Conference Calling

The Conference is calling! Yes, the 31st Annual Conference of the Florida Native Plant Society, in Maitland, May 19-22, "Patios, Preserves and Open Spaces," is indeed calling you, and now is the time to make plans and register. Why? Because you will:

    •    learn things you always wanted to know
    •    learn things you never knew you wanted to know
    •    meet people who really dig the same stuff you do
    •    meet people who expand your horizons
    •    take home new visions  for your own future

And I am not kidding! The conference is specifically designed for people just like you, whether you are a lifelong pro or a native plant newbie. There will be presentations on topics from experts ranging from the needs of a homeowner to those of research scientists and everything in between.

 
Interested in invasives? Butterfly gardening? Wildflowers in the landscape? Green roofs?

 
Focused on research in restoration outplanting of jacquemontia,? Or genetic drift in 
St. John’s Wort?  (See? Did you know there was genetic drift in St. John’s Wort?) 


Are you secretly craving a workshop called Midnight in Your Garden of Good and Evil? 
(And who wouldn’t be?)  Well, look no further. There is one.

And how about Native Plant Yard Tours? Oh yes, you will see real native plants in actual yards! 
It is a fantastic way to assimilate knowledge about what works in home landscaping. 
 


 
 
Bruce Means will teach and entertain you during a presentation called “The Wild, Wild World of the Florida Panhandle.” If you have never had the opportunity to hear him, treat yourself right now. He is one of the authors of Priceless Florida, and he knows Florida from the inside out.

Inspiration will permeate your very soul from this years’ keynote speakers, Rutherford Platt and
Rick Darke. These gentlemen have literally been visionaries of our times; predicting the future of our world with and without the plants and ecosystems that we simultaneously need and decimate.


For a detailed schedule, go to the conference page  and click on “schedule;’ (or top right of this page, click on the "Patios, Preserves and Open Spaces") where you can download a spreadsheet of all the talks, and the field trips, keynote speakers, social events and everything else.

Do you just want to get the heck out of Dodge? Then don’t miss the spectacular field trips, which are 
unbelievable opportunites to learn and enjoy our Florida natives. All field trips are lead by folks who are experts; you will have the chance to observe and ask questions. Take look at the wide variety of trips being offered – there are hikes, canoe trips, rides in buggies through mesic hardwoods, sloughs,  springs, swamps, marshes, reclaimed lands, and wildlife management areas.

There is a trip for all you people who want to eat native. You know how we are always saying on this blog, “Don’t eat this plant until you have had it ID’d by an expert?" Here is your big chance!

There will be social events, eating, author book signing, cool plant art for sale, cool plants for sale. You can come for one day or all the days.  There will be weighty thoughts and general hilarity. Truly something for everyone!
 
The conference is one of the Society's biggest efforts to offer education to the people of Florida. Take advantage of it.  I promise you, you will be glad you did.

sue dingwell

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Florida Native Azaleas

Image
Piedmont Azalea, Rhododendron canescens. Photo by Lilly Anderson-Messec By Lilly Anderson-Messec While growing up in North Florida, I began to recognize the arrival of spring by the boisterous show of white, pink, and fuchsia blooms of azalea shrubs. The house I grew up in had large, mature azalea hedges with a variety of different colors and forms. Every spring, my mom would bring in vases full of them and my dad loved to point out the showy shrubs as we drove through town. I suppose I assumed these plants were native, but most likely I never gave it a thought. I didn’t differentiate a native plant from a non-native one because I didn’t yet know the importance of native plants as the basis of our functioning ecosystems. I was so surprised when I learned the azaleas I was so familiar with (Rhododendron indicum) are actually transplants from Asia! They are favored by the horticultural industry for their fast, vigorous, and dense growth of evergreen leaves and large, showy blooms. Curio...
Read more

Wednesday's Wildflower:Spanish Needle

Image
Spanish Needle, Bidens Alba Submitted by Donna Bollenbach, Suncoast Chapter Biden's alba , all photos by Donna Bollenbach Nothing attracts more butterflies and bees than a simple white flower called Bidens alba . Also called Romerillo, Beggar’s Tick, Spanish Needle or Monkey’s Lice, this Florida native wildflower is the third most reliable source of nectar for pollinators in our state. There would be many starving bees and butterflies if not for the Bidens family of flowers. More so, Bidens alba and its sister plant, Bidens pilosa , are both edible and have medicinal value. Yet, many gardeners have a love/hate relationship the plant, and some even consider it a pesky weed. Why?
Read more

Paradise Tree: Beautiful and Useful

Image
"The native Paradise tree is more useful than Google, and easy to grow." And how could any blogger resist leading off with this intriguing quote from the Key West Garden Club? I am a Master Gardener and a Master Naturalist, but I only know so much; so I always check out  statistics from experts before posting information about plants. I have a beautiful Paradise tree in my yard, it came from the raffle table at my chapter's program night about six years ago.   Paradise tree                Simarouba glauca For the first six years the little tree had a perfect, closed, cone shape; but just this summer I was astounded one morning to walk out and notice that my tree had changed. The canopy had begun to open up, there were open spaces between the layers of branches. It seemed to happen overnight. Proving again that a garden is constantly in motion, which is one of the fascinating things about o...
Read more