A chapter excerpt from a forthcoming new book by Jean Hersey, “Two Hundred WildFlowers to Know, to Crow, to Protect” (to be published by D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc.)
Spring is imminent, and the time for our favorite pastime is at hand. Collecting wildflowers from woods, roadsides, fields, and stream banks is a delicious occupation!
Good Time To Move Flowers
Early spring is a good time to move wildflowers. Native plants must be transplanted when they are easy to find and recognize. This can also be just after they have flowered.
By slimmer spring, flowers are buried under lush growth. We had successfully moved hepaticas, wild columbine, Dutchman’s breeches, foam flower, and bloodroot when they were just about to bloom.
Summer flowering wildflowers, beardtongue, daisies, black-eyed Susan, goldenrod, and others will do well if taken when the plants are 6”to 10” inches high, which with us is early June.
Good Time To Collect
Fall is also a good time to collect. Take a mental note of the location or mark in spring with rocks and stakes that you would like to dig in the fall. Summer moving is possible but difficult if you have a thoroughly rainy week.
Spring or fall are preferable. If you are moving a tall plant that has finished flowering, cut back the tops to facilitate handling.
When You May Rightfully Collect
Keep in mind that all land belongs to someone. So be sure to get permission from owners before you take plants anywhere. Also, there are laws concerning the gathering of wildflowers.
Check the conservation lists for your state, and never dig any plants on it unless in some wild are about to be destroyed.
It is most fortunate for you and the plants if you find a place where a building project is beginning or a highway is under construction.
What a gold mine of material such an area yields! Here you can readily get permission to help yourself to buildings that would otherwise be destroyed. You will feel like a good Samaritan as you save basketfuls from extinction.
And, of course, here, you are not only permitted but encouraged to dig any of the flowers on your state conservation list!
Take small trees, too, before they are bulldozed down. Young dogwoods and hemlocks are especially easy to dig and rewarding to transplant.
Bringing Plants From The Wild
To bring plants from the wild, you will need some flats or baskets, burlap bags, newspapers, a shovel, a trowel, some large pieces of cellophane, pruning shears, plastic bags, and a jug of water or a bucket to carry water in.
In digging, disturb the roots as little as possible. Take as much surrounding earth as practical with each plant.
Suppose, to be explicit, that it is May, and you are about to dig up a 6-inch black-eyed Susan. First, clear away any leaves, grasses, and litter that might obstruct the process.
Make a circular cut, say 8” inches in diameter and 8” inches deep around the plant. Adjust the diameter of the cut to the size of the plant and its depth to the length of the roots.
Perhaps in one cut a foot in diameter, you’ll take three or four plants. In digging you may sever some of the exterior roots with your sharp shovel, and with a bigger plant, you may have to cut with the pruning shears one or two larger ones. No harm will be done.
Gently lift out the root ball with your shovel, first having loosened it on one side and then on the other.
Keep as much undisturbed soil as possible around the roots. Wrap the plant or clump in newspapers or pieces of plastic to hold the soil together, or slip it into a plastic bag.
The new wildling will be most at home in your garden with some extra earth from where it grew. If you are taking ten black-eyed Susans, a bushel basket of soil from the same meadow will make them thoroughly at home.
Transplanting
Suppose you are transplanting something with the growing habits of a partridge berry. (And you can only dig this in the path of a bulldozer as it is on the protected list in most states.)
Do not take a root ball of the earth but ease the lengths of rooted stems from the ground, coil them up, and put them in a plastic bag with a couple of handfuls of wet sphagnum moss.
Trees With Tap Roots
In taking small trees, you’ll be surprised at how long the tap root of many of them is, even with very-young seedlings. So get as much of this root as you can. Happily, they will thrive even if some are cut.
Keep trees and their seedlings wrapped in wet sphagnum, newspapers, or plastic for the trip home. Then, when you have a car full, give everything a soaking. Moisten root balls and be sure all are wrapped to prevent dehydration.
Only dig as much as you can plant the same day, as it does no good to remain overnight out of the earth.
When you arrive home, set everything in the shade.
Before you plant, check again the locations you have chosen and compare them with where you found the plants growing to confirm that, if not identical, they are similar.
In naturalizing, it is most effective to grow wild plants in casual sweeps. A single plant here and there is lost to view, whereas a massed grouping of the same variety is most effective. Set them out not only in similar soil and location but also as close to each other as you found them.
To Plant Your Wildlings
Clear away surrounding growth in an area somewhat larger than the plants will occupy to give them the elbow room they need to start. When you are ready to set out the first one, dig an oversized hole.
For example, for the black-eyed Susan, if there are three or four in a clump and they seem young, leave them together. If they seem mature, gently separate the entangled roots and stand them a foot apart.
Take some of the extra meadow soil which you have brought and place it in the too-large hole under and around the new plant. See that the crown is at the depth at which it grew. Never bury too deeply nor set too high.
Now, shovel in additional soil with your trowel and firm around the plant. Be sure there are no air pockets among the roots.
Water thoroughly, toss some grass over the ground to retain the moisture, and they will probably never know they have been moved!
Partridge Berry is Different
The partridge berry may be cut into several 6- to 10-inch lengths, provided each piece has a cluster of roots. Then, put some of the soil you collected under it, so it is planted in familiar earth.
Press the dirt firmly over the stems leaving only the small round leaves above the ground. Cover the surrounding area with leaves and litter, and water amply.
Water all newly set out wildflowers and trees daily until the rain comes. A maternal eye at first gets them off to a good start.
In due time when they are established, you can leave them in the care of Mother Nature.
One good method is to bring from the wild three or four of one variety to your land and let these be guinea pigs in the chosen site.
Observe results for a season. If they thrive, acquire more. If not, choose another location or another plant.
Advantages In Buying Wildflowers
There are some definite advantages to buying certain wildflowers. Some of those you’ll want to grow may not be found in your vicinity or, more likely, will be on your state conservation list.
If no highways or housing developments are imminent, you will bless the many fine nurseries in nearly every state.
Wildflower nurseries are also a boon to those who live in settled communities far from woodlands and meadows. Another advantage of buying plants is that several wildflowers from other parts of the country will thrive for you.
Available From Nurseries
Nurseries will ship plants. However, if there is a nursery anywhere near and if you possibly can, do go in person.
Make an appointment ahead and say you want some advice so the grower will save time and be prepared to help. Go in the early morning, and discuss your land, situation, and conditions.
Take copious notes on the growing needs for each sort. Buy what you want and get extra soil from where each variety grows. Bring your new plants and extra earth home and set them out the same day.
Wildflower Gardening
While I have given many specifics on transplanting, wildflower gardening is not merely a matter of fact and rule but also involves imagination, initiative, and creativity.
Mingle all I have said with your hunches, observation, and intuition. You never know for sure, till you try, how any garden project will come out.
But in growing wildflowers, if you let nature and your feelings for plants be your teacher—if you listen and learn well, you will surely succeed.
44659 by Jean Hersey