County weeds out wildflower program

Growing wildflowers is not as simple as Sarasota County thought—the pilot program to grow natives along Fruitville Road near I-75 was cut at today’s meeting.

The program initiated in December 2013 has already used up almost two years of its allocated funding because of upkeep and maintenance costs. At the beginning of the program, the county set aside $19,495 for a two-year period – and, in the last year, the program has siphoned out all but $6,000.

According to the staff memo, a solid planting of wildflowers can talk almost two years to reach full establishment, and that wildflowers are better suited to rural roadside environments – and that these facts were included in the initial project research.

“It’s a perspective at this location – planted in a high visibility area,” said Spencer Anderson, a division manager for capital projects in the county.

The growing stages of the wildflowers were not always aesthetically pleasing; the county had received multiple, consistent requests to put in different landscaping in the area.

The dead plants will be removed and replaced with native shrubbery and more colorful flowers, whether or not they are native. The replacement cost is estimated at $10,000.

The state is also planning a future interchange project for that area, Anderson said, so the county doesn’t want to invest a lot of time and money into the landscaping, as it will be eliminated during the state’s project.

The county has another wildflower area along I-75 that’s going to stay put, though – at a pond in the corner of the Honore Avenue and State Road 681 intersection in Nokomis.

The program, which was approved in April 2013, was initially selected to provide an alternative to mowing medians and ramps in some areas of the county and reduce costs related to mowing. In 2013, when the program was adopted, the county faced challenges with its mowing program after losing two of its contracted mowers. In August 2013, one of the contracted mowers, Storm Tech, ended its contract with the county on a mutual agreement. 
 

Correction: A previous version of this article failed to state the county and Storm Tech ended the mowing contract upon mutual agreement.