a new wildflower list

19 years ago

Why should bird watchers have all the fun? They have life lists and rare bird alerts and make special trips for bird watching ... I think it's time us wildflower lovers had the same thing going on. With this is in mind, I've started a national wildflower list for wildflower lovers to share what's going on where they are, with the rest of the country.

Over the past five years my wife and I have been gypsy innkeepers, travelin' around the country innkeeping. As a consequence we've gotten to learn so very, very much about wildflowers ... stuff we had no idea was going on.

We've gone from spring woodland wildflowers in Ohio to the Wild Lupine and endangered Karner Blue butterflies of northern Indiana, to the awesome spectacle of the progression of spring blooms along the Blue Ridge Parkway in N.C., to Kansas prairies in July and Donner Summit in CA in late summer, to summer wildflowers along the Gulf coast, to the bottom half of CA throughout the year, to spring blossoms in the foothills around Boulder, CO, to the magnificent wildflowers on Mt Rainier and near Mt St Helens and Mt Hood and Mary's Peak in the coastal range of OR to the rare Kincaid's Lupine and its own endangered butterfly in the wet prairies near Eugene, OR to most recently the encelia species and coulter's and AZ lupine along the highway from Palm Springs, CA in AZ...

My own passion for wildflowers ... for all of nature in fact ... has manifested itself over the past 12 years in my writing. I have been a nature columnist for papers in Ohio and Indiana, and briefly for the Sierra Sun, in Kern Co., CA. I currently write a weekly wildflower column, and monthly astronomy column, as well as Travels through Life, which is often about some natural topic for, suite101.com.

Wildflower lovers have been blessed with a glut of glorious bounty, and I would like to see us sharing it, learning, planning trips around peak blooms...stealing some of the passion and the thunder from bird watchers. We need our own Big Year!!!

So I have started a wildflower list for the country; if your'e interested, of at least wanna have a look at it, lemme know...

If you would share this link with other, and consider joining yourself, I would be very appreciative. I think we can create a wonderful, useful, and friendly national wildflower community...

Thanks,

Gregg M. Pasterick

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Comments (6)

jeanner
19 years ago
Oh my, you do get around - I'll bet your list is quite impressive too. I would love to see the list, especially for SW Ohio.

It would be fun to have a "bloom" alert! And fun to track the progression from one area to another. Unfortunately I don't get out as much as I used to, I used to spend all my free time tramping around the area parks but since we moved to the country I have been spending my time at home trying to get my little piece of land in order.

I don't keep a list but I do have a web page with the wildflowers that I have photographed. So far it is just the wildflowers from Montgomery County in Ohio. I am in the middle of a revamp of the website so "Next" arrows are in a bit of a mess. After I get it revamped I will be adding some additional pictures from our property. It was also the very first website I have ever done so it's a little crude. Hope you enjoy.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wildflower notebook
innkeeper
Original Author
19 years ago
Before I go any futher, do ya know iof there are there any Snow Trillium blooming in your area? I know of some places toward southern Ohio, and I'm tryin' to track down the nearest location to Columbus...

As for gettin' around, yeah, it's a consequence of midlife crisis: my wife and I are gypsy innkeepers, travelin' around the country innkeeping. We are in between gigs in columbus, stayin' with my wife's mother...

My travels have allowed me to see so much; I had no idea there was so much incredible botany going on out there. Just the past Feb, on the way here through the deserts of AZ, two lupine species, encelia species (they have sinflower-like flowers), a mallow species, and some owl's clover were abundant along the interstate. Last summer I got to see mountain meadows in Washington and Oregon ... I've seen stuff all over the southern half of California ... the Gulf coast of MS ... I had no idea all this was out there. THis is one of the reasons I started the list, to share and to encourage others to share...

So anyway ... wildflowers across the country ... I think it's a great idea for a list, from the early spring stuff in this area to Texas and the SW and CA where there is an embarrasment of colorful riches in bloom...

When we lived in Ohio, myt wife and I had a pretty enthralling garden with native species as well as herbs and veggies and cutflowers and fruit ... a real labor of love.

And have ya been up to Lake Erie in May to see the Lakeside Daisy? It's an endangered species, which blooms in May, and that is the only time the nature preserve is open to the public...

