Florida Native Plant Society Blog

by Donna Bollenbach A few years ago my parents decided that they could no longer keep up with the maintenance of their home. They moved in with my sister, and asked my husband and I if we would like to live in their house. As we were between homes, we accepted. The move from a country home on a two wooded acres to a suburban home on a 1/3-acre lot with a tropical landscape was quite a change for us. We missed our native trees and shrubs and all the wildlife they attracted. The tropical vegetation was pretty, but had very little attraction for the wildlife.   We joined the Florida Native Plant Society Shortly after moving, we joined the Suncoast Native Plant Society . We learned that the native plants we took for granted in our rural home attracted more wildlife because they preferred natives for food and shelter. In our rural landscape we had very little grass, but lots of oaks, longleaf pines, beautyberry, firebush, pokeweed, dewberry, holly, sweetbay, Caroli...

 An impossible dream in an HOA-controlled community? Pam Brown's front yard In Pinellas County.  by Nanette O’Hara I hear it all the time. Folks who live in deed-restricted communities tell me they can’t remove even a blade of grass from their front yard for fear of recrimination from their evil HOAs. But is this really the case? Probably not. I think acceptance of “non-traditional” landscapes depends largely on how you deliver your pitch, and the effort you put into making your case for an alternative to the typical turfgrass-dominated yard with a couple of scraggly palm trees and a neatly manicured hedge of shrubs along the front of the house. State laws enacted in recent years make it clear that HOAs cannot prevent homeowners from implementing Florida-Friendly landscapes. Many homeowner associations may not be aware of this (especially if no one has bothered to inform them about it), and still more are unclear about what a “Florida Yard” looks like. They fear, unders...

"I didn't want grass anymore, and I didn't want a yard that looked just like everybody else's," says Diane Neill, explaining how she came to be the proud owner of this beautiful garden.  "I was interested in conserving water, tired of mowing and feeding the turfgrass, and wanted to get more enjoyment out of my outside space." Keyhole garden shortly after installation Diane knew nothing about native plants, or even about garden design; but serendipitously, her son, Brandon, who just graduated with a major in Sustainable Living, came home last spring from Iowa with lots of ideas and some awe-inspiring garden design books. He had been learning  about using planting beds, and suggested those as good alternative. Diane was intrigued with the pictures, and excited about combining flowers with edibles and herbs, but had some reservations: what would the neighbors think? Would the HOA allow it? She definitely wanted something that looked attractive and woul...

Standard-issue "lawn care" information is OUT. Lawn reform information is not only IN, it's important for ecosystem gardening, the health of our waterways and more. So 15 months ago the Lawn Reform Coalition launched a website filled with alternatives to the conventional, overly perfect and supersized American lawn. Next came our Facebook page, which quickly grew to over 1,000 followers. And now, by popular demand, we have the new Lawn Reform Blog , launching today with as big a splash as we can muster, with all 13 of us Coalition members making a fuss about it at once. The coalition members live in various parts of the country: I am the Florida representative. The blog covers design ideas to reduce or replace lawns, regionally appropriate lawn species, and eco-friendly care for all lawns. And news!"

It's a new dawn! It's a new day! It's a new blog! Yes, we've gone postal. I mean, coastal. Well, what I really mean is that we are happy to be blogging and happy that you chose to spend at least these past three and half seconds with us. We hope you will come back often, because we will be posting a wide range of topics by a great team of writers. We want to write about what interests YOU, so let us know what you think! The Florida Native Plant Society has been working for the past 30 years to save native plants, to protect the places they live, and to educate people about why are natives are so important. We will be talking in this blog about native plants and how to use them in your landscape. We'll tell you where the good places are to go out see native plants. We'll let you know about ways we are working with legislators and local governments, and how you can help. So bookmark us and RSS us and all that other good stuff. Also, why don't you go ahead a...