WILDFLOWERS THRIVE IN BACKYARD GARDENS

Have you ever driven through the countryside and seen a field of wildflowers and wished you could have the same natural beauty in your yard? Well, you can. You do not need a lot of garden space. Even a small corner is enough for a wildflower garden spot.

One can now have wildflowers at home since there are many seed companies and farms that specialize in wildflower seed.

The dictionary defines a wildflower as a flowering plant that grows in a natural, uncultivated state. That means any specie that can survive without cultivation by man can be called a wildflower.

This is National Wildflower Week (May 23-29) sponsored by the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service.

The Mini Page (yellow paper insert especially for children) in the Missourian last week stressed how wildflowers are in trouble in our country because their habitat has been overtaken by housing developments, shopping centers and parking lots.

There have long been laws prohibiting the digging of wildflowers or collecting wildflower seeds, and many states have laws to protect some of the species that are becoming scarce. Also, it is not necessary to collect seeds because today these seeds are available from many sources, including wildflower seed farms and 19 seed companies that specialize in mixtures or individual seeds. They are available in large quantities in cans. Seeds are also available from seed racks in garden centers.

There is a new statute in Missouri, effective last August, regarding the digging of wildflowers along the rights of way of highways. The new regulation, Statute 263.245 bears a penalty of $500 or a jail sentence of six months. If wildflowers save being sold, the misdemeanor has a penalty of $1000 or a year in jail. Think twice before you take that shovel out of the trunk of the car!

In Austin, Texas, the National Wildflower Research Center, founded by Lady Bird Johnson, is nationally known for promoting interest in wildflowers. On our last visit to Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain Georgia, she visited the wildflower garden there about 30 minutes before we did.

Unlike cultivated plants, wildflowers do not require watering or fertilizing after they bloom. Black-eyed Susans, daisies, poppies, lupines, evening primrose, gaillardias, coreopsis, clarkia and Queen Anne's lace are some common ones that will grow in this area.

When the early settlers came to the new world they viewed the wildflowers with an eye toward practical use rather than beauty. Housewives sowed a variety of herbs and flowers just outside the door so the plants could be easily tended. Nothing went to waste as petals, leaves and roots each had a specifice purpose. They made poultices, restorative teas and ointments. Tender leaves were added to salads while stems and roots were boiled to make dyes for wool.

Native plants were readily incorporated into the Puritans' superstitious beliefs. It was thought possible to ward off witchcraft by planting rue as it prevented anything evil from growing near it.

Snakeroot would protect against snake bite and sunflowers warded off malaria. The liver-shaped leaf of liverwort showed it could be used as a cure for diseases of that organ.

Part of the charm of wildflowers lies in the names given to them by Indians and early settlers. One person's cornflower is another's bachelor button. This summer annual produces a hard compact bud, similar to an old-fashioned button. In Europe this brilliant blue flower was often found in fields of grain, giving it the nickname of cornflower. Coreopsis and tickseed are unlikely names for another wildflower. People used to stuff mattresses with tickseeds, believing they would repel real bugs.

The sweetly scented phlox has made a long journey from early to modern gardens. A conction of its leaves brought relief to sore eyes. The original red flower can now be found in hues from white to pink, rose as well as lavender, blue and purple.

The colonists made a tea from the roots of the butterfly weed to heal palsy.

A review of wildflowers would be incomplete without attention to the aster, one of the fall blooming flowers in shades of pink, blue, violet and purple. Flowers appear on the purple coneflower in mid-summer and last until frost. The cone-shaped seed heads provide an interesting display for dried flowers when left on the plant.

Wildflowers offer gardeners an array of flower colors, flower forms and a hardiness not often found in domesticated flower gardens. They, also reduce gardeners labor and toil. Most do not require repeated watering when once established, and many are heat tolerant.