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Preserving Roadside Wildflowers

Preserving Roadside Wildflowers. La Florida! Land of Flowers… Ponce de Leon, 1513. Lanceleaf coreopsis Coreopsis lanceolata. Coreopsis, Official state wildflower Section 15.0345, F.S. . Date: Wed, May 6, 2009 Subject: Mowing County Roadsides & Preserving Native Wildflowers

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Preserving Roadside Wildflowers

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  1. Preserving Roadside Wildflowers

  2. La Florida! Land of Flowers… Ponce de Leon, 1513 Lanceleaf coreopsis Coreopsis lanceolata Coreopsis, Official state wildflower Section 15.0345, F.S. 

  3. Date: Wed, May 6, 2009 Subject: Mowing County Roadsides & Preserving Native Wildflowers County is celebrating National Wildflower Week by mowing all the Coreopsis (state wildflower) and other wildflowers… Several people responded by pointing out that the county has recently been mowing native wildflowers at the height of their beauty, and BEFORE they have had time to seed.  Ideally, mowing should be scheduled to allow native wildflowers to mature and disperse seeds… Please postpone these work orders until we have talked.  …we can find a way to maintain county roadsides while also helping native wildflowers survive. 

  4. Greg Ouzts Gabriella Corbin

  5. Leon County area organizations • Leon Chamber of Commerce • Tallahassee Garden Club • Big Bend Scenic Byway • FDEP Office of Greenways and Trails • Florida Federation of Garden Clubs • Magnolia Chapter of Florida Native Plant Society • FAMU Landscape Architecture Department • FSU Herbarium & Friends of the Herbarium • Friends of Maclay Gardens State Park • Lake Talquin State Forest • Florida Communities Trust • FAMU Cooperative Extension • UF Cooperative Extension • UF Research and Education Center • Apalachee Chapter of the Florida Trails Association • Florida National Scenic Trail • Apalachicola National Forest

  6. Color and beauty make a difference. The road less traveled…

  7. You can get here with good timing and good communication.

  8. TIMING is right — right now. FDOT and County leaders want more wildflowers No additional funds, just carefully timed mowing Increases the availability of resources for other important needs Little or no known opposition Good for the economy Good for the environment Good for agriculture Compatible with forest and wetland management Complementary with rural nature and beauty of Leon County! Makes people happy

  9. COMMUNICATION • Inform the community about • Commitment to safety • Commitment to conservation of native wildflowers • Improved mowing practices (frequency and extent) • Managed meadows… including litter pick up • Increased savings • Environmental & ecologic benefits • Inform the mowing crews about • Commitment to conservation of native wildflowers • Frequency and extent of wildflower areas

  10. “Reduce mowing frequency to allow wildflowers to grow and set seed.” — Jeff Norcini, PhD,OecoHort, LLC “Put away your mowers until after Thanksgiving dinner.” — Angus Gholson, Weed man.

  11. Photo of Florida state line on US Hwy 17 “No other part of our country can show so great a variety in its wild flowers, and in no other state are there so many plants of strange habits and remarkable characteristics. More than three thousand species of flowering plants have already been listed as growing in Florida…” — Florida Wildflowers by Mary Frances Baker, 1926

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