There Were No Fences

I g ave a tour recently to a garden club at the USF Botanical Gardens which is always nice; speaking to folks who already love plants. Around us were a great many atala butterflies which were released here about 2 months ago as caterpillars by a Friend of the Gardens. One woman in the group was not familair with its host plant - Zamia integrifolia , Florida coontie and so I showed one to her - a plant across the path from this swarm of butterflies. It was clear from her look and her tepid response that she could not fathom why Florida coontie would be such a great plant to add to her landscape. Ours are getting ratty as they get consumed. The reason, of course is obvious as is the result of that herbivory. The Gardens now have hundreds of these butterflies. To me it seems an easy compromise. I firmly believe that if your plants are not being eaten by something, they are useless additions to your landscape. When we plant only for aesthetics, for what we see as beauty alone, we are mi

With the writings of Dr. Talamy, there's a lot of focus on the importance of oaks in landscapes designed for birds. No argument,  but Florida has more than 20 species from large trees to almost ground cover shrubs. Are they all the same?  Are they the same in the New England landscapes that Dr. Talamy is most familiar with? Are all of the caterpillars found in New England the same as they are in Florida? I'm betting not, but I've not seen the data. The importance rests on their value as hosts for caterpillars. Right now, as I get to spend some time in my landscape I see butterflies laying eggs on a wide variety of my host plants - none of them oaks. The birds are also not feeding their nestlings. What's important now is not what was important earlier. To create a real landscape for wildlife requires diversity - food and cover for all times of the year, changing with the changing needs of what's here now and through the seasons; caterpillars and every other type of i

  It's been a while since I've posted anything about our landscape here in Pasco County.  With the long extended drought early this summer and my new job as Director of the USF Botanical Garden, this landscape has been largely negleacted - left to its own defenses.  We don't have irrigation anywhere except for a couple of hoses; true here in the wildflower meadow as elsewhere. If you could read the rain gauge in the center of this photo, it would have not registered a single drop of rain for a nearly 2.5-month period from May-early July.  What little rain fell during this time in Tampa where I work, did not reach this landscape. Now that Idalia has left and a few other rain events have reached us, what is left are the survivors and it looks a little bleak.  We've lost a few things, but mostly everything that popped back out of the ground in early spring is still here and that's a relief.  I hate losing plants and it demonstrates the need to plant the right species i

  Hurricane Idalia just passed us this morning and left our landscape intact.  Not the same for areas near Cedar Key and the Big Bend area of Florida which were hammered by 100+ mph winds and devastating high tides.  Large swaths of Florida were recently submerged in saltwater and likely will remain so for at least several days.  As most plants are not at all adapted to saltwater inundation, a great many landscape plants and vegetation in natural areas will perish.   News reports often refer to such events as catastrophic ones, yet it is these very events that determine the ecology of an area. Wildfires, severe freezes, avalanches, and hurricanes are vital to the nature of plant communities everywhere.  They may be uncommon, but that doesn't diminish their importance.  They are so-called "keystone" events.  What we take as "normal" plant communities are their result. Florida is a unique example - at least for North America.  We are shaped like an open sock.  Pla

Cordia sebestina   A few days ago, I saw a wonderful photo of a sulfur butterfly nectaring on the flowers of a geiger tree on a social media site that I am a member of.  The ensuing comments were expected.  Everyone wanted this plant....... but did they really?  I also saw a post from a different member asking for input on her butterfly garden plan; one that she obviously had paid someone to design.  These two separate posts have at least one thing in common - the folks wanting to have landscapes beneficial to wildlife did not take enough time to learn plants they were wanting to add. I can write this. In my first days of embracing the native plant movement, I quickly thought that I knew what I was talking about and the reality was that I knew almost nothing.  What I knew came largely from listening to others and from browsing through a few books.  I had almost no firsthand experience.  In a way, I was saved by the fact that there was no such thing as the internet and social media at t

Skippers on Camphorweed ( Pluchea spp.) Photo by Trudy Kenderdine & used by permission I love working with kids and since I've assumed the role of Director at the University of South Florida Botanical Gardens I often have the opportunity to take kids of all ages on guided walks.  One of first stops is always at the "Butterfly Garden".  I call it that, because it came with that sign when I first started there last year,  so it must be so... In truth, it was a terrible butterfly garden until we started to fix it - and that leads me back to the kids and guided walks. I enjoy asking questions that require critical thinking; often questions that I don't expect anyone to correctly answer.  It's golden when someone does, but that's never the point.  I ask questions that I hope will stimulate thinking.  In this case, and most others, that means questions meant to stimulate thinking about the natural world and why things are the way they are.  At the entrance to th