Florida Native Plant Society Blog

The Florida Native Plant Society (FNPS) is proud to be one of many native plant societies in the United States affiliated with the Native Plant Conservation Campaign (NPCC).  In 2015, I was honored to attend NPCCs first conference call with representatives from native plant societies across the United States.  It was inspiring to hear the passion in people’s voices as they described their plant conservation projects and endeavors. The following is a summary of achievements for 2015 that was written by Emily Roberson, the Director of the Native Plant Conservation Campaign. Enjoy! Juliet Rynear FNPS Conservation Committee Chair Florida's scrubs provide many ecosystem services including habitat for a wide range of wildlife. 2015 was an historic year for plant conservation in the United States – and for the Native Plant Conservation Campaign! The Native Plant Conservation Campaign celebrated several milestones: We held our inaugural NPCC conference call bring...

Hartley Press in Jacksonville, FL In the first post about The Palmetto , we talked about the process that editor Marjorie Shropshire goes through to put the magazine together. We left off with the process of Marjorie's sending the file of the designed publication to the printer. Now we'll talk about what happens then. The printing company is Hartley Press , a family owned company in Jacksonville, FL. They have been printing and mailing out the Palmetto magazines in full color for FNPS since Marjorie become the editor and designer in 2006. The previous rendition of The Palmetto included only partial color on slick paper, which was a step up from the first Palmettos. Those were printed in black and white on rough newsprint type paper. While the content has always been good as you can see on our Palmetto archive page on the FNPS website, we've come a long way over the years. I took a tour of the facilities at Hartley Press a few weeks ago to learn more about how The P...

Sandhill cranes at the FNPS board retreat location near Haines City in central Flroida by Ginny Stibolt Last year Kellie Westervelt, FNPS executive director, obtained a grant to implement a Strategic Plan in order to help FNPS grow to the next level. Desiring an outside perspective, a consultant group was sought and the board chose Bristol Strategy Group from a number of applicants. They sent out a 28-page questionnaire to a newly formed Steering Committee consisting of a few key Society members, and then they talked to another, larger group of Society officers, board, and other influential members. I was in this second group--my conference call with the consultants lasted 55 minutes. The conversation covered a wide range of topics relating to FNPS, its problems from my perspective, and how it could be better. Later in the fall the whole membership received an email with a link to an online survey with more questions--almost 800 of us filled out the survey. Then in November, th...

The Florida Native Plant Society may not have coffers as deep as the Federal Reserve, but it DOES have a collective depth of knowledge that not only makes it wealthy, but also gives it the ability to lend out to others. One place that is a repository for some of that wealth is the FNPS.org website. And good news: the information there is free for the taking, no applications needed, no interest charged. Website overhauls are in the works, but in the meantime, did you know that you can find: a clickable map listing plants that grow in your county?  meaty information on what FNPS does state-wide? a fantastic children's coloring book of native plants and animals? instructions on how to make a butterfly garden? great printable summaries of how to plant for wildlife and how to use bunch grasses? All of these (which make great handouts for outreach events by the way), and much, much more are at your fingertips from the homepage. Finding a local chapter and information ...

Even though there were competing rallies, Dr. Loran Anderson a member of the Magnolia Chapter gained the attention of the media. It was a glorious, “Chamber of Commerce” day in Tallahassee for the opening day of the 2011 legislative session and “Florida Forever Day.”  This annual event grows each year and does a fantastic job of showing our legislators and fellow Floridians how great the Florida Forever program is.    This important lobbying day for Florida’s environment took place on at the Florida Capitol Courtyard from 10AM-2PM, with a speaking program at 12PM. Florida Forever http://supportfloridaforever.org Florida Forever was created in 2001 to succeed the extremely successful Preservation 2000 conservation program. Under Florida Forever and Preservation 2000, Florida has protected more than 2.4 million acres of land. To name just a few successes, Florida Forever has protected: 53,600 acres of springs and springsheds. 5,190 acres of fragile coastlin...

Search and destroy!   This was the mission for four hours on a Sunday afternoon, carried out by a group of 12 teens and 6 members of the Ixia chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society, covering Duval, Clay & Nassau Counties.  The teens were members of the Jacksonville Teens Volunteer program, which is sponsored by the Jewish Community Alliance (JCA), and earned four hours of community service, plus they learned a lot about invasive plants.  Walter Jones Historical Park, on the eastern bank of the St. Johns River in the Mandarin section of Jacksonville, houses a restored farmhouse and various outbuildings.  There are some remaining citrus plants and other cultivars left over from its farming days. For more information, visit http://www.mandarinmuseum.net/ .  Pete Johnson, conservation chair for the Ixia Chapter of FNPS, lives nearby and had noticed the large number of invasive plants on this property.  He worked with Andrew Mo...