July 07, 1988 - Wild About WildflowersPhoto by Paul Stoutenburgh
WOOLLY MULLEIN - -This vel-
vety- leafed giant will host a series
of small, yellow flowers on its
stem.
July 7, 1988/The Suffolk Times/Page 9A
Wild About Wildflowers
By Paul Stoutenburgh Focus on
What is a wildflower? There are
purists who maintain that only flowers
native to this continent can be classified
as wildflowers. Then there are others
who say anything that doesn't grow in
the garden and isn't cultivated by man is
a wildflower. If you take the latter defi-
nition, you will see wildflowers today
all along the roadsides. Barbara and I
made a quick list of some of these as we
drove west last week.
Probably the most common to catch
one's eye is the one- to two - foot -tall kin
devil with its small cluster of yellow
flowers, exquisite when observed up
close. For true appreciation this has to
be done with most wildflowers. They
have not been hybridized or selected for
their size like most garden flowers. To
make viewing even more spectacular, a
hand lens can be used which brings you
into an entirely new world of miniature
wonder. I can remember looking at the
white flowers of draba with a lens and
thinking how I'd missed its beauty all
these years as I walked over it, hardly
noticing its tiny early flowers.
Right along the edge of the busy
highway, where the mowers had missed,
was Queen Anne's lace. This tall and
flattened head of white is known to all.
A member of the carrot family, it's of-
ten picked for bouquets because it lasts
so long. Even here a lens comes in
handy to see that the flattened head of
white is actually a whole mass of small
flowers, each with its own charm.
Queen Anne's lace also makes excellent
material for dried bouquets.
Another stately and completely differ-
ent flower is the woolly mullein. It
grows in tall stalks with small yellow
flowers starting at the lower pan of the
spear and gradually moving up as each
blossom comes to maturity. It also can
be used for dry, winter bouquets. Its
leaves are a velvety, light green. This
plant is always spared when it comes up
around our house because it is so im-
pressive and majestic. I remember see-
ing a border of these big plants along a
driveway and it was quite handsome.
As the king devil fades in the fields,
you can see St. John's -wort, another
yellow flower taking its place. The
color is not as striking for it has dead
and withered blooms mixed within the
flower head. Yet it's part of the parade
of flowers of summer we'll be seeing
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throughout our area. In olden times St.
John's -worst had a wide variety of
medicinal uses, something today's gen-
eration knows little of.
Mustard Is Everywhere
Mustard, with its yellow flower, is
now seen almost everywhere. It's early
greens are often eaten by wildflower
followers. It can be a real pest in the
farmer's field for its seed spread like the
rain and it is almost impossible to weed
them out. I can remember an old
professor in the ag school I attended
quoting his Dad, saying the only way to
get rid of mustard, "that blasted yellow
flower," was to hand -pick it. Luckily,
I've never had to do that.
By the time we reached the express-
way we could see the roadsides were
pretty well manicured by efficient road
mowers. Yet low, almost making a
mass along the median, was rabbit -foot
clover. This fuzzy pussy - willow -look- _
ing flower had been mowed so it formed
a carpet along the road edge. Spared the
mowing, it will grow better. It seems to
love waste areas and is easily recognized
by its fuzzy, grayish -pink heads.
Speaking of clovers there are many
that dot the roadside edge at this time of
the year. The common white clover you
get in your lawn is found wherever man
travels. It's one I remember as a kid for
going barefoot. I was introduced to the
bee sting because Mr. Bee got honey
from these flowers.
When young you never look where
you step. Youth is always in a hurry.
Stepping on bees and occasional nails or
pieces of glass is part of life. Seems my
mother was always picking sand out of
a cut or I was soaking my foot in ep-
som salts to prevent that tell -tale red
line from running up my leg. How did
we ever get through those early years?
The big, red clover that is such an ad-
dition to the farmer's hayfield has also
escaped to the roadside and no wonder. If
you have ever seen clover seeds they are
mere dots in size, easy items to blow or
be transported around. There's another
colorful clover addition we see that
grows in clumps and that is the yellow
clover.
Almost all so- called wildflowers are
not native plants but immigrants from
Europe. Some came purposely as pas-
ture seed, while others stowed away
among the good seeds only to spread and
become part of our plant population.
Clovers have the excellent ability to
add nitrogen to the soil. They actually
build little nodules of nitrogen on their
roots and this enhances the growth of
other plants. Along with the clovers
we also have a new group we're seeing
more and more called vetch. The com-
mon one is purplish -blue in color. It
grows rampant in great tangles and is
used to hold soil in place and as a
ground cover.
The Pretty, Pink Vetch
A newer one to me, and prettier, is
the pinkish variety we're seeing just out
of reach of the mowers along the ex-
pressway. It's quite a nice addition.
Masses of pinkish flowers make the
roadside more attractive than the usual
mowed grass. It would be nice if all
roadsides had wildflowers instead of the
manicured look that is so costly to the
public and time - consuming. In some
states this planting of wildflowers has
taken on but it's hard to change some
people's way of thinking about roadside
covers.
There are many flowers we could
mention. The daily blue blossoms of
chicory that will be with us all summer.
The milkweed whose blossoms later
form those big pods that house untold
silken parachute seeds. Then there's the
white yarrow whose leaves give off such
a pungent, spicy odor. By the way, if
you look long enough, you'll find a
pink one. As a matter of fact, I see the
pink now being sold in garden centers;
it's so handsome. And, of course, the
daisy, a favorite of all, is a real roadside
companion. What's really breathtaking
is a whole field of daisies. If you ever
see that, you'll never forget it. There is
also the day lily that gives us a fresh,
orange blossom every day. We could go
on and on.
Wildflowers, whether native or intro-
duced, are always a joy to behold. In our
busy lives we often zoom by them and
hardly notice their cheery color and
beauty. Our pace is too fast. Slow down
and enjoy the wonders about us. It costs
little. Stooping down to admire a wild-
flower you soon feel humble at the
wonder of it all.
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