Florida Native Plant Society Blog

The schedule for the  2017/2018 Land Management Reviews  is out. Being a part of Land Management Reviews is an important part of the Florida Native Plant Society mission to promote the preservation, conservation, and restoration of the native plants and native plant communities of Florida. It is also a very rewarding experience for anyone who has participated in one. At the  Florida Native Plant Society's 37th Annual Conference in May   there will be a special field trip where you can  Learn About Land Management Reviews . The site for the Thursday morning training will be  Lake Kissimmee State Park . Led by Eugene Kelly and Eric Egensteine (Park Manager), this trip is designed to serve as a case study for the state’s Land Management Review process.

Submitted by  Sande Habali,  Pawpaw Chapter Many new members ask themselves this same question and many other questions like it. I know because I used to ask them myself.   Maybe you’ve wondered about the conference as I did. There are many people in my group who know so much about plants. They are “experts” and I’m not.  Visit the Park of Honor 755 Olive Street,  South Daytona.  The Pawpaw  Chapter maintains a section in exchange for a meeting place  at the  nearby Piggotte Community Center.  Just enter the park,  turn right and look for the pollinators! While it is true the Florida Native Plant Society is a scientific based organization (and aren’t we glad it is?), the rest of us get the benefits of all the science based information out there. With the help of FNPS, we can make decisions about our yards, our neighborhoods, and our general community based of facts.  The conference is the best place to le...

Submitted by Sonya Guidry The Pawpaw Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society recently held a South Volusia Landscape Tour that included many of the native landscapes  that will be featured on FNPS Conference Fieldtrip "K" Landscape Bus Tour on Thursday, May 19th. They ended their yard tours at the Marine Discovery Center , the location for the  Kayak (paddle) - Lagoon Restoration Tour , FNPS Conference Fieldtrip"I" ,  on Thursday, May 19th.  Here is a glimpse of some of the  tour's native yards, and the Marine Discovery Center... Renee Luedke's Port Orange home.   Surprise, her front yard has no grass to mow!   Elizabeth ponders the diversity of plants in Renee's front yard. Most of the 16 tour visitors are gathered around Renee as she talks about her landscape.   Mike visiting from the UK notes Renee's creative bird feeders... including the log filled with peanut butter suet. Elizabeth Flynn will be ...

A FNPS Education Committee Project By  Debra L. Klein, Chair with members Richard Brownscombe, Ellen Broderick and Kirsi Johnson Introduction A Walk in the Florida Dry Prairie began serendipitously at the May 2014 FNPS conference while at the Saturday night dinner social.  The Education Committee had an impromptu meeting with Richard Brownscombe, Ellen Broderick, joined by Kellie Westervelt, Cammie Donaldson and myself in attendance.  The idea of filming a field trip was floated with proposals of who should guide and what location.  Cammie suggested that the Friends of Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park had asked Roger Hammer to guide a field trip planned for November 1, 2014.  Subsequently, Craig Huegel was also asked to join. Christina Evans of both the Florida Native Plant Society and Friends of KPPSP suggested that we use Jennifer Brown of Into Nature Films to do the video shoot. Work Plan With the whole team assembled, the Educa...

A conference field trip by Donna Legare with photos by Lilly Anderson-Messec On Thursday, May 28th Native Nurseries led a tour of native yards in Tallahassee for the Florida Native Plant Society's 35th Annual Conference. The tour featured three yards. 1) A rain garden and more... The first illustrated what could be done with a blank slate in a neighborhood that was previously a cow pasture with scattered large live oaks. Landscape designer, David Copps designed the native landscape for Mark and Linda Powell, whose home is certified as LEED Platinum. The native landscape helped them earn this designation. David described how he implemented his design, beginning with very heavy mulching of existing vegetation. He included a rain garden in a natural depression and created a future forest of mixed hardwoods in one section and a small longleaf pine grove in the back yard. Jody Walthall, owner and landscape designer at Native Nurseries talked about what is involved in mainta...

FNPS Conference, Born to Burn: May 28 - 31 in Tallahassee Last day to register online is May 22. Onsite registration will open on May 27th. (The online registration fee is $85/day. Onsite registration is $120/day.)   Born to Burn is our theme and we'll offer a good variety of presentations, workshops and panel discussions on the importance of fire for Florida's ecosystems. Of course, we are offering field trips  in Florida's Panhandle. Several still have openings on both Thursday and Sunday. (You must register for one day of the conference in order to participate in a field trip,) But wait, there's more...    3 social events : (Fees apply.) - Thursday evening: Welcome to the Capital. Dinner on the 22nd floor of the capital building - Friday evening: Dinner and optional boat ride at Wakulla Springs - Saturday evening:  Dinner at Tall Timbers Research Center & Land Conservancy. a fitting end to the conference. William Bartram (...

Posted by Laurie Sheldon The F.N.P.S. Annual Conference is less than a month away, and I'm sure that everyone is starting to get excited about the fabulous lineup of speakers. There's so much more to this event than listening to brilliant lecturers and attending the evening social events. In fact, some of the biggest draws to the Conference are the field trips! Scheduled the Thursday before the Conference begins and the Sunday after it ends, these excursions vary widely in length, difficulty, and setting and are an excellent resource for those hoping to familiarize themselves with regional flora and fauna. If you're having a hard time deciding which trip(s) you'd most enjoy, let the following blog be your guide. This year's Thursday field trips include… Observation tower at CREW Field Trip A: CREW Marsh Roger Hammer, noted author, and Deb Hanson, CREW Education Specialist, will lead you through CREW - the largest intact watershed in southwest Florid...