GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

10-09-2003, 11:32 PM

In article says...
Someone in Britain, about 30 years ago, bought (or acquired) a
selection of wildflower seeds, and a peashooter. On his daily train
journey to work he would shoot seeds out the window onto the otherwise
sterile trackside embankments and cuttings. The idea spread, and
considerably brightened the commuters' environment.

What an interesting idea. Although trains in the US have you sealed
inside a can.

Also, I'm pleased to note that with budget cutbacks on
government/municipal services budgets, some roadside verges are not
being vigorously shorn as they used to be, and the wildflowers do not
appear to be a traffic hazard as previously alleged.

The State of Illinois does that too now and only mows a couple of rows by
the shoulder although the seed mixture they use is natural prairie or
something like that and doesn't have the color of a regular wildflower
mix.

I used to work at a large corporate complex in a western Chicago suburb
that had a huge amount of land that was all lawn. Every spring the
maintenance people would spray the grass with weed killer which killed a
lot of birds. A number of employees formed an environmental club and
someone had the idea to turn that grass into a wildflowers. In order to
sell it to management, they presented a valid business plan outlining the
money saved per year after installing wildflowers. Corporations tend to
do virtually anything that shows cost savings so they went for it. One
year they tractor tilled almost all the grass and planted the seed. The
next spring it was so spectacular it made the news and many other
corporate complexes in the area also picked up on the idea.

That was when I got into planting wildflowers I always bought those mixes
they sell at Menards which look like they're mixed in some insulation
like material. Although this year's growth was nice, it didn't seem like
a very diverse spread of wildflowers. I'd like to plant a better seed
mixture for next year. I'm also buying for some of the neighbors too.