NATIVE WILDFLOWERS OFFER VARIETY TO GARDENERS.

• Position: Brief Article

Each summer, armies of mowers move across the land to manicure large expanses of grass. What a waste of time, money, and opportunity, argues Michael Dana, professor of horticulture, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind. He advocates growing native wildflowers instead.

According to Dana, wildflower areas offer these advantages:

* They are environmentally friendly. "With wildflowers, you don't expend fossil fuels or introduce fertilizers or pesticides into the environment."

* They increase landscape diversity. "Remnant native plant communities may contain 60 to 80 different species in a limited area. Typical plantings do not achieve that much diversity, but throughout the season, there are different plants coming into bloom and going out, changing color. It is especially enriching for the people...