Win "Native Plant Landscaping for Florida" by Craig Huegel


Win Native Plant Landscaping for
 Florida Wildlife by Craig Huegel.
Leave a comment by Dec. 1! 
You know that folks interested in Florida's native plants are going to love a book that starts like this:

"Natural Florida is an amazing magical place. Few areas in the nation are more diverse or mysterious. Although seasons pass here with greater subtlety than regions to our north, a beauty and complexity lie beneath the surface unmatched by any other. We are fortunate to live here and should embrace the natural wealth that Florida has to offer. Instead of shying away from it, we should insist that our developed landscapes capture more diversity and more mystery than is currently the case.  What better place than Florida to recapture the sense of place lost from the areas where we live and work? Armed with a palette of native plants virtually unequaled in natural beauty and textures, we can be equipped with no better arsenal to fight off the blandness and artificial character that we have, for some reason, created and learned to accept.  We need not accept the status quo."


This book, beautifully illustrated with color photos throughout, covers the specific needs of various types of wildlife, more than 50 types of native plants with photos and descriptions, as well as landscaping ideas and pallets for various types of habitat such as dunes and scrubs, prairies, sandhills, flatwoods and hammocks.

Watch for a full review in the next issue of The Palmetto, but meanwhile, we have two copies to give away complements of University Press of Florida.  Please leave a comment here, or on our Facebook page, on what you have done for wildlife on your property or why this book is a needed resource. The two winners will be drawn randomly on December 1st.  Good luck! After the contest, we'll tell you a secret about the cover.

Books make great holiday gifts for yourself or others. When you purchase books (or other stuff) from this blog site, FNPS receives a small referral fee for each item. Thanks so much.

Leave us your email or send it to fnps.online@gmail.com so when you win, we'll have a way to contact you.  Remember we have two copies to give away, so your chances are pretty darn high!

Comments

Les Height said…
My wife has been trying to convert our yard over to native plants for some time now (she is the one with the green thumb). Compared to our neighbors we have a lot more birds and butterflies and who knows what else.
November 18, 2010 at 2:14 PM
Anonymous said…
For the last 3-4 years now I have watched our neighborhood trees being destroyed for housing communities. What used to be a peaceful small quite neighborhood has now tripled in size, and next on the list will be a shopping center.
We own a few acres of property that has been left untouched and it is my goal to try and keep all the Florida native plant species just as they are. I could really use some tips on landscaping.
Thanks, Wildflower16
November 18, 2010 at 5:36 PM
Florida Native Plant Society said…
We especially appreciate the effort to comment right on the blog page, so thank you! After the contest is over, we will be highlighting some of the best comments from both the blog and Facebook.
November 18, 2010 at 7:45 PM
daisy g said…
I've recently discovered your blog and hope to use the information contained here to increase my knowledge of natives. We are attempting (much to the chagrin of our HOA) to convert our tract backyard to Florida-friendly, native and wildlife conducive. I've noticed many more crawling critters in our yards of late, and hope to invite even more visitors with each new addition to the landscape! Thanks for the 411!
November 18, 2010 at 8:12 PM
Anonymous said…
In order to attract wildlife I've left much of the property in its natural state. I've replaced trees lost in hurricanes with native species. I've replaced much of the lawn with native plants to attract butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds. I look for plants to supply blooms, berries, and seeds throughout the seasons. There are log and brush piles and leaf litter for habitat and protection. Bird baths are kept clean. Tree snags and birdhouses are available. No pesticides, beneficial insects are encouraged and many pests are tolerated because they are food. I'm eliminating invasive species. Always looking for new information. Attended Wildlife Management workshop today. I love playing in my yard.
November 18, 2010 at 11:00 PM
PC_Babe said…
The drought has been tough the last 2 months. Any ideas on where to secure rain barrel materials on the cheap?
November 21, 2010 at 9:38 PM
Ginny Stibolt said…
Rain barrels: If you can find a bottling plant or food processing plant, they ususally have surplus barrels. Then you can add the spigot from a plumbing dept. and can adapt the downspout with readily available conversion parts. I have detailed instructions in a series of articles starting here: http://www.sky-bolt.com/Rainbarrels.htm

Another option is that your extension agent probably runs reasonably priced rain barrel classes where you can take home a barrel you make.
November 22, 2010 at 6:14 AM
I Beam said…
I have been reading a book titled “How to Enjoy Your Weeds”, Collier Books, Audrey Wynne Hatfield, 1971, Pg 30. In it she describes a lawn that Sir Francis Drake bowled in 1588. It was grwon of camomile. I’d like to reconstruct it. Im thinking though it might be too warm here. Has anyone experimented with it or..

