The Florida Wildflower Foundation joined the state’s leading conservation organizations Monday in calling for lawmakers to fully fund the Florida Forever land conservation program during the 2020 legislative session.
Wendy Poag is a Lake County recreation coordinator, responsible for environmental education and the restoration and management of 2,000 acres of public lands. She has been involved with the Florida Wildflower Foundation since 2008. Over the years, she has helped forge a close working relationship between FWF and Lake County, which recently dedicated several acres at PEAR Park, Leesburg, for an FWF weed seed control research project. Wendy leads other Lake County employees and project volunteers in doing quarterly evaluations of the wildflower research plots. Research results are expected in 2022.
Join the Florida Wildflower Foundation on Dec. 7 for our annual Christmas tree cutting event. Forest Service biologist Jay Garcia will introduce us to the Ocala National Forest. Learn how the scrub habitat is being managed and restored. Find out why the Forest Service is allowing people to cut down trees and how it fits into their management plan. Then we’ll caravan to the Christmas tree cutting site, where everyone with a permit will have the opportunity to pick out and cut down their very own fresh-from-Florida sand pine.
The Panhandle Wildflower Alliance’s Fall 2019 newsletter features updates about new wildflower programs, where to see wildflowers in bloom, and much more.
Because much of Florida experienced a prolonged hot, dry spell in September, the best show is expected to be in south Central Florida and southward, which received more rain.
Keep your eyes open for Cloudless sulphur butterflies! Monarchs aren’t the only ones migrating this time of year. Fall is a wonderful time to see the Cloudless sulphurs in flight on their southern migration. The Cloudless sulphur can be found year-round in the southern United States, Caribbean and much of South America, but migrating populations extend all the way to Colorado, New Jersey or even Canada during the summer months. Cloudless sulphurs practice a large fall migration to southern regions, much like the Monarch butterfly.
Dr. Walter Taylor presents at the 2014 Florida Wildflower Symposium.