Oklahoma Woman Authors Reference Book For State's Native Flora

The Sooner State is home to thousands of wildflowers.

"Here in Oklahoma, we have a very diverse native flora," said Kim Shannon of the Oklahoman Native Plant Society. "We're the crossroads of many plant species in the United States."

But for the past 25 years, the state has lacked a guidebook to wildflowers.

That's where this woman, 80-year-old author Patricia Folley, stepped in.

"I was one of these stubborn little kids and I just wanted to know about whatever," Folley said. "I was always asking questions."

Her love for wildflowers blossomed at the age of 10 when she came across a small green flower.

"I didn't know what it was," she said. "Nobody in the neighborhood knew what it was. We didn't have any reference books."

For the past 30 years, Patricia has made it her mission to capture pictures of wildflowers and educate people about them.

She never realized that one day the photos that she's taken would fill a book.

"I didn't think what I had was the kind of book they wanted," Folley said.

Now she's traveling Oklahoma, signing copies of her book and talking about the importance of wildflowers.

"They support all of the butterflies and the bees," she said.

And with the book brings excitement for other flower lovers who are at the Tulsa Garden Center to purchase some native flora.

"I was looking in an Oklahoma wildflower book just over a week ago trying to identify another wildflower that I have and I wasn't able to find it, so I'm hoping that this will identify another flower that I have found out in the wild," said Master Gardener Josie Driskell said.

The book is not the last step for Patricia Folley. She plans to contribute to an encyclopedia that will feature all Oklahoma plants.