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Wildflower Highways
Wildflowers
are in bloom throughout Florida. Check out the sightings
below, some with glorious photos
Florida’s Turnpike
Enterprise turns its roadsides into a
rainbow of wildflowers
May 11, 2010 – Motorists driving
Florida’s Turnpike are finding their ways brightened by the sight of
the state’s wildflowers this spring, thanks to efforts that began in
2006 with several small roadside projects.
Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise has planted more than 72 acres in 32
locations for drivers to enjoy. The Enterprise also protects and
manages 30 miles of naturally occurring wildflowers. The result: waves
of color that include yellow Black-eyed Susans; white, pink and red
phlox; red-and-yellow dye flower, and yellow tickseed – the state
wildflower (see attached photos).
Wildflowers provide increased value to Turnpike customers. In doing so,
scenic beauty and roadside biodiversity are enhanced.
“Every year the plantings are more spectacular, and the 1.8 million
motorists who travel the Turnpike every day have certainly noticed,”
said Jennifer Olson, the Turnpike’s Chief Operating Officer.
“We’ve been getting calls and emails from both residents and visitors
to the Sunshine State who want to know what we are planting and how to
take care of the flowers. They either want to give it a try in
their own yards, or they would like the local governments to spruce up
urban areas with plantings like those they are enjoying on the
Turnpike.”
In just four years, planting techniques have been refined to achieve
maximum blooming. Florida-grown wildflower seed – including some
obtained with a Florida Wildflower Foundation grant – is being used to
achieve longer-lasting plantings.
“The Turnpike’s efforts are a spectacular example of what roadsides
throughout La Florida, ‘land of flowers,’ can look like with careful
management and the use of Florida seeds,” said Jeff Caster, Florida
Wildflower Foundation board chairman. “We applaud its efforts and look
forward to seeing the Turnpike program grow as we work toward the
celebration in 2013 of the 500th anniversary of when Juan Ponce de Leon
named this place La Florida.”
The Foundation supports wildflower planting, research and education
statewide with donations collected through the sale of the State
Wildflower license tag.
10-1-2009: Gerald
Weeks shot this photo of Southeastern sunflowers from County Road 520
east of the St. Johns River in Brevard County.
8-2-2009: This Standing Cypress (Ipomopsis rubra) is in Alys Beach
in South Walton County. I have enjoyed working with them on selection
of seeds and best maintenance practices of their roadside plantings.
They have used Gaillardia pulchella,
Rudbeckia hirta, Coreopsis lanceolata and have preserved most of
their native plants.
Reported by Dara
Dobson
7-20-2009: Another
great shot of standing cypress planted at the Okahumpka Service Plaza.
This shows the flowers at their peak.
FDOT photo
7-24-2009: Onalee Israel shot this
standing cypress (Ipomopsis rubra) blooming along I-10 near
Live Oak.
7-17-09: Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia sp) are going
strong at Canoe Creek plaza on Florida's Turnpike.
FDOT photo
6-14-2009:
Standing cypress is taking up where a spring blanket of Coreopsis left
off at the Okahumpa Service Plaza on Florida's Turnpike.
FDOT photo
6-9-09: These photos were taken
mid-day on U.S. Highway 27 between Bronson and Chiefland.
Reported by Phyllis
Stopford
5-18-2009: Motorists along Florida's
Turnpike are being treated to the sensational sight of blooming
wildflowers at Okahumpa Service Plaza near Wildwood.
Reported by FDOT
5-12-2009: FWF board chair Anne
Mackay snapped this photo of wildflowers along S.R. 40 on the way to
Silver Springs.
5-16-2009: A carpet of coreopsis,
our state wildflower, along Interstate 95 welcomes visitors and
residents alike in Nassau County.
Reported by Florida Department of Transportation
5-6-2009: Phlox along US 129 in
Gilchrist County.
Reported by Florida Department of Transportation
5-5-09:
I own a place in Suwannee, FL and make the trip two or three times a
month year-round. I really look forward to late April and early
May
each year to when the wildflowers are blooming on Hwy 129 between I-75
and Branford. This year is the best ever!
Reported by Andrew
Rodgers, Valdosta, Ga.
5-6-2009: This
field is on State Road 247 about 4 miles south of Lake City. It is a
good representative for all roads in Columbia, Hamilton, Madison,
Alachua, and surrounding counties. A good circle route
would be start at Alachua on US Highway 27 and go West to Branford. At
Branford, turn north on US129 to Live Oak. Take US 90 east out of Live
Oak back to Lake City. Most all other roads including county roads will
also be a good show. Don’t wait, because if we don’t get some rain
pretty soon I am afraid the blooming season will be cut short.
