Florida Native Plant Society Blog

All FNPS members are invited to join the Pawpaw chapter of FNPS, Saturday, October 14, 2017, for an  all-day,  driving/walking, field trip in the Ocala National Forest!   Dr. Susan Carr will guide us, as we explore 1- 3 year old, fire-managed, longleaf pine sandhill areas near Salt Springs. Dr. Susan Carr    Trip participants should wear field clothes, and bring their own lunch, as well as drinking water, insect repellent, and Florida-appropriate weather gear.   Dr. Susan Carr and David Anderson Participants should expect to travel over several miles of rough dusty forest roads. The reward of possibly spotting a fox squirrel, RCW nest trees, and of course, great understory of plant diversity in Fall bloom, makes it worth the effort!  For more details, FNPS members should contact trip coordinator, Sonya Guidry: guidry.sonya@gmail.com

By Arlo H. Kane, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Welcome to Spring Canyon LLC in Gadsden County, a 100-acre property owned by Helen and Tom Roth. This beautiful property is home to steephead ravines and longleaf pine-wire grass sandhills. Helen has traced the history of the property through property records and aerial photographs back to 1926 near the end of the turpentine era. In 1960, the land was donated to the First Baptist Church of Greensboro. The church put in a dam on Crooked Creek to create a small lake in the center of the property. Fire was excluded from the uplands during their ownership. Helen’s brother, Mark Bane, bought the property in 1993 and began working with the Forest Stewardship Program in 1994. He harvested the hardwoods from two of the three upland areas and applied prescribed fire to one of the areas be- fore he passed away in 2005 and the property passed to Mark and Helen’s father. Helen Roth, owner and manager of Spring Canyon In 200...

By Laurie Sheldon 2425 County Rd. 13 South, Elkton, FL 32033. This is where my chapter (Ixia) was meeting for a Saturday morning field trip, lead by Mike Adams. Adams is the owner of Adamscience (an environmental resource management company) and purveyor of "one of the finest examples of sustainable multiple-use forest management in Florida." I plugged the address into the GPS on my cellphone and hit the road. Little did I know just how out-of-the way this place was. To describe it as being just north of Hastings (potato capital of Florida) and due east of Bostwick (the blueberry pancake hot-spot) might give you a clue. I lost my cell signal a few minutes after exiting I-95 (uh-oh), but after a good bit of guessing, and a few turns determined by a coin toss, I finally arrived at my destination. With about a dozen or so Ixians standing in the port-cochere of Adams' lovely home, he began our tour. After purchasing the 94-acre piece of land from Rayonier in 1...

Happy New Year to ALL!  Enjoy this piece by Eleanor Sommers, a member of the Paynes Prairie Chapter. If you or your chapter has a story to tell that includes something about Florida native plants, let us know. We'd love to host more guest bloggers. Email us at fnps.online@gmail.com with your ideas and plant some Florida native plants to celebrate 2011.   Ginny & Sue A Walk along a Longleaf Pine Trail If you haven’t explored the Longleaf Ecology and Forestry Society’s (LEAFS) trails in eastern Alachua County near Waldo consider doing so next time you are in the area. This private demonstration project has been designed to show small private landowners (100 acres or less) how to “harmoniously and profitably” restore and sustain a longleaf pine ( Pinus palustris ) habitat using fire, selective harvesting, and replanting of desired species. Once reestablished, the habitat can be “maintained and utilized for the production of forestry products (LEAFS brochure)...