And nice photos at your website. You clearly love nature...

Hope to see ya at me wildflower list...

Gregg
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I don't know what type of grass you have growing there but if its native grasses, that can be a good beginning. If not, I would try to put in some little bluestem, blue gama grass and Indian Grass areas. These will grow on a slope. Especially pretty is the little bluestem. The bluestem will make a nice filler for a "meadow" on a slope. I see it growing in the most inhospitable spots on steep rocky slopes and its gorgeous when abused like that, straight up and distinctive like "starched" grass. I would DEFINITELY plant some there. It is so pretty in the fall with the way it catches the light and turns colors. Some very easy, long blooming wildflowers to plant are horsemint, purple winecups, rudbeckia (black eyed susan's) and Oenothera speciosa (Mexican evening primrose). These will re-seed abundantly. The primrose is rugged but I have never started it from seed. Its nearly impossible to get rid of once you have it and will form a sprawling, wide mat of pink. I saw it along the highway yesterday on a slope and it must have covered a 6ft by 6 ft area. Very pretty. Missouri primrose is another good choice. It puts out a long tap root, needs very little water and blooms all season with large yellow blooms and will naturalize well. Another wildflower I love, because it blooms from early spring until well past first frost is Baileya multiradata (Desert Marigold) It is a very neat, very light blue, fuzzy foliaged plant with a huge bouquet of bright yellow flowers all season. One plant can get very wide with hundreds of blooms non stop. I have this naturalized in my yard and get more comments on it that any other plant and its so EASY! All it needs is perfect drainage and a steep slope sounds perfect. It puts out hundreds of seed and will naturalize all over the slope if its happy. A succulent that I find will grow in extremely dry soil is Talinum calycinum (Flame Flower). It reseeds like rosemoss and has magenta colored flowers on very thin stems. Thelosperma will naturalize abundantly. I had one plant two years ago and now they come up everywhere. Blooms all spring, summer and fall. Some are solid yellow and some have red centers in the flowers, which are small but abundant. You can get these seeds from Plants of the Southwest for $3.00/pk. They have a large selection of wildflowers to choose from. As time goes by, you can add to the plants but these are some "easy to germinate and grow" ones to start with. A slope like that allows for perfect drainage which means you can grow lots of dry loving plants that otherwise would fail. A trip outside of city limits is something you could try and look around for wildflowers and native grasses in your area. It can get addictive.
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rhoda_azalea
19 years ago
Hi, Gregg. Great idea!

I bought a book about Michigan wildflowers that has a life list for Michigan wildflowers in the back of it (date, place, etc.). Unfortunately, I don't have the book here so I can give you the citation.

I don't know how many lists are available. This was the first life list I have ever seen. A book called "The Wildflower Life List" would be useful to me.

Rhoda
innkeeper
Original Author
19 years ago
Howdy back at ya Rhoda...

the "List" has kinda two meanings here ... hmmm, maybe more.
Anyway, I'm talkin' an actual botanical life list here, fed and encouraged and helped along by wildflower lovers all over the country ... I'm talkin' an email list where we can get together and share and learn and teach ... I'm talkin' a list of places to go to see what wildflowers can really do if given half a chance ... I'm talkin' a community mostly...

Bird watchers are cookoo for cocopuffs, why not us wildflower lovers, hmmmmm?

Hope ya join in....

Gregg,

hopin' to see some Snow Trillium tomorrow...
rhoda_azalea
19 years ago
Oh! THAT kind of list. Sorry, I misunderstood.

The only wildflower list I have encountered was one called "Ontario Wildflowers." I don't recall the URL.

I wonder about lists within membership organizations like the New England Wildflower Society and the like. If there was another e-list, say on GardenWeb, would that be duplicating what is already out there??

Good thought. Hope you continue to pursue it.

Rhoda
rhoda_azalea
19 years ago
Here is the URL for the Ontario Wildflowers site. There is a discussion section on the site. The GardenWeb systemw wouldn't let me post this under the "Wildflowers" thread.

Rhoda

Here is a link that might be useful: Ontario Wildflowers with Discussion List

a new wildflower list

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a new wildflower list

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jeanner

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