• View ecochildsplay’s profile on Facebook
  • View ecochildsplay’s profile on Twitter
  • View ecochildsplay’s profile on Instagram
  • View ecochildsplay’s profile on Pinterest
  • View Jennifer Lance’s profile on LinkedIn
  • View ecochildsplay’s profile on YouTube
  • View ecochildsplay’s profile on Google+

Eco Child's Play

Live a greener, healthier life!

  • Environment
  • Pregnancy
  • Food & Recipes
  • Health News
  • Parenting
  • Green Toys
  • Beauty & Beauty Products
  • Green Home & Cleaning
  • Contact

Avoid Arrest: Don’t Pick the Wildflowers!

Photo:  Attribution Some rights reserved by WellspringCSDon't pick the wildflowers

Don't pick the wildflowers

The signs of springing are arriving, alternating with an occasional snow storm.  Inevitably, children are drawn to the flowers that bless us with their color this time of year.  If you have a flower bed in your yard, you’ve probably experienced the quickness a toddler can decimate a bed only to hand you a crumpled bouquet as a show of love and kindness.  Unfortunately, wildflowers can suffer at the hands of little ones, and there are laws to protect them.

Many wildflowers are sensitive species, some are even endangered.  State laws protect wildflowers in state parks.  Signs on San Diego reports:

Can picking wildflowers get you arrested?

You’d expect a tongue-lashing for tearing up your neighbor’s flower beds, right? Well, California Code of Regulations 4306 under Title 14 goes a step further when it comes to state parks. If you pick, dig up, kick, drive over, squash, move, molest or, as the code puts it, bum* a wildflower, it’s a misdemeanor charge. The ranger will give you a ticket. (In case you’re wondering, it’s also illegal at national parks.)

*Bumming, in this case, has nothing to do with affecting flower moods: It means “to ruin or spoil.”

Recently, parents in the UK were arrested when their daughters picked flowers.  The Guardian reports:

It may be a while before Jane Errington and her partner Marc Marrengo venture back to their local park for a springtime walk. On Sunday, police were called after their two daughters were seen picking daffodils; the constables informed Errington and Marrengo that they could be arrested for criminal damage…

Wild flowers According to Dominic Price of wild plant protection charity Plantlife, “it is not normally an offence to pick the ‘Four Fs’ – fruit, foliage, fungi or flowers – if the plants are growing wild and it is for your personal use and not for sale.” Dozens of rare or endangered plants – from the lady’s slipper orchid and adder’s tongue, to threadmoss and sandwort – are, however, protected under the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act, so pick those and you could face arrest (though you’re unlikely to stumble across too many of them). Whatever you do, don’t drag up the whole plant to resettle it in your own garden – the law firmly forbids the uprooting of any wild plant.

As a teacher and a parent I have a wildflower rule:  we don’t pick them.  We may admire their beauty. If we feel we need to capture this beauty, then we can draw, paint, or photograph the subject.  I’ve had other parents think I am crazy, and I have endured more than one dirty look from my daughter, but I stand by my rule.

Now my daughter even asks before picking a cultivated flower from our yard, and she is often given the [amazon_link id=”B00023RYS6″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Felcos[/amazon_link] and told to make a beautiful bouquet.  We have a mutual understanding and respect when it comes to flowers.  Wildflowers are safe around my children (and not because I fear arrest).

  • Twitter
  • Email
  • Pinterest
  • Print
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • More
  • WhatsApp
  • Tumblr
  • Reddit
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Subscribe!

« Seaweed and Iodine: More Ways to Protect Your Family from Japan’s Nuclear Crisis
Hank D and the Bee: Hank gets egged »

Comments

  1. Kimberly says

    March 16, 2011 at 1:55 pm

    Texas has a similar law to preserve our bluebonnets, Indian Paintbrushes, and other wildflowers. Lady Bird Johnson is famous for her initiative to save our wildflowers from exintion. The Highway Department schedules mowing the roadsides so that the flowers can bloom and go to seed without being mowed down.

    Reply
    • Jennifer Lance says

      March 16, 2011 at 5:26 pm

      I never understood the need to mow highways anyways, let along spray herbicides along them. I suppose it does reduce the risk of fires from discarded cigarettes, but it does nothing for visibility.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Political Hacks Never Ending Jive » Avoid Arrest: Don?t Pick the Wildflowers! says:
    March 22, 2011 at 3:24 pm

    […] Avoid Arrest: Don’t Pick the Wildflowers! is a post from: Eco Child's Play […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Jennifer Lance Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Search Content

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter


About Eco Child’s Play

Our ethos is to provide news, information, and opinions on natural, green parenting to help your family live a greener, healthier life! Additionally, we offer personal consulting services to help you achieve your green living goals.

Jennifer is a vegetarian, yoga teacher, gardener, hiker, teacher, and mother that has been living off-the-grid for over 20 years.

Contact Eco Child’s Play

unstructured play

Children Have a Right to Unstructured Play

Gluten free banana bread recipe

Gluten-Free Banana Bread Recipe

More from the archives!

Late Winter Nature Play

Eco-Friendly Products: 5 Phases Shatter Resistant Glass Baby Bottles

Why is there arsenic in your wine, chicken, rice, juice…

Study: Green Neighborhoods Affect Urban Kids’ Brain Development and Cognitive Function

Holiday Toy Safety: 25 Years of Trouble in Toyland

Insufficient Sleep & Decreased Quality of Life: No Teen Screen Time Before Bed!

The Potential Problem with Modern Parenting

Information

  • About & Contact
  • Archive
  • Blog
  • Consulting Services
  • Disclaimer, Disclosure, & Sponsored Posts
  • Privacy Policy
logo
Food Advertising by

Reuse those Crayola Markers

I Don’t Care if you are a Vegetarian, Omnivore, Carnivore, Vegan, Pescetarian, or Flexitarian!

Vegetarian Cooking: Herbivoracious

Ecochildsplay featured on Z Recommends

Bath Tub Fun with the Organic Terry Bath Mit From Eco-Artware

plastic straws

Will California Ban Plastic Straws?

Popular Categories

  • Breastfeeding
  • Health News
  • Natural Childbirth
  • Parenting
  • Education
  • Product Review
  • Green Toys

Get our posts via email

Please stay in touch!

You might also like to read…

Before and After: Breastfeeding and Your Boobs (Someone Please Tell Kendra Wilkinson)

Great Children's Literature: Cinder Edna

Labor of Love: A Series of Birth Stories and Commentary on Natural Birth

Hank D and the Bee: Prank D and the Beet

International Babywearing Week

Copyright © 2019 · Divine theme by Restored 316

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OkNoPrivacy policy
Revoke cookies