THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, May 20, 1996 TAG: 9605200047
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY JEFF HAMPTON, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines
Paul Curtis of Elizabeth City was driving north of town on U.S. 17 when a roadside scene brought him to an abrupt halt.
He grabbed his camera while his wife, Deborah, got the video recorder. Their four children quickly exited the car.
Before them were three acres of red and yellow wildflowers, the colors glowing in the bright morning sun. All six waded into the swath of flora, 50 feet wide and hundreds long.
``It just hit us,'' Curtis said. ``This is so beautiful. Who can resist?''
The wildflowers did not grow there naturally. They are the most popular and visible work of the North Carolina Department of Transportation's statewide roadside beautification program.
The wildflowers, planted on highly traveled roads with large right-of-ways, draw hundreds of phone calls and letters from admirers each spring and fall.
``I like for it to take people's breath away when they see it,'' said Barry Hobbs, roadside environmental supervisor for Division 1of the state DOT. ``We probably get more positive comments about the wildflowers than we do about anything else at DOT.''
Division 1 covers northeastern North Carolina from the Virginia line south to Hyde County and from Northampton County to the coast.
Fees for personalized license plates cover most of the $800,000 spent in the state on wildflowers. The rest comes from a small amount of federal funding and private donations.
North Carolina is known nationally for its roadside wildflowers and leads the way in a friendly competition that includes Virginia and South Carolina. The Tar Heel State won a national award for its roadside flowers in 1992.
The program has come a long way from less-successful efforts in the 1970s, when organizers ``used poor seed and really didn't prepare the soil like they should have,'' Hobbs said.
In 1985, Dottie Martin, North Carolina's first lady at the time, reinstituted the program after seeing colorful roadsides in Texas.
``I think it was a pretty big bang for the buck,'' Martin said from her Charlotte home last week. ``People are struck by beautiful flowers. I still get comments from people about it.''
With cultivation improvements, the program has prospered.
The state buys most of its seed from commercial producers but raises some of its own seeds on several acres near Goldsboro.
One of the most popular flowers is the corn poppy, a bright red flower. Other favorites are the yellow lanced-leaved coreopsis, the white ox-eye daisy, the purple dame's rocket and the orange bur marigold. There are more than 100 species used statewide.
It was a bed of red corn poppy and lanced-leaved coreopsis that delayed Curtis and his family about six miles north of town recently. Across the road lies a carpet of ox-eye daisies.
Curtis' children each picked a small bouquet, unaware that plucking the plants is illegal and carries a $500 fine. But the law is rarely enforced.
``We really haven't found that to be a problem,'' said Bill Johnson, state roadside environmental engineer for the DOT. ``The law is there in case someone went out there and picked them for commercial purposes.''
While Curtis took pictures, Hobbs snapped his own photos of the flowers. He hopes to win the contest over the 13 other state divisions for the best wildflowers. The Garden Club of North Carolina judges and presents the awards in December in Raleigh.
U.S. 17 is just one of several sites in the region chosen for flowers. U.S. 64 in Dare County will also get special attention this year. Crews have planted wildflowers along its right-of-ways for the heavy traffic expected during the Babe Ruth World Series this summer in Manteo.
``I hope we'll have a good show,'' Hobbs said.
He also hopes it won't cause traffic problems if people stop suddenly to have a closer look - and maybe take a romp in the flowers. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
Wild and wonderful
JEFF HAMPTON
The Virginian-Pilot
Leah, left, and Abigail Curtis enjoy the wildflowers along U.S. 17
near the Dismal Swamp Visitor Center at South Mills. Fees for
personalized license plates cover most of the $800,000 spent in the
Department of Transportation's roadside beautification program.
INFORMATION ON WILDFLOWERS
For more information on the DOT's Wildflower Program, call (919)
332-6300. To donate to the fund, send check or money order to
Wildflower Program, Roadside Environmental Unit, North Carolina
Department of Transportation, P.O. Box 29518, Raleigh, N.C. 27626.
PLANTING WILDFLOWERS
The process state officials use for planting wildflowers along
roadways also works for a personal wildflower bed.
First, crews remove existing vegetation and till the ground. They
test the soil for nutrients and acidity. A pH range of 6.0 to 6.5 is
best. They add a fertilizer with a ratio of 1-2-2 in nitrogen,
phosphorus and potassium. They then fumigate the soil with methyl
bromide and metam sodium to kill competing weeds.
Early spring and fall are the best times to sow. The beds are
mulched lightly with hay, pine straw or fine pine bark.
by CNB