- Reported by
Dick Bush, Florida Department of Transportation
5-5-09: Here are some wildflower hotspots from my travels last
week. Phlox is magnificent, but be on the lookout for blanketflower,
dune sunflower, coreopsis, sensitive briar and more:
* State Road 44 between
DeLand and Eustis
* S.R. 42 between Paisley
and Altoona
* U.S. 17 north of DeLeon
Springs
* Florida's Turnpike at the
Okahumpka Service Plaza
* S.R.
100 west of Interstate 95
* U.S. 441 between Ocala and
Gainesville
* U.S. 441 west of I-75
near High Springs (photo
right)
* S.R. A1A between Ormond
Beach and St. Augustine
- Reported by Lisa
Roberts, FWF executive director
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4-29-09: Phlox is blooming with
abandon in rural Marion County. This field of phlox was captured at
Glenn Hill Farm, 5001 SW 27th Ave., Ocala.
- Reported by Eric
Sunden, Ocala
4-15-09: Lake City's S.R. 41 medians provide a
Coreopsis welcome mat throughout spring and early summer.
FDOT photo
11-4-08: I found this Baccharis halimifolia (salt bush)
beside Henry Avenue in West Melbourne. Its blooms are like dainty
paintbrushes.
- Reported by Carol
Hebert, West Melbourne
10-31-2008: The Garberia in the Ocala National
Forest and other scrub areas in Putnam County is simply
beautiful right now, attracting butterflies and numerous other
pollinators.
- Reported by Karen Ahlers, Putnam County
Environmental Council, Inc.
10-19-2008: This photo of Solidago stricta was snapped was snapped on County
Road 21, about 5 miles south of State Road 20 in west Putnam County. We were able to protect
this 200
foot section of roadside from being mowed in late August. There are
hundreds, if not more than 1,000, Carphephorus plants here and more
types and numbers of butterflies than I have ever seen. The Putnam
County Environmental Council is hoping to work with the county to make
this site its first location in a designated roadside wildflower
project.
- Reported by Karen Ahlers, Putnam County
Environmental Council, Inc.
11-1-2008: Carol Hebert brakes for
beauty
when she sees it. That's why it's little wonder that she pulled over
and snapped a photo of this gorgeous stand of Goldenrod in West
Melbourne.
9-28-08: After attending a board
meeting of the Florida Wildflower Foundation in Tallahassee on Sept. 26
and spending Saturday feasting, exploring and visiting with friends
from Gadsden, Jackson and Calhoun counties, Karin and I decided to
return to Winter Park Sept. 28, going through Apalachicola National
Forest, one of our favorite places. Because I was looking for a rare
Andropogon (found it!) we traveled south along 379. South of forest
road 180 (incorrectly given on the Florida Atlas and Gazetteer as FR
108) wildflowers were absolutely gorgeous - such profusion of colors
and diversity! The most striking and very abundant species was the
Variableleaf Sunflower, /Helianthus heterophyllus/ with its dark center
and yellow ray flowers. These tall plants were easily spotted from the
road. At some of the large meadows we stopped and walked around for a
closer look. We found the purple bristleleaf chaffhead, /Carphephorus
pseudoliatris/; Leconte's thistle,
/Cirsium leconte/i; pineland rayless goldenrod, /Bigelowia nudata/, and
the blue Savannah Aster, /Symphotrichum chapmanii/. Rayless sunflowers,
/Helianthus radula/ occurred in ditches, often good numbers.
If you get a chance to motor through Apalachicola National Forest you
won't be disappointed with the fall diversity. A visit to the Forest in
the spring and summer will present you with a completely different
diversity of wildflowers. What an exciting place to visit!
Reported by Walter K. and
Karin Taylor, Winter Park
8-19-2008: Vernonia
sp., including a white form, is blooming along Highway 561 South
of
Astatula, before the 445 cut-off. The butterflies love the plants.
Reported by Wendy Poag,
Lake County Naturalist/Land Stewart
6-30-2008:
Wildflowers now enhance the drive along the A1A Scenic & Historic
Coastal Byway on Florida's northeast coast. Batches of wildflowers,
like these near Mickler's Landing, were just some of what popped up
after a fall planting project in Flagler and St. Johns counties. The
project, which used hundreds of pounds of seeds, was sponsored by a
grant from the Florida Wildflower Foundation.
6-11-08: On U.S. Highway 90, east
of Lake City in Columbia
County, the medians
bloomed with a sea of color this year with a wide variety of
wildflowers responding to the early-season rains.
