The Western red lily is a protected flower under the Provincial Emblems and Honours Act. (Ronald Quaroni/paNOW Staff)

By Ronald Quaroni

Banned Bouquets

A floral predicament: Saskatchewan residents encouraged to avoid picking wildflowers

Jul 23, 2019 | 11:25 AM

Summertime in Saskatchewan, everything is green and growing.

With all the lush and vibrant wildflowers growing in provincial green spaces and ditches, who can be blamed for wanting to pick a floral centerpiece for the kitchen table?

For a number of reasons, you shouldn’t.

“I really discourage people from digging any plant they find,” Chet Neufeld, executive director for the Native Plant Society of Saskatchewan told paNOW. “In the ditch or in the wild, they’re much better (off) where they’re growing.”

He explained certain wildflowers often grow in certain areas due to bacterial makeups of the soil and attempting to transplant wildflowers often fails.

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Not only can you kill the flowers and damage the area you are picking from, you can also harm yourself if you pick the wrong flower.

“Something like waterhemlock,” Neufeld said. “If you happen to have the juices on your hands and you go to eat a sandwich, you can get very sick.”

“There are things like wild parsnip,” Neufeld warned. “If they pick that the juices from that plant, it can cause photosensitivity and basically give you a really bad sunburn.”

Big fines can also be levied for filching the wrong flower.

If someone is found guilty of injuring, picking, or destroying any part of the western red lily, our provincial flower, a person could face a fine of up to $500 under the Provincial Emblem and Honours Act.

Sarah Vinge-Mazer, a botanist for the Ministry of Environment, advised visitors to the P.A. National Park and the Candle Lake Provincial Park to avoid picking flowers as well.

“Picking plants there is prohibited,” she said of all provincial and national parks in the province.

Vinge-Mazer noted there are a variety of rare and protected plants provincially and nationally and people should spend time educating themselves.

She echoed the sentiment of enjoying plants or flowers in their natural habitat.

“You can damage individual plants. You’re taking away habitat or food sources for some of the critters. There are definitely some other ways you can enjoy wildflowers, without picking them,” Vinge-Mazer said.

Chet Neufeld encouraged wildflower and plant lovers to visit the Native Plant Society of Saskatchewan’s website to locate wildflower seeds, they can plant in their backyards to enjoy.

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Ron.quaroni@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @RonaldQuaroni