Celebrate Florida in 2013


Little Talbot Island by Shirley Denton

Florida has so many wonderful parks and wild places to visit.

Show your support by visiting a bunch of them this year. The parks are working on slimmer budgets these days so your visits not only help them balance the budgets, but greater use also helps them justify their existence to the budget deciders in the state government. You can also support your state parks by volunteering on a regular basis and also by letting your state representatives know how you feel about our wonderful state parks.

Recently on Facebook, John M. sent us a message:

"Next week two of us from Birmingham Botanical Gardens will be traveling from Birmingham to Lee, FL, then to Florida Caverns State Park, and finally to the Pensacola area to participate in a sarracenia rescue. We are interested in visiting some botanically interesting areas along the way. Might you have any suggestions?
Kind thanks,
John

Instead of trying to answer the question myself, I posted it to the FNPS page to see what our fans had to say. Here are some of their suggestions:

1) Kristin: Chazhowitska Springs, Rainbow Springs, Blue springs, Everglades Weeki wacki springs and believe it or not, I like to walk around Busch Gardens and observe their plants.

2) Kelly: Wakulla Springs, St Andrew's State Park, Apalachicola River, any one of the hundreds of amazing natural springs in Northwest Florida. Falling water State Park

3) Jerrie: Near the area you will be Torreya State Park and a drive down SR 65 Apalachicola Wildlife and Environmental Area managed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. Also along that route the Apalachicola National Forest.

FNPS field trip at Torreya State Park. Read my two-part blog post about it here.
Photo by Ginny Stibolt.

4) Gail: St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, Wakulla Spings State Park, Apalachicola National Forest

5) Stroppy: Tiger Creek Preserve, The Nature Conservancy, Babson Park

6) Peggy: I purchased year passes for ten family members to Florida State Parks for Christmas. We are so looking forward to family time in our beautiful home state!

7) Sandra: Ocala National Forest

8) Terry: Kanapaha Garden in Gainesville & Paynes Prairie State Park: On the dike there are tons of gators and sandhill canes are in this time of year.

9) Bob: Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens

10) Marilu: Hiking at Little Big Econ is a visit to old-time Florida, and Blue Springs to see the manatees.

11) Bill: The Dwarf Cypress swamp in Tate's Hell.

12) Patty-Kay: Silver River State Park. Beautiful and natural.

13) Carole: I'll be at the rescue also. In Gulf Breeze you may enjoy the Naval Live Oaks Reaserve. Here is the link to Florida Birding Trail Guides. Here is a nice trail at Edward Ball NatureTrail. For Ft Pickens here's a guide to Guide to the Flora and Fauna. Close to the rescue area you can visit: Jones Swamp Wetland Preserve and Nature Trail.

Thanks for all the suggestions and we know that there are many more treasures in Florida waiting for your visit and support. The good news is that the pitcher plant rescue where 5,000 of them would have been transplanted was cancelled! A deal was worked out so the land will remain undeveloped. Yay!

So here's to a greener new year! Please help to protect Florida's parks, springs and wildlands. And oh yes, please join FNPS and add an extra donation so we can continue our mission to to promote the preservation, conservation, and restoration of the native plants and native plant communities of Florida. Go to www.fnps.org to join today!

Ginny Stibolt

Central Florida live oaks. Photo by Ginny Stibolt

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wednesday's Wildflower:Spanish Needle

Image
Spanish Needle, Bidens Alba Submitted by Donna Bollenbach, Suncoast Chapter Biden's alba , all photos by Donna Bollenbach Nothing attracts more butterflies and bees than a simple white flower called Bidens alba . Also called Romerillo, Beggar’s Tick, Spanish Needle or Monkey’s Lice, this Florida native wildflower is the third most reliable source of nectar for pollinators in our state. There would be many starving bees and butterflies if not for the Bidens family of flowers. More so, Bidens alba and its sister plant, Bidens pilosa , are both edible and have medicinal value. Yet, many gardeners have a love/hate relationship the plant, and some even consider it a pesky weed. Why?
Read more

Australian Pine: One of Florida's Least Wanted

Image
 Austrailian Pine fruits Australian pines seem to be everywhere in the coastal regions in the bottom half of Florida. Their name is deceiving because, while they are native to Australia, they aren't pines or even conifers. They are flowering trees with separate male and female flowers, and what look like needles are really green twiglets with close-set circles of tiny leaves that drop at the first sign of a drought. In the photo to the right, the light-colored lines are where leaves where once attached. Most of the photosynthesis takes place in the twiglets. There are three species of Australian pine ( Casuarina spp ) that have been imported into Florida for various purposes. They were widely planted to soak up the "swamps" in Florida, stabilize canals, and hold beaches. Unfortunately for Florida's ecosystems, the "pines" accomplished all this and more--like seeding prolifically, growing five feet or more per year, producing dense shade, and emitting
Read more

Tropical Milkweed is Harmful to Monarchs & Florida Ecosystems

Image
By Lilly Anderson-Messec The red and yellow blooms of tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica , are ubiquitous in Florida butterfly gardens. This non-native milkweed has exploded in popularity as demand for milkweed grows to support declining monarch butterfly populations. This tropical species is native to Mexico and very easy to propagate, so growers are able to quickly produce plant material to meet the milkweed demand. It’s also very showy, blooming prolifically all season and regrowing quickly after being decimated by hungry caterpillars.  Unfortunately, tropical milkweed has been an increasingly invasive species in Central and South Florida for many years, and has begun spreading in North Florida as well. It’s fast growth and prolific re-seeding have resulted in large monocultures of tropical milkweed in natural areas. This unchecked growth replaces native plants and disrupts the native ecosystems that both wildlife and humans rely on. The invasive quality of this plant is is j
Read more