Trifollium Repens
Trifollium Dubium
Achillea Millefollium
Thymus Serpyllum
Anthemis Nobilis

I have a ¼ acre where Id like to experiment.
November 22, 2010 at 6:30 AM
Unknown said…
I have an acre in an upland pine area in zone 9 that I have been trying to leave as natural as possible. I have left the property line borders between my neighbors and now have gopher turtles, brown thrashers and many "natives" growing such as Beauty Berries, scrub oaks, sand pines. These areas act as a natural fence and hedge row. I also get great ideas from local blogs like Hoe & Shovel!
November 22, 2010 at 12:56 PM
Hawthorn Hill said…
For all of you that have posted comments on this topic, I commend you for making the effort to include wildlife in your landscape plans. To me, a landscape becomes something worth spending time in when there is life in it. Landscaping for wildlife is purposeful landscaping with huge rewards. As each of us realizes that we are, in fact, land managers of important parcels of potential wildlife habitat, we can collectively begin to fix some of the problems we have caused by our past approach that was largely based on aesthetics for no good reason. A beautiful landscape is made more beautiful with life in it.
November 22, 2010 at 3:26 PM
Anonymous said…
Thnx 4 the idea & website. Gr8 suggestion the bottling plant!

PC_Babe
November 26, 2010 at 7:32 AM
Elizabeth said…
I first started planting native plants to attract butterflies, and then to attract birds. We have about half the lawn we started with, and while my husband still fertilizes the grass from time to time, we quit using pesticides for decades until recently (and that as limited as possible). We have a compromise between my vision of “no lawn” and his need for some grassy spaces.

Books like this are so helpful – I used an assortment of reference books to guide me when I first started out planting for wildlife. I have edges and a nice section of continuous canopy, as well as small shrubby bushes for cover, and a water source. For food we have acorns and pine cones – berries from Simpson’s stopper, firebush, marlberry, pigeon plum, seagrape, cocoplum, wild coffee, coral honeysuckle, and golden dewdrop.

The result? Lots of living things: butterflies, anoles, snakes, squirrels, birds of all sorts (even the occasional pileated woodpecker!), and insects of all makes and models. We also get a wandering assortment of raccoons, possums, and armadillos.

We don’t have as many blooming wildflowers as in the past, but the corky-stemmed passionvine attracts lots of zebra longwing and Julia butterflies as a larval food. Giant swallowtails, zebras, and sulphurs nectar on the firebush and coral honeysuckle, Lippia attracts the white peacocks, and Julia’s and Gulf fritillaries love blue porterweed.

I love that’s it’s become home to more than just us!
November 27, 2010 at 3:26 PM
Rebekah St. J said…
I have been working on adding mostly native plants to my yard(and getting rid of the sod), I would love some more ideas on the subject!
November 30, 2010 at 7:41 PM
SiestaSister said…
I try to make my yard friendly to native wildlife. Would love to get rid of all of the lawn, but opposition from partner and am sure the HOA would object.

The highlight of my day yesterday....seeing 2 white peacock butterflies mating while flying. I kept following them around with my camera. Between the wind blowing, the constant moving of the Peacocks and my underachieving camera most of the shot were blurred, but did get a few worth saving. I had never seen a white peacock here and this summer, hardly a day went by without me seeing a few.
December 1, 2010 at 7:02 AM
Anonymous said…
since we moved to Florida a year ago, we have been removing small areas of grass at a time, replacing them with natives and florida friendly plants. My goal is to have no grass on the front, only wildlife friendly plants.
kremond@yahoo.com
December 1, 2010 at 5:34 PM
Vicki said…
There is a very large native plant nursery in east Orange County. I doubt there is a plant or tree that is native to Florida that is not grown on this 75 acre tract. Retail hours are very limited but worth taking time to visit. If you happen to find the owner in the field he is willing to share his wealth of information on the topic.
December 2, 2010 at 5:48 AM
Landscape Gardeners Melbourne said…
Nice book.
It was indeed good to have Florida native and friendly plants.
October 22, 2011 at 1:07 AM
bird control melbourne said…
Make you the world a bit better or more beautiful because you have lived in it, was some advice of Edward W. Bok, an American editor, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and philanthropist of the early 20th Century. Bok lived up to these words by creating a garden and nature preserve that is today a national historic landmark and a must-see destination if you are visiting Central Florida.
May 18, 2012 at 12:28 AM
Landscape Pavers said…
Thank you for this great blog post. I love that we have a society that shares its landscaping journey. Please continue sharing how beautiful Florida is and how amazing you are with your landscaping.
March 12, 2021 at 10:05 PM
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