Florida Native Plant Society Blog

Interviewed by Valerie Anderson Peter Grannis is the current Treasurer of the Martin County Chapter and attended the Mandarin Board and Council Meeting in February of 2020. We got a chance to chat a little on the Sunday hike at Julington Durbin Preserve where I filmed him quickly . I interviewed him today since he's such an interesting character. VA: How did you get into native plants? PG: The linear story is: My first love was birding, which I pursued intensively many years. This love was inspired by my Mom. Studied environmental biology in college alongside my technology degree, just because of birds. New Jersey has some really good people in the birding world which led to other environmentalist connections. Dianna and I met other birding friends focused on butterflies, with appreciation for plants and habitats. The people who knew plants were lots of fun, and when Dianna and I moved to Florida, we found the same kind of folks and connected with them. So h...

Tayler Figueroa is the Chapter Representative for the Pine Lily Chapter . She lives in Kissimmee with her husband and two young boys. I interviewed her at her house on January 10, 2019. VA: When did you become an FNPS member and how did you hear about FNPS? TF: I started a vegetable garden in the spring, and I noticed there were very few bees in my garden. I started researching how to help the native pollinators, and planting native wildflowers kept coming up. I used FNPS’s plant search and when I saw that you could get discounts on native plants by joining FNPS, I was excited, but I balked at the $35 per month membership fee. I would need to buy a lot of plants, but I thought it would be worth it. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it costs much less to be a member than I thought. VA: Why do you stay involved with FNPS? TF: Once you start and you realize what’s at stake… you can’t give in. Wait, let me back up and really answer the questions. Once I was hooked, I reali...

Alex Farr, President of the Sea Oats Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society Sea Oats was, until recently, a small, struggling chapter that wasn't holding regular meetings. When asked why she did jumped in to lead the chapter, she said, "No one else wanted to do it. I was like, damn it, let's do it!" Alex has been a Florida Native Plant Society member for five years, she was working in general horticulture when she saw a tiny little notice in the newspaper for a native plant meetup group, so she joined. She quickly learned about native plant landscaping and soon joined St. Augustine Beach's Beautification Advisory/Tree Board . Three years later she has transitioned three city landscapes from non-native to native and is the Vice-Chair of the Board! Initially, the leadership at the time put Alex in charge of the Facebook page , which was essential in keeping her engaged in the chapter. Chapters, take note. Past presidents Michael Bowles and Eric Powe...