Mary Anderson

Mary Anderson holds up the sign designating the AFCEE 'backyard' as a wildflower demonstration meadow. The sign names the types of wildflowers that were planted and advises visitors not to pick the flowers but encourages them to walk amongst them 'and enjoy.'
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Mary Anderson holds up the sign designating the AFCEE 'backyard' as a wildflower demonstration meadow.
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AFCEE botanist Mary Anderson, center, empties a bag of wildflower seeds into a wheelbarrow. Volunteers used plastic drinking cups to scoop up the seeds, which they then scattered by hand.
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AFCEE botanist Mary Anderson, center, empties a bag of wildflower seeds into a wheelbarrow.
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Center botanist Mary Anderson said the main reason for creating the wildflower meadow was to provide habitat for migratory birds.But the plantings, she said, also had other benefits, such as increasing biodiversity, promoting the use of native flowers and reducing ground maintenance costs since wildflower meadows require less water and care than traditional grass lawns.There is also an ascetic benefit, she said, as people can enjoy watching the flowers bloom.

A follow-up planting of native wildflower species will be taking place soon in order to take advantage of the coming South Texas fall rains, Anderson said.

The speaker on May 2nd was Mary Anderson, a botanist at Brooks AFB.She gave a very informative talk on container gardening.