Florida Native Plant Society Blog

The City of Jacksonville’s Native Park, located at 3312 Park Street in the Riverside Avondale Historic District, was established by the Avondale Garden Circle in 1923. The purpose was to increase public awareness of plants indigenous to north Florida and demonstrate that, while exotic species often died during adversity, the Park’s native plants prospered with little care through drought, freeze, and hurricane. During the nearly 90 years that have passed since that time, the Park became a tangle of invasive exotics and overly vigorous natives. Native Park was adopted in 2010 by the Ixia Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society as part of the City's Friends of the Park program to carry out the Park's original purpose and to advance the mission of the Florida Native Plant Society.  The signs identify the various native plants.  After many Saturday mornings spent digging up vast amounts of invasive and other non-desirable plants, Chapter members and other vo...

Editor's Note: this is the second part of Steve Woodmansee's post on mulch, the first part can be seen here or you scroll down. Organic Mulches Yard Clipping and Leaves (stuff from your yard) For permanent plantings, it is ideal to use clippings and leaves from your own yard. This helps prevent the overfilling of landfills, leaves no carbon footprint, and also saves money. Any leaves raked should be incorporated into the landscape. Pruned branches may be further cut up, and then spread over the area desired, or kept in brush piles (adding to the wildlife component). Larger branches may be left in a specific area for a time being so that the leaves fall off the dead branch and may be gathered later. When tree services are used, plan on keeping the mulch created. Lawn clippings may be also used; be aware that weed seed may be a component of them. Another source of green manure is excess algae and plants from your pond or water feature, this is best reserved for fruit trees ...

Editor's Note : The author of this post, Steve Woodmansee, is the owner of Pro Native Consulting in Miami, and also the Vice President of Finance for the Florida Native Plant Society. Steve has written a comprehensive piece on the subject of mulch, which we are going to present in two installments. If you want to learn more from experts like Steve, come to the FNPS conference in Tallahassee, May 20-23. You can attend all days or single days. There will be great field trips, too, check the link! Mulch can be an important part of landscaping and installing native plants .  Mulch is typically organic matter consisting of wood chips, twigs, bark, or leaves/needles. Some people also use gravel and rocks, or even products made from recycled tires in lieu of natural organic mulch.  Benefits of mulch can include:  Increasing nutrients to the plants, thus building the soil. Conserving water. Insulating the soil and plant roots (from both heat and cold). Stifling weed gen...