Florida Native Plant Society Blog

Finally I'm getting a chance to reflect on the wild and wonderful Naples Field Days of the 2023 Florida Native Plant Society Annual Conference; this was our first year since the pandemic that we've had any sort of in-person component to our Annual Conference. and I've really missed seeing everyone. The Naples Chapter organized two days of native plant fun, with vegan-friendly food, plenty of caffeine, two guided hikes, and a pine needle basketry workshop. They were the first of our three regional Field Days to sell out and once I got there I understood why. The early morning drive from Kissimmee had me road wary. I was navigating the rough streets of the failed Golden Gates Estates subdivision several minutes past the scheduled start time. Sweating, I pulled into a very Florida-esque rural/suburban driveway behind a wall of mostly-native vegetation several minutes past nine am. This is Collier County's Robert E. Gore, III Preserve - a relatively small preserve carved ou...

The Annual Meeting of the Membership was held on June 17, 2023 from 10-11:30am EST.  Watch the meeting This is the opportunity for all members to catch up on the major events of 2022, learn who the very deserving Palmetto award winners are, who is getting a Conservation or Research grant, and to vote on incoming Board Members! Please take the time to review the agenda and the minutes from last year's meeting  and corrections to the minutes . Candidate Statements - 2023 FNPS Slate Vice President for Administration Athena Philips Citrus Chapter (Lecanto, Citrus County), FNPS member 2015-present I joined the Florida Native Plant Society (FNPS) shortly after moving from the Tampa suburbs to the Nature Coast. It was wonderful to see a part of Florida that still had numerous wild places with much biodiversity, and I wanted to be part of the movement to preserve that. The Society continues to grow and I commit myself to help it develop as a dynamic conservation organization, fosteri...

Hernando Chapter sent out their June newsletter today and included this excellent local policy update. The Hernando Chapter FNPS will weigh in on local issues when they are directly related to our mission ( Preserving, conserving and restoring the native plants and native plant communities of Florida ). We are fortunate that our Conservation Chair, Gene Kelly, closely follows local issues and helps us take meaningful action. Our Chapter has taken a formal stand on the issues that follow, often in stride with partner organizations. Hernando County is currently strengthening its fertilizer ordinance , and the BCC unanimously approved amended ordinance language at their May 27 meeting. It is critical that the county gets the job done before July 1; a very bad law prohibiting adoption/amendment of local fertilizer ordinances goes into effect on that date (if the Governor does not veto it, which we hope he will). The good news is that Hernando’s ordinance (assuming it receives final approva...