Roadsides are Refuges for Wildflowers

By Charles Seabrook

For the AJC

The end of August marks the transition from summer wildflowers to the fall-blooming plants. Early fall flowers are starting to bloom now while many of the summer bloomers will continue to blossom through October.

To see many of these wildflowers, just drive along one of Georgia’s rural highways. Numerous roadsides are beginning to sport mass blooms and will continue to do so through much of autumn. Driving up U.S. 341 from the coast in early fall, for instance, you can see what seems to be a never-ending mass of bright, yellow flowers -- goldenrods, sunflowers, tickseed and the like -- extending from the coastal plain to the Piedmont.

Sunny roadsides and power line rights-of-way, in fact, may be one of the last few open spaces left where sun-loving wildflowers and other flora -- some of them rare or uncommon -- can thrive. So diverse are the plants along rural roads that the Georgia Botanical Society offers several “roadside botanizing” field trips each year.

“Some of our most botanically and also biologically diverse habitats in Georgia survive in small refugia, under powerlines and along roadsides,” said Jennifer Ceska, conservation coordinator for the State Botanical Gardens in Athens. “Populations of pitcherplants, orchids, and other unusual wildflowers persist in these artificially maintained habitats.” One such plant is the rich blue fringed gentian, a state protected species.

In addition to goldenrods, sunflowers and tickseeds, some other common native wildflowers blooming or starting to bloom now along Georgia’s roads include the pinkish purple iron weeds; Joe-pye weeds; bonesets; black-eyed Susan; partridge pea; pink daisy fleabane; cardinal flower; various species of asters; wild bergamot; wing stem; rosinweed; beggar’s lice and many others.

Roadside ditches also may be havens for wildflowers that are fond of moist, sunny spots, such as Queen Anne’s lace, mallows, pale meadow-beauties and others.

The roadside wildflowers themselves attract a wide variety of butterflies, bees and other insects. In addition, the colorful blooms make highway driving a much more pleasant experience, a major reason that the Georgia Department of Transportation carries out a laudable program to plant native wildflowers along the states interstates and other major thoroughfares.

Nevertheless, improper mowing and heavy use of herbicides by many county road departments have wiped out countless swaths of roadside wildflowers. Highway vegetation removal is done for safety reasons, but several local highway departments are trying to come up with ways to preserve wildflowers without compromising safety.

IN THE SKY: The moon, a thin crescent tonight just after dark, will be new on Sunday, said David Dundee, astronomer with Tellus Science Museum. Mercury is very low in the east just before sunrise. Mars is low in the east about three hours before sunrise. Jupiter rises out of the east before midnight. Saturn is low in the west at dark and sets in the west before midnight; it will appear near the moon on Wednesday night.