Please Don’t Pick the Daisies! By Tom Zeiner, President, Crested Butte Wildflower Festival
“Don’t Pick the Daisies!” You may hear your hike leader ask you not to pick the flowers but do you know why? It’s not just for aesthetics, although we like to watch wildflowers go through their whole cycle. We have a really short growing season here at 9000’, so all the growth and seed production is squeezed into a compact 3 month growing season. Lots of our plants have developed ways to maximize that brief summer, but they still need a little help. Only a few of the seeds that all those wildflowers produce actually become new plants. Some don’t land in a good spot, some are digested by birds, and some may sprout, but just plain don’t make it. Picking flowers or even trampling flowers if you go off-trail assures that
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