Planting and Care of Rudbeckias in Landscapes
2-page information sheet on the planting and care of Rudbeckias in the home landscape
My spooky October wildflower garden
October started with a beautiful full moon, and in those hours when a wildflower gardener can’t sleep, she looks out the upstairs window over her dappled moonlit wildflower garden. It looks serene and scary at the same time!
Fall news from PWA counties
The Panhandle Wildflower Alliance’s Fall 2020 newsletter features updates about new wildflower programs, where to see wildflowers in bloom, and much more.
Member profile: Jeff Weber
Get to know Florida Wildflower Foundation member Jeff Weber. Jeff is dedicated to protecting and restoring Florida’s natural ecology in his career and in his free time. As an environmental specialist with Sarasota County Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources, Jeff manages natural areas of the county. As a member of Florida Wildflower Foundation, he regularly attends field trips and events to connect with others who share a passion for wild Florida. As a homeowner, Jeff does his part to plant as much native vegetation as he can!
Summer news from PWA counties
The Panhandle Wildflower Alliance’s Fall 2019 newsletter features updates about new wildflower programs, where to see wildflowers in bloom, and much more.
Unseasonal heat affects spring wildflower display
Look for spring’s wildflower displays in wet areas and ditches, thanks to the heat. Dry-adapted wildflowers also may do well. Read our Bloom Report to find out more about what to expect.
Know your native pollinators: Delaware skipper
Originally named for the Delaware tribes of Native Americans near where this butterfly was discovered, the Delaware skipper is now found throughout the eastern United States. This small, bright orange butterfly is attracted to grassy meadows and wet areas. As part of the Grass skipper subfamily of skippers, its larval hosts are grasses and sedges.
Fall news from PWA counties
The Panhandle Wildflower Alliance’s Fall 2019 newsletter features updates about new wildflower programs, where to see wildflowers in bloom, and much more.
Know your native pollinators: Gulf fritillary
The Gulf fritillary is sometimes known as the Passion butterfly — so named because of its ardor for Passionflower. You will find so much to love about this unique pollinator!
Gulf fritillaries are medium-sized butterflies with elongated forewings that live in the extreme southern United States. Outside of the U.S., they are a broad-ranging species, found throughout Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and into South America.Gulf fritillaries enjoy a variety of habitat including sunny roadsides, disturbed areas, edges, fields, pastures, woodlands, second-growth semitropical forests and urban areas like parks and yards. You may even find them blithely floating around your butterfly garden.
Flower Friday: Softhair coneflower
Softhair coneflower (Rudbeckia mollis) is a robust plant with bright yellow blooms that provide late spring and summer color to sandhills, dry open hammocks and roadsides in North and Central Florida. Butterflies and Halictid bees nectar on the flowers, while small birds enjoy eating the seeds. Use it in a mixed wildflower planting or in the back of a planting where its height can be appreciated. It is drought tolerant and requires little to no maintenance once established. It does not tolerate prolonged shade. Although the plant typically perishes after it blooms, it is a prolific self-seeder and can produce many seedlings.
Summer news from PWA counties
Read about Escambia County’s new wildflower program, Santa Rosa County’s mowing challenges, spectacular blooms in Jefferson County, Leon County’s City Nature Challenge and much more news from around the Panhandle in the PWA Summer 2019 newsletter.
Cool native wildflowers for summer garden blooms
If you’re looking to dress up your landscape this summer, consider these native species, which adapt readily to home gardens and provide weeks of blooms.
Attracting Birds with Florida’s Native Wildflowers
Northern parula on Coreopsis by Christina Evans View brochure Add wildflowers to your landscape now to help birds thrive! To bring birds into your landscape, plant a variety of Florida native wildflowers that provide food and habitat. Include species that produce nectar and seeds, attract insects, and offer shelter. Wildflowers for Nectar Hummingbirds gather nectar…
20 Easy-to-Grow Wildflowers — your guide to success!
With interest mounting in using wildflowers in urban landscapes, there is a huge demand for information for those new to Florida’s native plants. Enter “20 Easy-to-Grow Wildflowers,” a new publication from the Florida Wildflower Foundation. The free 24-page magazine features a selection of 20 “tried and true” species that are easy to grow and maintain.
It’s not a garden, it’s a habitat
Ecologists estimate that only 3 to 4 percent of land in the United States has been undisturbed by human activity. That’s why providing habitat — food, shelter and nesting areas for wildlife — within sustainable urban landscapes should be an important goal for everyone.
We can’t create a perfect natural habitat for each species. However, we can make a difference by using Florida’s native wildflowers and plants. Learn how!