10 ms·

A quiet roadside revolution is boosting wildflowers

253 points by montalbano 7y ago

gbell12 7y ago
How cool and uninituitive. I worry about prime butterfly habitat right next to a road with high-speed radiator grills.
- oska 7y ago
  My guess is that loss of individuals to vehicle strike is not important for the overall population. What's important is the carrying capacity of the habitat which, according to this article, has been significantly increased.
- Jedd 7y ago
  It's likely as nothing compared to running over the strip with a tractor / slasher twice a year ... BUT I expect the timings of those ensure minimal impact to the life cycles of the insects, plus most that are in a mobile phase of their life will likely fly out of the way quickly enough. Either way, the fact numbers are increasingly rapidly suggests the tradeoff is in favour of the butterflies.
- pvaldes 7y ago
  Most butterflies will mate, make territories and remain in the flowered area. As they have yet all that they want, the need to move on and cross the road will decrease. Many butterflies will lay in weeds also so the area is safe for they for most of this live cycle. And in winter they simply will migrate. Is much better than the other option, safer for bikers and cheaper for the government.
jay-anderson 7y ago
When we bought our house it had a lawn in the backyard. I never really liked taking care of it. Last year I worked on getting rid of the bermuda grass in my back yard. This year I put out some wild flower seeds and watched what came up. I still worked on removing the plants I didn't want, but I let a lot of the weeds come up. Most of the seeds I put out didn't take, but that's fine. I got to know the natural plants that come up. Others look at it and see an unkempt yard, but it makes me much happier than my lawn ever did. It's green, it takes less water (zero) and if you watch closely there are more birds, bees, lady bugs, and others than I ever saw with the lawn. Stories like this one of a more careful management of land make me hopeful. I'm working to get something better going with my little plot of land too.
- WalterBright 7y ago
  I've thrown out wildflower seeds many times on my lawn, but nothing took root. So I've been trying simply mowing it once a month to keep the blackberries and scotch broom from taking over, and seeing what happens. (Blackberries and scotch broom run amok if left alone, and the former creates an impenetrable hedge taller than myself with a dead zone underneath, everything else choked out. It takes repeated mowings over several years to finally kill them.)
  - frereubu 7y ago
    You need more prep to get a wildflower meadow going. The Royal Horticultural Society has a good guide here: https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=436 https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=436
    - WalterBright 7y ago
      Thank you, but that looks like a lot of work :-( and I have a brown thumb (everything I plant turns brown). It seems reasonable to me that native plants should grow without intensive assistance (else they would go extinct). Why does this not happen?
      - timclark 7y ago
        My key reading from the article was over-fertility leads to mono-culture, so paradoxically you need to reduce soil fertility to encourage diversity. Reducing soil fertility probably needs intervention to remove rotting vegetation etc. I am guessing that at one point in time native plants would have had animals and insects that were eating them and maybe reducing soil fertility.
        pfdietz 7y ago
        I think the reduced fertility was because the fields were being used to make hay, rather than being cut and the cuttings allowed to rot in place. The minerals in the hay were removed from the field, gradually depleting the soil.
bjelkeman-again 7y ago
Where we live ditches that don’t need the full capacity of an open ditch have been filled with gravel and then perennial flowering plants have been seeded. The place was absolut teeming with butterflies, bees and bumble bees.
WalterBright 7y ago
What a marvelous initiative. We should be doing this everywhere. In a house where I used to live, I left as much as possible as meadow (because I am lazy and too cheap to water it), cutting it only twice a year to reduce the fire risk. Everybody else installed the golf course style lawns. I had the best looking yard by a mile :-) and was very happy with it.
montalbano 7y ago
Here is a relevant video by the fantastic self-taught botanist Crime Pays but Botany Doesn't PSA - Kill Your Lawn w/ Silphium terebinthinaceum https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz9I2YwmV8M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz9I2YwmV8M (Also related HN discussion on another of his videos: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21041193 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21041193)
- 2sk21 7y ago
