The Mayes County Division of the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) planted wildflower seeds the week before Christmas on OK HWY-20 East of Pryor. Back Row, from left, Coy Dooley, ODOT, Travis Smith, ODOT Mayes County Superintendent; William Atwell, ODOT. Monica Bartling, GFWC, President-Elect and Color Oklahoma Chair; Lynn Michaels, Color Oklahoma Board Member. Front Row, From Left, GFWC-OK Pryor Monday Forum Club members, Caitlin Baney, Dr. Michelle Taylor, Hon. Jacqueline Stout, Leslie Considine & Pearl Garrison, Color Oklahoma, Chair Emeritus. Photo by Patrick Lowe, District 8, East District Maintenance Engineer, ODOT.
The GFWC-OK Pryor Monday Forum Club received a grant from Color Oklahoma (coloroklahoma.com) to plant wildflower seeds on OK-HWY 20 East of Pryor. The planting is in the center median for approximately 2 miles. The Club also worked with the Street Department of the City of Pryor who agreed to refrain from mowing the median except for safety cuts for visibility from April through mid-July. The Monday Forum Club provided $250 in matching funds with Color Oklahoma Board Member, Lynn Michaels, providing an additional $250 so the group would qualify for a $1,000 grant from Color Oklahoma. 43 total pounds of seeds were planted by ODOT.
By mid-April the areas should show beautiful red and yellow Gaillardia (commonly known as Indian Blanket) and bright yellow Coreopsis tinctoria (commonly called plains coreopsis or tickseed). Showy Primrose was also planted but it requires two growing seasons to produce flowers. The showy primrose will produce small pink blossoms that tend to spread quickly after the second growing season.
Planting Wildflower seeds not only helps beautify our highways and interstates across Oklahoma, but also provides food for pollinators. According to the National Wildlife Federation planting wildflower plots is one way to help bees and other pollinators at a local level. Color Oklahoma provided seeds for planting more than 517 pounds of seeds in 9 Oklahoma communities this December and early January. Seeds are planted in the cold weather because they require a period of cold, moist conditions to break down naturally occurring chemicals in the seeds that inhibit germination. These substances protect the seeds from germinating prematurely such that they wait until the following spring to sprout. This process is called cold stratification
Color Oklahoma was formed in 2002 and receives funding from the sale of wildflower license plates available at your local tag agency or from Service Oklahoma. The form to order a plate can also be downloaded from the Color Oklahoma website at https://coloroklahoma.com/color-oklahoma-license-plate-order-form/. If you would like more information on how your municipality or organization can obtain a grant to plant wildflowers in your area, go to coloroklahoma.com or email coloroklahoma@gmail.com. Color Oklahoma is a committee of the Oklahoma Native Plant Society.
