rr 10 economist sun stouflville tribune saturday july 31 1999 economist sun stouffville tribune tmeawalk onfoewim side at a pirtyouownflowetjurm bypamchiotti correspondent q aheadwalk on the wild sidebut dont water the plants while youre there v a wildflower garden after all needs hardly any maintenance and forget about dousing your lawn with chemicals and instead take pleasure from the birds butterflies and other wildlife that will flock to your yard if you really want to fertilize then go for it but you dont have to its a wasteof money paul jenkins said plus weve been overusing chemicals which is not a good thing to do environmentally jenkins and his wife miriam goldberger haye been running prairie nursery wildflower farm located between nobleton and schoniberg in king township for 11 years they grow five acres of flowers on their 100acre property the 10th concession farm is actually ontarios first pickyourownflower farm for 32you can fill a bucket with as many flowers as you can clip the flowers come from all over the world but bloom in all their brilliancehere in york region the hundreds of flowers are identified by signs so youll know exactly what you are clipping many of them are native wildflower plants which is jenkins and goldbergers specialty the farm is the only native plant wild flower nursery in york region and one of four of its kmd provincewide we specialize in plants that were here well before the settlers came to north america jenkins said however these native plants are much hardier than those of yesteryear because meyhavegeneticauyandclimactically adapted to this climate the native really tough and can withstand all seasons as well native plants are natures food source which means your garden will be simply irresistible to a wide assortment of creatures and critters many of the native 3 flowers and grasses sold at the gardens will produce seeds that beckon birds in fall and winter jenkins interest in native plants escalated when he discovered that half the plants he and his wife were growing were indeed native as time went on hebecame more and more interested in plants native to our region wildflower gardens are gaining populari- ty for reasons other than the fact they are low maintenance and not dependent on pesticides simply put they are costeffective solutions to landscaping corporations are storting to catch on to wildflower gardens because they realize they can save money whenit comes to gardening basicallya garden of this kind requires maintenance only once a year studies show that companies are saving a fortune after five years with a comparable initial investment said jenkins who has designed wildflower meadows as large as fiveacres m york region he designed a threeacre property on the 7th concession in holland landing jenkins is a landscape designer and knows how to advise people when it comes to choosing plants that will work for them i often he goes to the customers home or business to analyze certain variables such as soil type clay sand or loam moisture cqri- tent shade and sun conditions personal likes and dislikes if we put plaints in the situation that they like people will be successful in their gar- fderdng some plants that thrive in shade for example are bergamot jack in the pulpit harebeus coluhibme and me penstemons some suhworshippihg plants are the bril- liant orange butterflyweed blue fake indi go and coreopsis r one of the most common native wildfldwers is the purple cone plant echinacea popular for its medicinal capabilities echinacea is native to york region in particular as is core- opsis joe pye weed and oxeye sunflower v site preparation is more than important when it comes to planting a wild flower garden jenkins said you must prepare your land properly by making sure it is clean and free of weeds if youve been mowing your lawn and you wish to naturalize it just remove the entire lawn jenkins advised then you have a blank piece of land that you can work with although you can buy scores of flowers and grasses from prairie nursery wildflower farm you can also obtain seeds by ordering from its catalogue 859- 0286 or 18884767303 or check out the website at hyperlink httpwwwwflclflowerfarmcom v after allits the way nature wants it photocaia bronkhorst miriam goldberger pqses with a posy from her wildflower garden jtiiaibtl-i- j ssts pa ggxsj sg s3 sssi 3 3 s s mmimmnmte hbirbsmsodmoskmmbfkmbl eye quit smoking is not only linked to heart disease and lung cancer but also to macular degeneration macular degeneration is an eye disease in which the all important central vision is lost due to deterioration of blood vessels or a thinning at the back of the eye retina research suggests that- smoking affects the eyes by hyfc tf uu reducing blood flow causing a lack of vital oxygen supply to the retina those who smoke more than a pack a day are more than twice as likely to develop macular degeneration the high risk for macular degeneration does not begin to decrease 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