Florida Native Plant Society Blog

The Florida Native Plant Society (FNPS) is proud to be one of many native plant societies in the United States affiliated with the Native Plant Conservation Campaign (NPCC).  In 2015, I was honored to attend NPCCs first conference call with representatives from native plant societies across the United States.  It was inspiring to hear the passion in people’s voices as they described their plant conservation projects and endeavors. The following is a summary of achievements for 2015 that was written by Emily Roberson, the Director of the Native Plant Conservation Campaign. Enjoy! Juliet Rynear FNPS Conservation Committee Chair Florida's scrubs provide many ecosystem services including habitat for a wide range of wildlife. 2015 was an historic year for plant conservation in the United States – and for the Native Plant Conservation Campaign! The Native Plant Conservation Campaign celebrated several milestones: We held our inaugural NPCC conference call bring...

#GivingTuesday By Andy Taylor The Florida Native Plant Society was happy to participate in 2015 #GivingTuesday!  What is #GivingTuesday you ask? It is a global initiative of giving back following Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.  You can read more about #GivingTuesday here . FNPS participated by using our social media pages to look back on some of the work the Society has done and opportunities to give, either financially or as a volunteer. You can donate financially to FNPS at this link . Did you know your employer could double or even triple your donation??  Until December 15, 2015 , Double the Donation has made their database free to see if your employer makes donations.  Please check it out at https://doublethedonation.com/giving-tuesday/ Sunrise at DeSoto Park by Georgia Wilson. Some of the programs and projects we looked back at for #GivingTuesday: FNPS chapter field trips: Georgia Wilson recently took this beautiful photo...

You can help FNPS while you shop and it won't cost you anything! Use our Amazon links to buy all your merchandise. We have listed books here on the blog and on our website dealing with Florida native plants, native ecosystems, and sustainable landscaping with links to Amazon. If you use our links when you purchase these books, FNPS receives a referral fee. BUT you can also help FNPS when you purchase anything from Amazon. Just use one of our book links to get into Amazon and then search for other items on your list from there. FNPS will receive referral fees for your whole shopping list. See? Wasn't that easy?? Here are some new or interesting books you many be interested in for yourself or as a gift: Principles of  Ecological Landscape Design by Travis Beck Your Florida Guide to Butterfly Gardening:  A guide for the Deep South by Jaret Daniels Attracting Hummingbirds and Butterflies in Tropical Florida by Roger Hammer Everglades Wildf...

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 New Initiative As the weather turns nicer and chapter events start increasing, the Florida Native Plant Society is starting a new initiative for the fall this year.  Welcome to the first ever Florida Native Plant Month!   You can find a list of events at http://fnps.org/news/plantmonth . The St. Johns County Proclamation of October being Florida's Native Plant Month  We are working on a coordinated outreach and membership campaign to tell everyone we can find in the state about the work FNPS does.  As part of this, we are building relationships with local elected officials, media and organizations who may not know much about us. The proclamation document. There are currently 36 scheduled proclamations across the state for an event FNPS decided to proceed with in late July.  We have already found people that share a similar mindset as FNPS who were not members.  One of the coolest stories so far is a City Commissioner reaching out to us beca...

WHAT  Most of Florida's County Legislative Delegations have scheduled local meetings over the next couple of weeks. Your Legislative Delegation meeting provides local constituents with a rare opportunity to speak directly with the state lawmakers who represent them in Tallahassee. You may also have a chance to speak more personally with your delegates during breaks and/or at the conclusion of the meeting. (Find your representatives: Find your Florida senator and Find your Florida House representative . ) WHY  As a member of the Florida Native Plant Society or someone who cares for Florida's wild spaces and their native ecosystems. We ask you to attend your local delegation meeting to express your support for Florida. Please consider attending and speaking at your local meeting and emphasize the points below: Be organized because you'll only have 3 minutes to make your point. (G. Stibolt at a Clay County Delegation meeting.) MAJOR POINTS TO EMPHASIZE 1. ...

By Mary Ann Gibbs When my husband, Tucker, and I bought our house in Miami some 16 years ago, we inherited a yard that was mostly grass with five large melaleuca trees, several Queen palms and a Surinam cherry hedge. We tore all of that out and evolved our yard into what it is today – a haven for people and wildlife. There is a sense of beauty and peace in the garden where we can observe the birds, butterflies, bees, squirrels and other critters that share our space with us. A more than 15-year-old lignam-vitae tree on left is the standout in our new hedge planted with many young native trees and bushes, including here coral-bean, golden dewdrop, satinwood and Florida Keys blackbead. Growing up the chicken wire around a fishtail palm to the right of the lignam-vitae is passion vine, a larval host for heliconian butterflies. The bromeliads in the front will come out as the young slow-growing natives fill up and out. We have never liked grass in our yard. We replaced m...