Florida Native Plant Society Blog

By Devon Higginbotham Despite Governor Brown's pleas to conserve during the ongoing severe drought, California's water use continues to rise. Today, because of the drought in the southwest, the City of Palm Springs, CA (long considered a desert oasis) is returning to native plants. According to the New York Times , “Palm Springs has ordered 50 percent cuts in water use by city agencies, and plans to replace the lawns and annual flowers around city buildings with native landscapes. It is digging up the grassy median into town that unfurled before visitors like a carpet at a Hollywood premiere. It is paying residents to replace their lawns with rocks and desert plants…”   (See link at bottom for the entire article) It’s too bad it takes an event as drastic as a drought to bring attention to the benefits of native plants, but once people realize the rewards to wildlife and the state’s water system, it becomes obvious, both in California and Florida. Hopefully California w...

 By Devon Higginbotham They were driving me nuts!  I have a couple dead Pecan trees in my yard and periodically they drop large dead limbs with gobs of moss.  It’s been a long time since I have seen a green leaf on either of them.  The wood is decayed and crumbly so it’s not difficult to collect the fallen limbs (there are no branches left) but I was dying to chop them down. Last month, as I lugged another fallen limb to the trash, I looked at one trunk that had slowly dwindled down to 20 ft in height. There is a hole at the base of the tree large enough for a family of hobbits to pass through.  The interior is dark and mysterious and I envisioned a raccoon charging out, obviously very inconvenienced by my snooping into his home, but all I saw was darkness.  No one seemed home.   I suppose it’s time to get rid of them.  My neighbors had been quietly asking the same question.  “Why is she keeping those behemoths?  What an eyeso...

Live Oak seedling By Devon Higgenbotham Have you ever planted a young Live Oak or Hickory knowing you might never it see reach maturity? In this age of instant gratification, too often we want results today, but in 1980 the founders of the Florida Native Plant Society had the foresight to start an organization that would outlive them. "Too old to plant trees for my own gratification I shall do it for posterity." said Thomas Jefferson, age 83. The Florida Native Plant Society was started by individuals that were looking into the future and planning for an organization that would grow and provide benefits to all Floridians for many years.  We have been handed the benefits of their foresight, the full grown shade tree that was planted years ago, perhaps before we were around. We in turn have the responsibility to nurture this organization for the generations that will come after us, keep it healthy and leave it stronger than when we found it.  This is the time of...