Helpful Links and Documents
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Downloadable Documents & Brochures:
COLORING BOOK For Kids in Conservation and older folks who like to color:
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Recordings of Previous Meetings
September 21 - Teri Jabour: Native Plants for Butterflies and More!
Native plants and butterflies “naturally” go together. Understanding these complex insect-plant relationships enables us to be better stewards of our land as well as increase our enjoyment of butterflies and more! Butterflies undergo complete metamorphosis and depend on specific plants or groups of plants to complete their life cycle, from egg to adult.
This presentation explains the butterfly’s four life stages and how important it is to plant caterpillar food (host) plants and rich nectar plants for adult butterflies. More than 1/3 of southeast Florida’s butterflies are considered rare or imperiled. As citizen scientists, naturalists, and butterfly gardeners, we can contribute to conservation efforts by observing butterfly behavior and incorporating native plants in our landscape.
Palm Beach County has diverse ecosystems that support more than 90 butterfly species. The presentation will show you how to create a habitat using native plants that attract local (common and uncommon) butterflies. Whether you have a traditional landscape or a butterfly garden, you can connect your yard or patio to your neighborhood and its natural surrounding ecosystem as well as create your own haven for butterflies and other wildlife.
Click on link below to view presentation:
June 15 - Susan Lerner: Gardening for Life with Florida’s BEST: Native Plants!
Susan Lerner is the Director of Horticulture at the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach. Her focus is environmental and landscape stewardship as an educator of schoolchildren and adults, as a native plant consultant with the Town of Palm Beach, and as the manager of the Foundation’s green spaces, including Pan’s Garden, the first all-native botanical garden in Florida. Susan has been a Florida master gardener since 2009 and has been active on the boards of three local plant societies, including serving three terms as president of the Palm Beach County Chapter of FNPS and two terms as president of the Palm Beach Chapter of the Rare Fruit Council.
When I first saw my house in June 2008, even as overgrown with unfamiliar plants as it was, I knew it was for me. The first rehabbing efforts took place inside - replacing floor tile, new sheetrock, painting etc. I arranged walkthroughs in the yard with Gene Joyner and later Carl Terwilliger, learning plenty from each of them. I joined PBCC FNPS, did the Master Gardener program at Mounts, joined the Rare Fruit Council, and set sail to reconstruct my entire half-acre yard. I was determined to have a landscape that could nurture me and the wilder critters. Gardening for Life with Florida’s BEST: Native Plants! is an effort to tell the story of that transformation.
Click on link below to view presentation:
May 18 - Marjorie Shropshire: Florida Native Plants and Water Quality: How You Can Make a Difference by What You Plant at Home
Marjorie Shropshire was born in Miami, and grew up making regular forays into the Everglades, Florida Keys, and the lower southwest Florida coast.
As a youngster, she spent time snorkeling, fishing, exploring, boating, bird watching, beach combing, and painting natural history topics. Her love of art led her to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Miami. Marjorie has over two decades of experience in the design field, where she worked as an advertising agency creative director on a variety of regional and national accounts relating to the high-end travel, aviation and banking industries. Later in her career she established her own design practice focusing on environmental non-profits.
Marjorie has illustrated several books on sustainable and climate-wise gardening with botanist and garden writer Ginny Stibolt, who was her coauthor on A Step-by-Step Guide to a Florida Native Yard, published in 2018.
She also travels around the state facilitating workshops and lectures for homeowners on how to transition their yards to a native landscape. She has been the editor of Palmetto, the magazine of the Florida Native Plant Society since 2005.
Click on link below to view presentation:
April 20 - Jeff Nurge: Trees Native to Southeast Florida and their Attributes
Jeff Nurge is an avid Florida Native Plant enthusiast and South Florida resident for the past 50 years. Having been taught by some of the top local experts in the field of Florida native plants, Jeff brings a wealth of knowledge as to conditions, suitability and placement of cultivated native plants.
"Having converted my own yard some time back to mostly native plant species the change in the environment has been profound. The increase in the number and variety of bird and butterfly species has been dramatic. From providing seeds and fruit for birds to feed, to nectar for butterflies and host plants for caterpillars the yard is a one stop shop for all wildlife. The words 'If you build it, they will come' has never been truer." Recreating this type of environment for his clients is now a passion for him.
Click on link below to view presentation:
March 16, 2021 - Stacey Matrazzo: Edible Natives
Stacey is Program Manager for the Florida Wildflower Foundation. She is going to introduce you to the edible, medicinal and nutritional properties of some native plants commonly found in our yards and landscapes. She might even help change your view on “weeds” to see them as food you didn’t have to plant.
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January 19, 2021 - Fernando Rocha: Florida Native Orchids
Orchidaceae is one of the most diverse family of flowering plants. With almost 30,000 different species they can be found in every continent, except Antarctica. There are close to 200 native orchids in North America, and 106 of those orchids are native to Florida.
Most orchid species are threatened due to habitat loss, poaching and climate change. Their specific pollination ecology and germination requirements make their conservation more challenging than most other plant species. From growing them in the lab, to studying their ecology in the field, orchid conservation must be multifaceted to be successful.
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Virtual Speakers Programs
Restoring & Protecting the Biodiversity of the Outstanding Natural Area by Peter DeWitt, BLM Program Manager
The Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse Outstanding Natural Area is 120-acres of legislatively protected public lands in northern Palm Beach County, Florida. The site is recognized and protected, in part, due to its native habitats and extensive biodiversity over which the Bureau of Land Management is responsible for management. Join the Bureau’s on-site program manager, Peter De Witt, for a brief journey through the site's restoration efforts, on-going management strategies, and future projects to protect its unique and significant biological resources.
Click on link below to view presentation:
for presentation to the PBC Chapter of the FNPS