Wildflowers, or native plants, beautify the area with no cultivation required. They’re found in fields, vacant lots, and along roadways and ditches.
However, they can be planted but that doesn’t always work out well as Elizabeth Register of Bay St. Louis found out. “I had bad seeds and the company took them back,” she said. “But, I’ve done well with cuttings from wildflowers.”
The avid gardener points out that a lot of flowers were brought in from the wild and cultivated. “They grow and become carefree. They die down but will come back,” she said.
“Mississippi Wildflowers like it hot,” says Patricia R. Drackett, director of The Crosby Arboretum in Picayune. “As I travel our Pearl River County roads, I find it hard to resist being mesmerized by the colorful mix of blooming perennials, such as Stokes aster, wild Ageratum, and sweet Joe Pye weed that grow carefree in the ditches.
“These perennials are certainly in the top ten list of high-performing, low-maintenance perennials. Liatris, known as blazing star, was planted in our Pollinator Garden from seed we had collected from plants in our south pitcher plant bog. While many plants in our Savanna Exhibit are adapted to this wet, acidic soil, some have a wide range of environmental conditions they prosper in.”
Drackett, who is also Associate Extension Professor at Mississippi State University in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Design, adds, “If you have an area of your property that is difficult to garden in a traditional manner, you may want to consider letting it go a little bit wild. Allow it to grow up and see what develops, or sprinkle in a wildflower mix designed for our region.”
Register, a member of Beach Garden Society, lists wildflowers of the area:
Achillea – yarrow
Amsonia – blue star
Asclepias – milkweed
Asters
Baptisms
Boltonia
Clematis – sweet autumn
Coreopsis
Crocosmia – Montbretia
Echinacea – purple coneflower
Gaillardia – blanket flower
Gaura – butterfly weed
Helianthus – swamp sunflower
Mallows – many varieties
Liatris – blazing stars
Monarda – bee balm
Rudbekia – black eyed Susan
Salvia
Spigelia – Indian pink
Stokesia – Stokes aster
Verbena
