Creeping woodsorrel's small yellow flowers and clover-shaped leaves

Creeping woodsorrel

Creeping woodsorrel (Oxalis corniculata) is a ground-hugging native with distinct clover-like leaves and sunny yellow flowers. It flowers and fruits mostly in spring, but may bloom year-round.

Oblongleaf twinflower

Oblongleaf twinflower

If you are tired of mowing, watering and fertilizing the lawn, consider replacing your turf grass with Oblongleaf twinflower (Dyschoriste oblongifolia), an easy-to-care-for native groundcover.

Eryngium aquaticum

Interesting Eryngiums

You may know this group of plants as “rattlesnakemasters,” but the Eryngium genus includes seven Florida native species. They are attractive to a variety of pollinators, especially bees and Black swallowtail butterflies.

Brightman and Nan Logan

Brightman and Nan Logan

Through their longtime support of the Florida Wildflower Foundation, Brightman and his wife, Nan, are helping to reverse habitat loss and bring native wildflowers and plants to urban places.

Common eastern bumble bee on Thistle flower

Bumble bees

Bumble bees are very efficient pollinators because they “buzz pollinate.” The bee grabs onto a flower and vibrates its flight muscles but not its wings. This causes the flower to release its pollen.

Hibiscus bee, Ptilothrix bombiformis

Chimney bees

Chimney bees like the Mustached mud and Hibiscus bees are solitary ground nesters that have serious architectural talent! Both bees superficially resemble bumblebees in appearance.

Tachinid fly

Tachinid flies

With over 1,300 species in North America alone, Tachinid flies are an extremely diverse group, yet they are often overlooked. Once you spot one, however, you’re likely to start recognizing them everywhere.

Gabriel Campbell-Martinez

Student spotlight: Gabriel Campbell-Martinez

Gabriel Campbell-Martinez is a graduate research assistant at the UF/IFAS West Florida Research and Education Center in Milton, Florida, and the 2019 recipient of a graduate assistantship from the Gary Henry Endowment for the Study of Florida Native Wildflowers.

Queen butterfly on Swamp milkweed, Asclepias perennis

Queen butterfly

In the same genus as Monarchs, Queen butterflies share many characteristics with their royal cousins. Queens and Monarchs are similar in appearance, rely on milkweed as a host plant and carry a toxin from milkweed in their bodies into adulthood.

False garlic's white star-shaped flowers

False garlic

False garlic (Nothoscordum bivalve) is a grasslike perennial with lovely star-shaped flowers. It typically blooms late winter through spring, but may bloom again in or continue blooming into fall. The unscented flowers attract a variety of pollinators, including small butterflies and native bees. The plant occurs naturally in moist woodlands and grasslands and along roadsides in North and Central Florida.

Atlide Halesus

Great purple hairstreak

The Great purple hairstreak is a relatively large butterfly that can often be found in oak hammocks. Oddly, Great purple hairstreaks can be identified by the iridescent blue, not purple, on the upper side of their wings.