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FNPS Mission: To preserve, conserve, and restore native plants and native plant communities.
Learn more by visiting the FNPS website • Check our calendar for upcoming events sponsored by the Pinellas, Nature Coast, and Suncoast Chapters • Not a member yet? Join today!
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March Chapter News and Events
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Monthly Meeting: Lawn to Wildflowers Project with Dr. Nash Turley
Wednesday March 4th 6:30pm - 8pm
Moccasin Lake Nature Park 2750 Park Trail Ln, Clearwater, FL 33759
Dr. Nash Turley is an ecologist, naturalist, photographer, musician, and a postdoctoral fellow at University of  Central Florida’s Department of Biology. With colleague Barb Sharanowsk, he co-founded the "Lawn to Wildflowers" project, which engages the public to convert lawns to pollinator-friendly wildflower habitat.
Lawn to Wildflowers is a public participation science project focused on turning grass lawns into pollinator-friendly wildflower habitats. By working with people around the country, the project is growing a movement that makes the places where we live more beautiful and more environmentally friendly. They do this by providing easy-to-follow instructions and videos for lawn-to-wildflower restoration techniques and by making it simple to purchase the appropriate native seed mixes. the process, we will learn how to best create habitats that promote native biodiversity.
For more information about the project, visit http://www.lawntowildflowers.org, Lawn to Wildflowers, Lawn to Wildflowers
Please feel free to bring seeds, seedlings, or unwanted plant volunteers for the silent auction. Refreshments are also welcome!
6:30-7:00 - Announcements, refreshments and silent plant auction
7:00-8:00 - Presentation and questions
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SOLD OUT!!
March Field Trip: Kissimmee River Restoration Boat Tour and Glamping
Four hour interpretive boat tour on Saturday and optional overnight "Glamping" Friday night.
Friday, Mar 20, 4:00 pm - Until
Saturday, Mar 21, 10:00 am - 2:00 pm
Riverwoods Field Lab
100 Riverwoods Circle
Lorida, FL 33857
(863) 462-0025
Get a first-hand view of the Kissimmee River Restoration Project, the largest river restoration project in the world. 43 miles of river and floodplain. A cooperative project between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD). Participants learn about the watershed as they explore the biological habitats of the river, and learn about the river's hydrology, engineering structures and restoration methods. http://www.ces.fau.edu/riverwoods/
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 Lupinus diffusus - Sky Blue Lupine
- Lupines can be found throughout the Southeast, the most famous being the Texas Bluebonnet (Lupinus texensis). In Florida, there are several species of lupines, including endemic species only found in the state. (Read more about the species here https://florida.plantatlas.usf.edu/Genus.aspx?id=728) This month's highlight is the Sky Blue Lupine, Lupinus diffusus.
- Sky Blue Lupine in Pinellas County usually begins blooming mid to late February, and can bloom into May. It has true blue to lavendar pea- like flowers on a striking spike. However, my favorite characteristic of this plant are its silver leaves, soft like a lamb's ear, that stay year round. Even the seed pods are a beautiful soft and furry silver, quite a unique appearance. The plant is held as a biennial, growing its main body in the first year, and flowering in its second year. It will form massive colonies amongst the sandhills, creating a sea of silver and blue.
- This beautiful blue bloomer is on full display across Florida this month and can be seen locally at Boyd Hill Nature Preserve on the Sand Scrub Trail and throughout the other sandy uplands habitat at the preserve. The Sand Scrub Trail is one of the closer trails to walk, I recommend a morning hike since the sun can be quite relentless in the areas this lovely evergreen shrub likes to grow. Our April Field Trip will be in search of lupines on the coast, at Caladesi Island; mark the calendar, April 26th 9:45am - 1pm.
- The companion plants in the community of the Lupinus diffusus I observed at Boyd Hill were Longleaf Pines, Scrub Oaks, Turkey Oaks, Hog Plum, Cabbage Palms, Saw Palmetto, Wiregrass, Smilax spp., Tread Softly, Silkgrass, Palafox, Pawpaw spp. Unfortunately, lupines themselves can be a notoriously difficult plant to grow from seed or transplanting, so if you've got it, treasure it.
Photos by Nikki Bales
https://www.fnps.org/plants/plant/lupinus-diffusus
http://www.stpeteparksrec.org/boydhillpreserve/
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Calling All Butterfly Gardeners! Be a part of our Moccasin Lake Butterfly Garden Project
Saturday March 14th, 9 - 11am, swing by to lend a hand at any time during this period.
2750 Park Trail Ln, Clearwater, FL 33759
Join Nicole Schmidt Jones of Hort & Soul Landscape Design for a volunteer workday to benefit our pollinators. This is a great opportunity to see native plants at every stage throughout the year, and learn how to maintain them within your own garden! Thanks to all the dedicated folks who have been helping us maintain this teaching garden. Your efforts are sincerely appreciated.
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Native Plant Work Day at Florida Botanical Gardens
Every Wednesday from 9am - 3pm.
12520 Ulmerton Rd, Largo, FL 33774
Volunteers at the native garden of Florida Botanical Gardens meet every Wednesday and help at any time and for however long you can between 9am - 3pm. It's alright if you can't join us every week, come when you can. *All* help is appreciated and jobs in the garden change weekly depending on projects tackled, which wildflower is needing to be deadheaded or which tree, or pathway requires clearing. Be a part of this beautification project and learn what native plants would be happy in your own garden!
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Boyd Hill Native Plant and Seed Swap
3rd Saturday of every month 10am - 12pm
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Monthly Meeting: Florida Master Naturalist Program with Jeanne Murphy
Wednesday April 1st 6:30pm - 8pm
Moccasin Lake Nature Park 2750 Park Trail Ln, Clearwater, FL 33759
Monthly Field Trip: Spring Lupines at Caladesi guided hike with Dan Larremore
Saturday April 26th 9:45am - 1pm
Caladesi Island Ferry Dock, Honeymoon Island State Park 1 Causeway Blvd, Dunedin, FL 34698
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Other Native Plant Community
Events of Interest
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Pinellas Chapter Florida Native Plant Society
2020 Officers, Directors and Committee Chairs
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President - Michael Coleman
Vice President - Stefan Babjack
Secretary - Susan Taylor
Treasurer - Rebecca Wellborn
Past President - Jan Allyn
Director - Belinda Lambert
Director - Nicole Jones
Director / Membership Chair - Bonnie Carine
Director / Programs Chair - Pam Schrader
Events & Volunteer Chair - Janet Kotash
Communications Chair - Katie Bales
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Florida Native Plant Society Mission
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The Mission of the Florida Native Plant Society is to promote the preservation, conservation, and restoration of the native plants and native plant communities of Florida.
The Society fulfills this mission through:
- Support for conservation land acquisition
- Land management that enhances habitat suitability for native plants
- Education
- Public policies that protect our native flora, especially rare species
- Research on native plant species
- Encouragement of local landscaping practices and policies that preserve Florida's native plant heritage
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