THE UNDERSTORY IS A QUARTERLY PUBLICATION OF THE PINELLAS CHAPTER OF THE FLORIDA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY The ! Understory 2015 Issue 3 A THANK YOU FROM KATY ROBERTS I want to thank all the folks who came to help at the Spring plant festival. The day was beautiful, perhaps a little hot. I got great reviews on the hike lead by Greg Coston (thank you Greg). Sales were brisk in the morning and the talks were well attended. Our members and volunteers are what make these days so special. Our next opportunity to learn through volunteering while making friends will be at our landscape tour and next plant sale. See you there! Katy JOIN MEETUP FNPS Pinellas Chapter now has a meetup group. Join us to stay in touch with u p c o m i n g f i e l d t r i p s , programs, and volunteer opportunities Newsletter Contents Labor of Love continued . Page 7 2015 FNPS Conf. by J. Allyn . Page 8 Thank You from Katy . Page 1 FANN Trade Show by L. Boing . Page 9 Upcoming Programs . Page 2 Parks in Pinellas . Page 10 Pinellas Chapter News . Page 3 Community Support . Page 11 A Labor of Love by C. Arnold . Page 4 Chapter Directory . Page 12 Conservation Topics . Page 5 Back Cover . Page 13 Summer Calendar . Page 6 The Understory "1 PINELLAS CHAPTER FNPS Upcoming Programs Member meetings are usually held at Moccasin Lake Nature Park from 7 - 9 pm on the first Wednesday of the month. Exceptions will be noted. If the gate is locked, call Jan Allyn at 727-244-0312. These events are organized by the Pinellas Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society -- free and open to the public, featuring refreshments, seed swap, and silent auction of native plants. For more information visit: http://pinellas.fnpschapters.org. ! Moccasin Lake Nature Park, 2750 Park Trail Lane, Clearwater, FL http://goo.gl/maps/Zofh0 1 July 2015 2 September 2015 Wednesday 7 pm Wednesday 7 pm Planting Green Roofs and Native Landscape Tour Living Walls Preview Claudia Lewis Jan Allyn In the most densely populated county in A sneak preview of the 9th Annual Tour Florida, walls and roofs could provide 5 August 2015 of Native Landscapes! See what is possible when conventionally practical spaces to bring back the plants Wednesday 7 pm landscaped yards are transformed into and animals that roads and buildings Native Plants to Attract native plant habitats that are environmentally and wildlife friendly. have displaced. These green roofs and Birds walls would have enormous ecological, Do you have a tour-worthy landscape? Tour sites should: economic, and aesthetic benefits. Marie Hughes • Be composed of at least 75% native Environmental educator Claudia Lewis Marie Hughes will present native species will showcase examples of green roofs Florida plants that you can add to your • Be free of exotic invasive plants (no and walls from cities around the world. landscape that will attract birds, Category I or II plants on the Consider planting green roofs and walls providing them with food, roosting, and FLEPPC list (see FLEPPC.org) for insulation, shade, reduced noise, n e s t i n g p l a c e s . P l a n t s p l a y a • Have no more than 25% irrigated grass area wildlife habitat, and creating an original fundamental part in a bird's life. They provide food, shelter, foraging areas, • Be aesthetically appealing and beautiful look in our “built” protective cover from predators, a stage Sites are chosen based on number and environment. diversity of species, aesthetic appeal, for courting and territorial displays, and proximity with planned tour route. nest-building material, and nest To have your landscape considered, platforms. The berries and seeds of contact Jan Allyn (727-244-0312) or native plants are natural bird food. [email protected]. Plants are also host to insects, another vital food source for birds. By planting Future Programs and Field a variety of trees, shrubs, wildflowers, Trips vines, and grasses you can provide an For updates to future events, visit array of resources for the birds in your the FNPS Pinellas Chapter landscape. Learn which plant species online calendar. are especially valuable, and get started or check us out at Capella Garcia Green Wall, Barcelona enhancing your landscape to support meetup our feathered friends! "2 2015 Issue 3 PINELLAS CHAPTER FNPS PINELLAS CHAPTER NEWS Field Trips Environmental 9th Annual Landscape Restoration Tour Tour The Florida House 5 September 2015 26 September 2015 Institute 8 am - 12 noon 8 am - 3 pm 11 July 2015 See firsthand a few of the projects Tour route TBA. For more information around Pinellas County designed to see page 2 or contact Jan Allyn 9:00 am improve water quality, biodiversity, A Field Trip to Sarasota recreation opportunities, and aesthetic appeal. Debbie Chayet, Senior Grants Join Kodiak Brothers to visit