Funds from the State Wildflower license plate grow wildflowers for bees and butterflies. Get yours today!
Wildflowers provide valuable habitat for bees and butterflies along highways. Learn how you can help protect roadside wildflowers.
The Foundation provides educational opportunities through field trips. Join our e-news list to learn more.
The Foundation funds research that is helping pollinators thrive, now and in the future. Learn more.
The Florida Wildflower Foundation protects, connects and expands native wildflower habitats through education, planting, conservation and research.
The insects that pollinate our food crops and natural areas are in steep decline. Our suburban landscapes are more important than ever in supporting them. No place for a garden? No problem! Our new video and handout can help you create a small pollinator oasis in a pot!
In this 90-minute workshop, we will launch the North Florida Wildflower Alliance and show participants how to help conserve roadside wildflowers and set up a wildflower program in their counties. Speakers include butterfly expert Dr. Jaret Daniels, Neil Greishaw of Alachua County’s amazing roadside wildflower program, and Cindy Tramel of the Florida Department of Transportation.
Drought may develop over the next few months from North Central Florida to South Florida, according to the Climate Prediction Center, so the time is now for spring wildflower viewing. Look for the best native wildflower displays in wet areas and shallow water.
Our wildflower family has lost a dear friend. Dick Bush, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) District 2 wildflower coordinator until his retirement in 2015, passed away on Feb. 24. He gave his all to the job he loved, and roadsides from Nassau to Levy counties showed it. In 2015, the Foundation gave Dick its Coreopsis Award – its highest honor – in recognition of his lifetime of service of Florida, its environment and its wildflowers.
See how Florida’s fabulous wildflowers change seasonably across the state. You’ll find just what you need to be a wildflower tourist, whether you’re on the road or a virtual explorer.
Swamp milkweed (Asclepias perennis) is an erect, herbaceous perennial wildflower that occurs naturally in floodplain swamps, marshes and wet ditches, and along riverbanks. It typically blooms in late spring through early fall and attracts many pollinators. Like all members of the Asclepias genus, it is a larval host plant for Monarch, Queen and Soldier butterflies. The plant contains a milky latex that is toxic to most animals, but Monarch, Queen and Soldier caterpillars are adapted to feed on them despite the chemical defense. The flowers are an important nectar source for native bees, wasps and butterflies.
Pollinators are responsible for every third bite we eat and the reproduction of 85 percent of the world’s plants and trees. But they are in trouble. Development of Florida’s natural lands has robbed them of the wildflowers they need to survive.
But there is good news: You can help save pollinators by purchasing the State Wildflower license plate. Each time a State Wildflower plate is bought or renewed, the Florida Wildflower Foundation receives $15 to support native wildflower planting, education and research projects statewide. The plate is the only dependable source of revenue for Florida’s wildflowers and plants.
Do your part to support natural Florida’s future – get your tag today.