Reported by Chris Farkas, FDOT
5-9-2008: There's no mistaking where
you are when you see this sign at the Georgia border on U.S. Highway 17
-- "La Florida," land of flowers. coreopsis leavenworthii provides a
welcoming carpet of yellow in spring and fall.
Reported by Paul Crist, Florida
Department of Transportation
5-14-2008: When my family traveled
to Raleigh, N.C., this past weekend, I was so excited to see all the
beautiful flowers along I-95 south of the Florida/Georgia state
line. I have just recently joined the Florida Wildflower
Foundation, and when I saw these flowers, I knew this was the results
of this foundation's work and efforts. I had stumbled across the
Florida Foundation while trying to find the name of a flower from my
childhood days. I knew I wanted to be a part of the work you are
doing; after all, if any state should have wildflowers growing
everywhere, it should be Florida!
It speaks volumes to anyone traveling through the state as to what the
people in that state feel about their home state, and it makes you want
to go back again and again.
Reported by Sally Knight Raburn, Plant City
4-30-08: Florida’s
Turnpike and Suncoast Parkway (see photos and maps below): Phlox
is starting to wind down and C. basalis is still peaking in Sumter, Lake and Orange counties along State Road 91
(Florida’s Turnpike). Also on SR 91, in Osceola County, we are beginning to
see Rudbeckia, Aletris lutea, and Rhexia bloom.
Phlox is still peaking along with C. basalis in Hernando County on State Road 589 (Suncoast Parkway).
Rudbeckia will be coming along in the next few weeks here too.
Reported by Christopher Grossenbacher, Florida’s
Turnpike Enterprise
4-30-08: In Pinellas,
Hillsborough, Pasco, Hernando and Citrus Counties), the following is
still in bloom:
Citrus County: Sown
and naturalized Annual Phlox (P. drummomndii) in the medians of US
Highway 19/98 between the Hernando County line and Homosassa Springs
and along the roadsides of State Road 44 (Gulf to Lake Highway) between
Crystal River and Inverness.
Hernando County:
Naturalized Annual Phlox along U.S. Highway 19 between State Road 50
and the Citrus County line and along State Road 50/US Highway 98
between Frampton Road and the Withlacoochee Recreational Trail.
Pasco County: Sown
Annual Phlox along SR 54 between Duck Slough Road and US Highway 41.
In addition there are populations of native Tickseed (Coreopsis
leavenworthii) in bloom in ditches and moist areas District-wide.
Reported by William Moriaty, DOT
4-30-08: In North Florida:
Phlox and corepsis basalis are peaking right now in Madison, Suwannee
and Lafayette counties, especially along County Road 250, State Road 27
(White Springs and Branford area east to Interstate 75) and State Road
129; I suspect too along State Road 51 off of Interstate 10 and U.S. 90
in Live Oak vicinity. Some on I-10 as well from Madison County to I-75
interchanges.
Should be some good C.
basalis stands in vicinity of NFREC-Suwannee Valley that is east of
Live Oak.
C. basalis will be peaking at NFREC-Quincy in a week or two.
Reported by Jeff Norcini, University of Florida/IFAS
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4-28-08: North of Orlando along Florida’s
Turnpike (above): The humble beginnings of this vivid
field of wildflowers near the Florida Turnpike’s Okahumpka Plaza north
of Orlando will be featured in an upcoming Department of Agriculture
video. Foundation board member Terry Zinn, who operates a wildflower
seed farm in Alachua, is featured in the video demonstrating proper
seed-planting techniques.
4-24-08: Nine
wildflower planting locations (including the one above), can be found
on the Suncoast Parkway (State Road
589) in Hernando County. The flowers are mostly Coreopsis
and Phlox with some Rudbeckia beginning to show. “We should have some
Gaillardia and Ipomopsis planted in this mix as well,” writes
Christopher Grossenbacher of the Turnpike’s roadway maintenance team.
Turnpike roadway maintenance workers also have planted wildflowers at
six locations along the Turnpike Mainline. Five locations are at
the Okahumpka Service Plaza (Mile
Marker 300, Sumter County); the sixth is at the intersection of Highway 50 and the Turnpike near Oakland
(Exit 272, Orange County).
Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise has been planting wildflowers under its
current program for two years. Last year it planted
5½ acres in two locations with 150 pounds of seed.
This year, 18 acres were planted using 410 pounds of seed purchased
from the Wildflower Seed and Plant
Growers Association Inc. (www.floridawildflowers.com)
If you missed 2008’s peak bloom, keep a lookout – the Turnpike plans to
expand the program again in 2009.
Check the maps below for exact locations along the Turnpike and
Suncoast Parkway.
Reported by Christopher
Grossenbacher, Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise
 
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