Florida Native Plant Society Blog

FNPS 2013 Conference logo If your schedule has been too unpredictable to pre-register for the FNPS conference , but now you find that you're free this weekend, come to Jacksonville and register onsite. The conference will take place from Thursday May 16th to Sunday May 19th. The field trips are on Thursday and Sunday with the speakers, exhibitors, vendors, and plant sale all on Friday and Saturday. Some ins and outs of onsite registration Oodles of restaurants are close to the UNF campus The food has already been ordered, so there will be no lunches on either the field trips or for the meeting days. The socials have been sold out.  So bring your lunch for the field trips, and on meeting days, plan to bring your lunch or to purchase your lunch or dinner from nearby restaurants. The St. Johns Town Center is easy to access from campus and offers a wide variety of food. From a China bistro, to Panera, Abblebee, California Pizza, Cheescake Factory and more. Just ex...

By Cindy Liberton, Hernando Chapter FNPS Conference Committee Member Registration is now open at http://fnps.org/conference . If you know you’re going, you should register early. If you’re undecided, I'm going to try to persuade you! Consider this a sneak preview. Watch this blog for more details in the weeks to come...  Hosted by the Hernando and Suncoast Chapters of the Florida Native Plant Society Reasons to Register  Reason #1: There’s Nothing Like It Florida Native Plant Society President, Steve Woodmansee sums it up: "The FNPS conference is the premier annual gathering for all native plant lovers. Folks of various backgrounds from the bluffs of the Apalachicola River to the sub-tropical archipelago of the Florida Keys and all parts in between have an opportunity to join in fellowship, share ideas, strategize, and learn about the 'whys' and 'how's' of conserving and protecting Florida's flora." Reason #2: The Field T...

Renee Stambaugh has organized a series of classes on native plants in St. Augustine. She decided there was a need because at her speaking engagements, she could see the crowds and the crowds themselves growing. At the annual Flower and Garden Show at the agricultural center in April, where the crowds were the largest, she decided that a series of classes just covering native plants could work. She was right--her first class in June attracted 120 people on a Thursday afternoon! Renee Stambaugh asks a question at a standing-rooming only native plant class in St. Augustine. She engaged three other speakers and secured a room at the St. Johns County Agricultural Center (out near Rt. 95--nearly nine miles from St. Augustine's town center), and began the publicity. Two of the speakers (Gail Compton and Keith Fuller) write regular columns for the local paper, so they both gave the class coverage. Meanwhile Renee sent an email announcing several native plant events ...

After more than a year of planning, 80 paid guests attended a 3-part event: A native plant sale with appetizers, a dinner, and a native plant presentation. A guest post by Ixia Chapter President, Barbara Jackson The keys to a successful event are long-range planning, organization, and lining up enough volunteer help. I began planning a chapter dinner, plant sale, and presentation about 16 months out. This allowed me to secure the location, in this case two venues, the guest speaker, and the one other person that helped me plan the food. Our objective was to raise funds for our Chapter’s projects. We are restoring a 1923 “Native Park” in Jacksonville, assisting another Jacksonville park with the removal of many invasive species, and planning a two acre wildflower garden on the St. Johns River in downtown Jacksonville. The beautiful property on the bank of the St. Johns River provided an elegant location for the native plant sale and appetizers. Email invitations ...

Native metallic green bees go crazy in the prickly pear ( Opuntia humifusa ) flowers. Bees! We learned a lot about Native Bees from two fabulous presentations and a BEE Movie. On Friday during lunch, Tracy McCommon, of Nature Wise TV , screened their video “ Gardening for Native Pollinators of Florida ,” which was so popular that they ran it again the next day. It’s for sale on their website, if you’d like a copy. Stephen Buchmann makes apoint to a crowded room Friday afternoon Stephen L. Buchmann, author of “The Forgotten Pollinators,” gave his presentation, “Trouble in Paradise: Are we Losing our Native Bees? Akers Pence of Uiversity of Florida studies our native bees Then on Saturday Akers Pence: “Restoring Native Pollinators Habitat: Native Bees in the Landscape.” Here’s a link to Akers’ work at the University of Florida . It was good to have so much information about one topic--that way more information actually sinks in... Here’s what I le...

 http://www.beautifulwildlifegarden.com/ Our own Loret T. Setters, an active member of our Pine Lily Chapter, has joined the great new group blog Wildlife Garden with her first post, When Choosing Plants, Think Food Chain . When she participates in outreach programs, she usually collects interesting bugs and other critters from her yard to take with her.  She displays them in jars with their favorite food and proper humidity and they serve as conversation starters.  Later she releases them back into her yard. At a recent event, someone remarked that not many folks could come up with eight different critters so quickly.  Well, she's planned her landscape so lots of bugs have access to their favorite foods. And if you want to invite birds to your yard, first you invite the bugs! Read her post and follow her on Twitter.  She has a wonderful, chatty writing style and we're sure that folks all over the countr...

There was a lot to learn at the 2010 Wildflower Symposium presented by the Florida Wildflower Foundation (FWF) held at the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs building in Winter Park. Starting with the annual meeting, we learned that over the life of the wildflower license plate program (since 2000), more than $2.3 million has been raised and the majority of that money has been spent on research. This year the board has decided on a more balanced budget with more money spent on wildflower planting projects--the blue piece of the pie.  (Green: administrative expenses, gold: education, rose: research.) Jeff Caster, FWF president filled us in on the inner-workings of the foundation's activities, the new information-rich foundation website, and how Florida's native wildflowers are enriching lives. Then Brightman Logan reminded us about the importance of plant provenance. Even though the species may be the same, plants that originate from northern stock will not do well in Flo...

In my guest rant on today's gardenrant.com , I maintain that many people ARE interested in gardening events. This is in response to a NYTimes article a few weeks back that botanical gardens have had to cancel their garden-oriented events, because there's not enough interest. I took part in eleven (11) garden-oriented events in Florida over this past year where up to 20,000 people attended. I've summarized some of the best ideas for holding successful garden-oriented festivals. I've also included a link to a photographic tour . Enjoy! I was quite pleased to see that various FNPS chapters were organizers or participants in the majority of the Florida garden fests. What a great way to reach out and educate the very specific group of folks--the gardeners! If you have more ideas or would like to share your experiences, please leave a comment. Ginny Stibolt

Ginny Stibolt, fellow FNPS blogger as well as book author and news reporter, will be one of the many fabulous presentors at our conference in Tallahassee . Her talk is at 11:15am Friday in room A-3. Although the announced title of her talk is "Sustainable Gardening for Florida," ( also the title of her wonderful new book) we have inside information that she'll be emphasizing rain gardens as part of a sustainable landscape. Q. Ginny, Many people today are tuned in to the fact that water is a precious resource we need to protect and use wisely, and rain barrels are being put to use in many yards. But what the heck is a rain garden? A. A rain garden, also known as a bio swale, is planted in a swale or a low area where rainwater is directed. The purpose of rain gardens is to retain more stormwater on our properties where it then has a chance to percolate into the ground and isn’t whisked away into the stormwater systems. The swale could be natural or manufactured by dig...