  I have to thank you for this link - one of the greatest channels I've ever stumbled upon on YouTube!
CarVac 7y ago
The NJ Turnpike has been planting lots of wildflowers, which make an attractive subject for photography. One cloverleaf near me had cosmos: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmG1mX94 https://flic.kr/s/aHsmG1mX94
- jfengel 7y ago
  Those are some very attractive photos, thank you. Though for my own information, and forgive my ignorance... is that the kind of pseudo-bokeh you get from a camera phone? Or was that you being very artistic? Either way the shots are nicely composed.
  - CarVac 7y ago
    That's real bokeh from a 36×24mm sensor and either moderately fast apertures or long focal lengths.
masonhensley 7y ago
Texas has been doing something similar for a while, it's really pretty when things are in bloom. - https://www.wildflower.org/project/ecological-roadsides https://www.wildflower.org/project/ecological-roadsides - https://www.wildflower.org/plants-main https://www.wildflower.org/plants-main - https://texashighways.com/culture/people/a-runner-reflects-on-lady-bird-johnsons-legacy-and-the-companionship-of-nature/ https://texashighways.com/culture/people/a-runner-reflects-o... - https://texashighways.com/wildflowers/ https://texashighways.com/wildflowers/
- devurand 7y ago
  Texas in the spring is wonderful. Everyone is out taking pictures in the massive fields of bluebonnets and indian paintbrush. Of course, it can also cause traffic issues as people pull over to do the photo op in the medians.
  - bnjms 7y ago
    Giant shoulders mean this usually happens by the highway without trouble.
- every 7y ago
  TxDOT has a similar program: https://www.txdot.gov/inside-txdot/division/maintenance/wildflower-program.html https://www.txdot.gov/inside-txdot/division/maintenance/wild...
JohnJamesRambo 7y ago
I love this story. I don’t see why they need to reinvent the wheel with the sucking machine and taking the clippings to an anaerobic digestion facility though. A method for removing clippings and doing something useful with them has been around for centuries, it is called baling hay.
- frosted-flakes 7y ago
  Even better, farmers will sometimes come do it for free!
devb 7y ago
New Jersey has had a trial program for several years now. In fact, you can buy the seed mix that the Garden State Parkway uses. https://www.gspwildflowers.com/shop https://www.gspwildflowers.com/shop
- CarVac 7y ago
  Oh, neat. The annuals make for a stunning field. See my top-level comment for an album of photos I took in a cloverleaf.
- 2sk21 7y ago
  They must be doing the same thing along I-80 as well. For several years, I have been seeing these patches of bright pink/purple flowers here in NJ and been wondering about them as they looked too regular to be entirely natural. I love them and they add some much needed color to the landscape.
  - devb 7y ago
    Yes! It's a statewide program. There's a specific jughandle at the 78/Turnpike interchange that has a nice patch of flowers every summer. It's funny seeing it amid all the industry and crud of the area.
hinkley 7y ago
If anyone is so inclined, I would encourage you to do a web search for "how to make seed bombs". Essentially a ball of clay, seeds, and a small quantity of organic matter to facilitate distribution of seeds and reduce bird predation. Please, please research native species if you decide to go this route.
- gbell12 7y ago
  Have you ever seen them work, or seen data on them? I've never had them work, and they don't seem like they would either - bunch of seeds landing in a ball together would lead to too much competition, right? That is, if they didn't sprout while the ball initially dried.
  - hinkley 7y ago
    I think the temptation is to put too many seeds into the mix, creating the problem you identified. When you broadcast seeds you want a certain number of pounds per thousand square feet and instead you have a ball that will cover a few square inches. You aren’t trying to fill an empty lot, you’re trying to get a few self-seeding plants established. I did some in a couple places where I no longer went, so I have no idea what happened to them, and unfortunately the spot where they seemed to work got turned into a building the very next year. I’m in areas with low clay content in the soils so it’s difficult to source materials without buying them.
HeyLaughingBoy 7y ago
Minnesota actually has a formal program for this called Roadsides for Wildlife: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/roadsidesforwildlife/index.html https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/roadsidesforwildlife/index.html
kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
> The Environment Agency (EA) did not renew the permit for Lincolnshire to continue the trial due to concerns about waste codes and regulations. Never let a good idea get in the way of British traditions.

