Ummm. There isn't any. The mowers have been out mowing the last three days with vengeance.
I had given a presentation last year (and room for an article in the Panama City News Herald), about butterflies, "weeds" and roadside mowing to the local Audubon Society. It was so well received that a Wildflower Coalition was formed. At first, FDOT was interested, and at meeting with Bay Conservancy, Audubon and several others at the local library, it looked encouraging, even to the municipalities and the county.
I was invited to give another presentation to the Women's Club, which I did.
But nothing ever happened.
All we asked was that mowing be curtailed until roadside flowers set and drop seeds in butterfly season, which is August through early October. Butterflies in great number migrate through here. But wildflowers, including Bidens alba support a great many insects and spiders, and even small predators like lizards and toads.
Wildflowers are not only beautiful to the eye, making the miles we drive pleasant, but also form edges, so important to wild life.
I got on the International Lepidopterist's butterfly list and a professor from Iowa sent me the following link as to how this is handled there. Integrated Roadside Vegetation Management
http://www.uni.edu/irvm/
Look at Texas for a prime example of not only beautification but as habitat for insects and other animals and birds.
The FDOT partially seeds several medians in the county. However, that is done in spring when there are virtually no butterflies, and the seeds are annual here. They may be perennial in other places, but they are useless here.
It would be more beneficial to plant perennials native to this area in summer so that they can be timed to help the migration along.
What do you think?
I am an author, freelance writer/photographer/occasional wildlife rehabber/conservationist living in Bayou George, FL.
I thank you for your time.
May Lattanzio
(850)722-0231
inkslinger@bellsouth.net