florida, wildflower tourism is building as its own brand of ecotourism, as is exemplified in the eastern Panhandle. There's no doubt that FDOT's new statewide procedure will help preserve native wildflowers, the most beautiful roadside assets of all."

Roadside ORCHIDS! Platanthera species; Photo by Eleanor Dietrich
Hairstreak butterfly on roadside Oclemena reticulata (white
topped aster) in Leon County; photo by Eleanor Dietrich
Not only are they beautiful, wildflowers provide habitat for the pollinators vital to Florida's agricultural success. Together, they are essential to the production of every third bite of food we eat.

On Jan. 28, the Florida Wildflower Foundation and the Magnolia Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society hosted a meeting of more than 100 Panhandle Wildflower Alliance members in Tallahassee to introduce the new program. Established in 2012, the Florida Panhandle Wildflower Alliance is an informal network of regional wildflower enthusiasts that advocates for conservation of wildflowers in the state’s Eastern Panhandle.

For additional information, see the following links:
Panhandle Wildflower Alliance
Florida's wildflowers

---
posted by Laurie Sheldon

Comments

Anonymous said…
This is a win/win on so many levels! Great news.
February 26, 2014 at 5:45 AM
Dallee said…
Great news, indeed! Wildflowers on the side of roadways were one of Lady Bird Johnson's great achievements and usually rated, among the First Lady projects, as one with outstanding impact.
February 27, 2014 at 7:35 AM
Ca said…
About time! the Blue Flag Iris in my garden are "rescues" from long ago when the expansive drifts of beautiful Blue Flags were bulldozed along State Road 776 and are now replaced with weedy exotic invasives :( what a waste of tax dollars that was!
April 7, 2014 at 5:13 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wednesday's Wildflower:Spanish Needle

Image
Spanish Needle, Bidens Alba Submitted by Donna Bollenbach, Suncoast Chapter Biden's alba , all photos by Donna Bollenbach Nothing attracts more butterflies and bees than a simple white flower called Bidens alba . Also called Romerillo, Beggar’s Tick, Spanish Needle or Monkey’s Lice, this Florida native wildflower is the third most reliable source of nectar for pollinators in our state. There would be many starving bees and butterflies if not for the Bidens family of flowers. More so, Bidens alba and its sister plant, Bidens pilosa , are both edible and have medicinal value. Yet, many gardeners have a love/hate relationship the plant, and some even consider it a pesky weed. Why?
Read more

Australian Pine: One of Florida's Least Wanted

Image
 Austrailian Pine fruits Australian pines seem to be everywhere in the coastal regions in the bottom half of Florida. Their name is deceiving because, while they are native to Australia, they aren't pines or even conifers. They are flowering trees with separate male and female flowers, and what look like needles are really green twiglets with close-set circles of tiny leaves that drop at the first sign of a drought. In the photo to the right, the light-colored lines are where leaves where once attached. Most of the photosynthesis takes place in the twiglets. There are three species of Australian pine ( Casuarina spp ) that have been imported into Florida for various purposes. They were widely planted to soak up the "swamps" in Florida, stabilize canals, and hold beaches. Unfortunately for Florida's ecosystems, the "pines" accomplished all this and more--like seeding prolifically, growing five feet or more per year, producing dense shade, and emitting
Read more

Tropical Milkweed is Harmful to Monarchs & Florida Ecosystems

Image
By Lilly Anderson-Messec The red and yellow blooms of tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica , are ubiquitous in Florida butterfly gardens. This non-native milkweed has exploded in popularity as demand for milkweed grows to support declining monarch butterfly populations. This tropical species is native to Mexico and very easy to propagate, so growers are able to quickly produce plant material to meet the milkweed demand. It’s also very showy, blooming prolifically all season and regrowing quickly after being decimated by hungry caterpillars.  Unfortunately, tropical milkweed has been an increasingly invasive species in Central and South Florida for many years, and has begun spreading in North Florida as well. It’s fast growth and prolific re-seeding have resulted in large monocultures of tropical milkweed in natural areas. This unchecked growth replaces native plants and disrupts the native ecosystems that both wildlife and humans rely on. The invasive quality of this plant is is j
Read more