253 points by montalbano 7y ago

gbell12 7y ago

How cool and uninituitive. I worry about prime butterfly habitat right next to a road with high-speed radiator grills.

oska 7y ago
My guess is that loss of individuals to vehicle strike is not important for the overall population. What's important is the carrying capacity of the habitat which, according to this article, has been significantly increased.
Jedd 7y ago
It's likely as nothing compared to running over the strip with a tractor / slasher twice a year ... BUT I expect the timings of those ensure minimal impact to the life cycles of the insects, plus most that are in a mobile phase of their life will likely fly out of the way quickly enough. Either way, the fact numbers are increasingly rapidly suggests the tradeoff is in favour of the butterflies.
pvaldes 7y ago
Most butterflies will mate, make territories and remain in the flowered area. As they have yet all that they want, the need to move on and cross the road will decrease. Many butterflies will lay in weeds also so the area is safe for they for most of this live cycle. And in winter they simply will migrate. Is much better than the other option, safer for bikers and cheaper for the government.

jay-anderson 7y ago

When we bought our house it had a lawn in the backyard. I never really liked taking care of it. Last year I worked on getting rid of the bermuda grass in my back yard. This year I put out some wild flower seeds and watched what came up. I still worked on removing the plants I didn't want, but I let a lot of the weeds come up. Most of the seeds I put out didn't take, but that's fine. I got to know the natural plants that come up. Others look at it and see an unkempt yard, but it makes me much happier than my lawn ever did. It's green, it takes less water (zero) and if you watch closely there are more birds, bees, lady bugs, and others than I ever saw with the lawn. Stories like this one of a more careful management of land make me hopeful. I'm working to get something better going with my little plot of land too.

WalterBright 7y ago
I've thrown out wildflower seeds many times on my lawn, but nothing took root. So I've been trying simply mowing it once a month to keep the blackberries and scotch broom from taking over, and seeing what happens. (Blackberries and scotch broom run amok if left alone, and the former creates an impenetrable hedge taller than myself with a dead zone underneath, everything else choked out. It takes repeated mowings over several years to finally kill them.)
- frereubu 7y ago
  You need more prep to get a wildflower meadow going. The Royal Horticultural Society has a good guide here: https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=436 https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=436
  - WalterBright 7y ago
    Thank you, but that looks like a lot of work :-( and I have a brown thumb (everything I plant turns brown). It seems reasonable to me that native plants should grow without intensive assistance (else they would go extinct). Why does this not happen?
    - timclark 7y ago
      My key reading from the article was over-fertility leads to mono-culture, so paradoxically you need to reduce soil fertility to encourage diversity. Reducing soil fertility probably needs intervention to remove rotting vegetation etc. I am guessing that at one point in time native plants would have had animals and insects that were eating them and maybe reducing soil fertility.
      - pfdietz 7y ago
        I think the reduced fertility was because the fields were being used to make hay, rather than being cut and the cuttings allowed to rot in place. The minerals in the hay were removed from the field, gradually depleting the soil.

bjelkeman-again 7y ago

Where we live ditches that don’t need the full capacity of an open ditch have been filled with gravel and then perennial flowering plants have been seeded. The place was absolut teeming with butterflies, bees and bumble bees.

WalterBright 7y ago

What a marvelous initiative. We should be doing this everywhere. In a house where I used to live, I left as much as possible as meadow (because I am lazy and too cheap to water it), cutting it only twice a year to reduce the fire risk. Everybody else installed the golf course style lawns. I had the best looking yard by a mile :-) and was very happy with it.

montalbano 7y ago

Here is a relevant video by the fantastic self-taught botanist Crime Pays but Botany Doesn't PSA - Kill Your Lawn w/ Silphium terebinthinaceum https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz9I2YwmV8M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz9I2YwmV8M (Also related HN discussion on another of his videos: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21041193 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21041193)

2sk21 7y ago
I have to thank you for this link - one of the greatest channels I've ever stumbled upon on YouTube!