the first Specialist for Pinellas County, will lead “Green” building open to the public. this outing. Carpool encouraged: Twenty years ago, the Florida House meeting place and time to be was the nation’s first “green” building announced. Debbie Chayet open to the public and helped catalyze [email protected] the green building industry. Today, Florida House is poised to be the ! country’s first high-performance demonstration of improvements and retrofit strategies for existing buildings and communities. Florida House Institute 4454 Beneva Rd. Sarasota, FL (941) 924-2050 To RSVP and get directions, contact Candy at [email protected] For more about The Florida House go to: http://flhouse.org The FNPS Pinellas Chapter Board of the preservation of existing parks and Goals of the Pinellas Directors has been in discussion about preserves. how the mission can best be expressed Chapter FNPS Short-term goals include plant here in Pinellas County. propagation for Silent Auction, show- The mission of the Florida Native Plant To date, long-term goals include case a local park or preserve each month, balance budget with minor Society (FNPS) is to promote the expansion of the urban tree canopy, changes to ongoing activities, expand preservation, conservation, and increase involvement of younger publicity, education, advocacy, and restoration of the native plants and generations, develop revenue- outreach, recognize business efforts, native plant communities of Florida. generating workshops, increase membership, and, since Pinellas County and test-drive a Garden Party in has little land left to preserve, support conjunction with Landscape Tour in 2016. The Understory "3 PINELLAS CHAPTER FNPS A LABOR OF LOVE by Candy Arnold panhandle region at Rock Hill, owned keep growing, colonizing, and by the Nature Conservancy. Its home surviving at its home in the scrubby It’s an odd little plant. For much of the range is in rocky terrains throughout pinelands in St. Petersburg. the Piedmont and Coastal Gulf Plains. year it appears no more than a wispy The staff at Boyd Hill has worked just It grows sporadically in areas of tuft of green threads a few inches in as diligently. Since 2011 the scrub has Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and size, with older plants spreading into had two prescribed burns and Barbara Texas, where it is listed as S3 or fairy rings. Mushrooms aren’t the only Stalbird, Nature Preserve Supervisor, Vulnerable throughout most of its ones that form rosettes or clonal has spent over 150 hours on grant range. colonies called genets; bacteria, corals, management. The Florida Fish and and plants form them too. Genets are The St. Petersburg colony is unique, Wildlife Conservation Commission genetically identical individuals called growing in sandy scrub rather than (FWC) awarded three grants for ramets that originate vegetatively, not rocky sandstone strata, and is habitat management. sexually. Several other Florida natives genetically different than the form genets: Sweetgum, Pawpaw, specimens growing at Rock Hill. Blueberry, and Sumac species are a few examples. Nuttall’s Rayless Goldenrod is a bit of a misnomer. It is not a goldenrod, but it is rayless, meaning this member of the Aster family has no outer petals on the flower head, only disk florets. The flowers of Bigelowia nuttallii bloom later than its northern counterparts. In Pinellas the fluorescence is seen in November after most fall wildflowers have gone to seed. Juliet Rynear, Rare Plant Specialist at B o k To w e r G a r d e n s a n d t h e Conservation Chairperson for FNPS, explains in an article on the Bok Tower website ( B o k T o w e r Conservation) how she became involved in the project. “Because the population is small and occurs near a major pathway through the park, park s t a f f a s k e d t h e R a r e P l a n t Conservation Program for help in Juliet Rynear explains the importance protecting and preserving the of tags in each pot of Nuttall’s Rayless population. From 2009-2011, the Rare Goldenrod. Photo by C. Arnold Plant Conservation Program collected seeds as well as ramets which are Love continued on page 7….. rooted individuals within the clonal colony at Boyd Hill.” Critically Imperiled in Florida, Nuttall’s Rayless Goldenrod, Bigelowia nuttallii, Since 2009, Juliet has spent countless “Gardening is civil and social, grows naturally at Boyd Hill Nature hours caring for the plant collection Preserve Photo by C. Arnold placed at the Center for Plant but it wants the vigor and Conservation, National Collection at The plant is Nuttall’s Rayless Bok Tower Gardens. In the summer of freedom of the forest and the Goldenrod, Bigelowia nuttallii, listed 2014 she began growing a new as S1 Critically Imperiled in the state population of plants from the outlaw.” of Florida.