Florida Native Plant Society Blog

When scheduling Butterfly Holiday trips to all parts of the world, I always leave open the months of September and October. During this time, the greatest diversity and number of butterflies and many other N.E. Florida pollinators are attracted to  flowering plants in the Genera: Carphephorus , Liatris , Dalea , Vaccinium , Dioda , Elephantopus , Bidens , Lachnanthes , and  others. Southern Dogface on Liatris pauciflora When conditions are right, in the dry pinelands and sand hill areas in Julington-Durbin Preserve, Ralph E Simmons and Jennings State Forests, acres of Summer Farewell ( Dalea pinnata ) can be in bloom attracting multitudes of butterflies and other Northeast Florida pollinators. Summer Farewell ( Dalea pinnata ) There are eight native Dalea species growing in Florida. Three are vouchered in Northeast Florida, D. carnea , D. carnea var. albida , and D. pinnata , with D. pinnata being the most common. Summer Farewell ( Dale...

Story and Photos by Ryan Inskeep COMMENT Collage of Native Florida Butterfly Wings I will always remember the day my journey started , just five years ago.I was strolling through the nursery on a typical hot summer day when a  beautiful native milkweed plant caught my eye. At the time I was drawn to the blooms alone (not realizing the many benefits this one plant would  soon provide). It was not long before the female Monarch butterfly flew in to lay her eggs on the Milkweed. Suddenly, my entire outlook on gardening  changed.  If this one plant could bring in so much life, imagine what would happen if more native plants were added. I began by incorporating  butterfly larval host plants and adult butterfly nectar plants. Implementing both host and nectar sources allows the butterflies to  complete their entire lifecycle in my small urban garden.  (Top left to right: Black Swallowtail on Cirsium horridulum, White P...

WHITE WORDLESS BUTTERFLIES... This is how poet Hogan Reiken (1779-1860) described Plum blossoms in his Plum Blossom Haiku  Blog & Photography by Bill Berthet Since 2003 I have looked forward each year to the start of butterfly season, beginning with the two to three week period in the month of February for the showy display of plum blossoms of Chickasaw Plum, Prunus angustifolia . THE CHICKASAW PLUM TREE & FLOWERS Plum Tree in Bloom Flowers are white, small, five-petaled, and profusely showy in spring.  They mature into round, ½ to 1 ¼ inch-long, attractive red to yellow fruit that is used for making wine, jam, and jelly, along with providing food for birds. Leaves are alternate, lance shaped, 1-3 inches long, often reflexed upward from the midrib, shiny green above, with minute teeth along the margins. Bark is furrowed, Reddish brown, and somewhat scaly with age. In Chinese culture the five petals of plum blossoms symbolize the “five bless...