CarVac 7y ago

The NJ Turnpike has been planting lots of wildflowers, which make an attractive subject for photography. One cloverleaf near me had cosmos: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmG1mX94 https://flic.kr/s/aHsmG1mX94

jfengel 7y ago
Those are some very attractive photos, thank you. Though for my own information, and forgive my ignorance... is that the kind of pseudo-bokeh you get from a camera phone? Or was that you being very artistic? Either way the shots are nicely composed.
- CarVac 7y ago
  That's real bokeh from a 36×24mm sensor and either moderately fast apertures or long focal lengths.

masonhensley 7y ago

Texas has been doing something similar for a while, it's really pretty when things are in bloom. - https://www.wildflower.org/project/ecological-roadsides https://www.wildflower.org/project/ecological-roadsides - https://www.wildflower.org/plants-main https://www.wildflower.org/plants-main - https://texashighways.com/culture/people/a-runner-reflects-on-lady-bird-johnsons-legacy-and-the-companionship-of-nature/ https://texashighways.com/culture/people/a-runner-reflects-o... - https://texashighways.com/wildflowers/ https://texashighways.com/wildflowers/

devurand 7y ago
Texas in the spring is wonderful. Everyone is out taking pictures in the massive fields of bluebonnets and indian paintbrush. Of course, it can also cause traffic issues as people pull over to do the photo op in the medians.
- bnjms 7y ago
  Giant shoulders mean this usually happens by the highway without trouble.
every 7y ago
TxDOT has a similar program: https://www.txdot.gov/inside-txdot/division/maintenance/wildflower-program.html https://www.txdot.gov/inside-txdot/division/maintenance/wild...

JohnJamesRambo 7y ago

I love this story. I don’t see why they need to reinvent the wheel with the sucking machine and taking the clippings to an anaerobic digestion facility though. A method for removing clippings and doing something useful with them has been around for centuries, it is called baling hay.

frosted-flakes 7y ago
Even better, farmers will sometimes come do it for free!

devb 7y ago

New Jersey has had a trial program for several years now. In fact, you can buy the seed mix that the Garden State Parkway uses. https://www.gspwildflowers.com/shop https://www.gspwildflowers.com/shop

CarVac 7y ago
Oh, neat. The annuals make for a stunning field. See my top-level comment for an album of photos I took in a cloverleaf.
2sk21 7y ago
They must be doing the same thing along I-80 as well. For several years, I have been seeing these patches of bright pink/purple flowers here in NJ and been wondering about them as they looked too regular to be entirely natural. I love them and they add some much needed color to the landscape.
- devb 7y ago
  Yes! It's a statewide program. There's a specific jughandle at the 78/Turnpike interchange that has a nice patch of flowers every summer. It's funny seeing it amid all the industry and crud of the area.

hinkley 7y ago

If anyone is so inclined, I would encourage you to do a web search for "how to make seed bombs". Essentially a ball of clay, seeds, and a small quantity of organic matter to facilitate distribution of seeds and reduce bird predation. Please, please research native species if you decide to go this route.

gbell12 7y ago
Have you ever seen them work, or seen data on them? I've never had them work, and they don't seem like they would either - bunch of seeds landing in a ball together would lead to too much competition, right? That is, if they didn't sprout while the ball initially dried.
- hinkley 7y ago
  I think the temptation is to put too many seeds into the mix, creating the problem you identified. When you broadcast seeds you want a certain number of pounds per thousand square feet and instead you have a ball that will cover a few square inches. You aren’t trying to fill an empty lot, you’re trying to get a few self-seeding plants established. I did some in a couple places where I no longer went, so I have no idea what happened to them, and unfortunately the spot where they seemed to work got turned into a building the very next year. I’m in areas with low clay content in the soils so it’s difficult to source materials without buying them.

HeyLaughingBoy 7y ago

Minnesota actually has a formal program for this called Roadsides for Wildlife: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/roadsidesforwildlife/index.html https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/roadsidesforwildlife/index.html

kevin_thibedeau 7y ago

> The Environment Agency (EA) did not renew the permit for Lincolnshire to continue the trial due to concerns about waste codes and regulations. Never let a good idea get in the way of British traditions.