Ixia Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society. FNPS Ixia News

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1 Ixia Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society FNPS Ixia News The purpose of the Florida Native Plant Society is to promote the preservation, conservation, and restoration of the native plants and native plant communities of Florida." Volume 2, Issue 2 Fall 2010 FNPS President, Gene Kelly, FNPS Conference Committee Chair, Nia Wellendorf and FNPS Executive Director, Kariena Veaudry accepting the resolution from the Governor s Cabinet on May 10, Florida Native Plant Society 30th Anniversary The Florida Native Plant Society was recognized by Charlie Christ, Governor of Florida, and his Cabinet Members for 30 years of service to conservation, preservation and restoration of Florida s native plants and native plant ecosystems. We re doing a lot and now getting recognized for it! Congratulations to all Native Plant Society members and volunteers. See attached State of Florida official Resolution!

2 FNPS Ixia News Vol 2, Issue 1 Page 2 President s Message By Ixia President, Barbara Jackson The fall is actually a wonderful time to plant. It is also a good time to transplant. Once our area cools off, plants will no longer need lots of water to establish, although monitoring is always a good idea. During the fall and winter, many native plants die back to the ground, and establish very good root systems. Once we warm up again, you will witness vigorous and healthy growth. Native plants are a very good choice for our north east Florida gardens. I was astounded to see many of them stay evergreen during our freezing cold February. Those that I thought vanished came back in March and April. I lost Cardinal Flower, which was in the shallow edge of my pond, but nothing else. The same cannot be said for the Florida Friendly plants in my yard. Many of you are not aware that our Ixia Chapter was founded in 1991 and had around 200 members. Our Chapter had many projects, and then sadly disbanded when members stopped supporting the group. We went dormant around 1999, but reformed in I am happy to say we are doing well, and are 66 members strong. We need your support at our meetings, field trips, and events. I hope you will join us as we approach our twentieth year in Speaking of projects, I want to thank members Jake Ingram and Sally Robson for their continued work on Native Parks One and Two. We will have work days there, and we will ask members to help. I also want to thank member Pete Johnson for helping to identify the invasive plants in Walter Jones Park, and volunteering to assist in their removal. Once more, we will have work days, and will ask for your help. We also have an exciting fund raising project, and members will be selling the 2011 Florida Forever Calendar. This is a beautiful calendar with stunning native photographs. Pete Johnson is also assisting our Chapter by editing and pulling together this newsletter. Please help and offer to write articles on native plants, and eco-systems. We need your support. Barbara

3 FNPS Ixia News Vol 2, Issue 1 Page 3 Plant It and They Will Come By Ixia President, Barbara Jackson Passion Flower is also host to the Variegated Fritillary and the Zebra Longwing, our official State butterfly. Some of you know I wear several hats and one is the President of the City of Neptune Beach Ish Brandt Beautification Committee. Our goal is to identify projects in Neptune Beach, and to utilize plants for beautification. We recently became a non-profit organization, which allows us to fund raise for our projects. We have completed two projects this spring and early summer. One is replanting the Jarboe Park Butterfly Garden. The other is planting trees on Florida Blvd. between Atlantic Blvd. and Penman Road. The City of Jacksonville granted us tree mitigation funds for the tree planting, and we chose three natives: Redbud, Yaupon Holly, and Cabbage Palm (OK, I know, not a tree). All three types are thriving, and definitely improved the look of the road way. The Butterfly Garden in Jarboe Park really took off. Beautification members researched native host and nectar plants, and also identified those plants with some level of salt tolerance, and those with high drought tolerance. We had a little money, and for under $500 we chose plants that are host to seventeen different butterflies, plus added some nectar plants. The very second we put a small Passiflora incarnate, or Passion Flower Vine, in the ground, a Gulf Fritillary Butterfly came out of nowhere, and checked the plant. She then checked the other plants we just added to the area, but continued to return to the Passion Flower Vine. Very quickly we had tiny, tiny caterpillars munching the plant. One of my favorite plants is the groundcover Phyla nodiflora, or Turkey Tangle Fogfruit. This wonderful plant is host to the Common Buckeye Butterfly, the Phaon Crescent, and the White Peacock, which is a stray in our area. Fogfuit shares a characteristic with many host and nectar plants: it has very small flower heads. Butterflies do not usually nectar from large flowers. I like this plant so much that I have added it to my yard, and also now have it cascading from hanging containers. Butterflies will nectar from potted plants. We also planted Chamaecrista fasciculate or Cassia fasciculate, commonly called Partridge Pea. This upright plant has bright yellow flowers, and is host to four butterflies: Gray Hairstreak, Cloudless Sulphur, Little Sulphur, and Ceranus Blue. Ceranus Blue is one of the smallest butterflies in Florida, measuring an inch at the wingspan. If you only plant the three native plants detailed above, you can add ten butterflies to your garden! I can tell you that researching native butterfly host plants is enjoyable and always interesting. If you would like the complete list of plants we included in the butterfly garden, please contact me: bjack2804@aol.com Note: Before (top) and After (bottom) pictures of the Jarobe Park are on page 4.

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5 FNPS Ixia News Vol 2, Issue 1 Page 5 American Snout Butterfly By Bill Berthet The American Snout butterfly can be distinguished from all other Florida butterflies by the very long snout extending forward from the head. The snout is composed of two labial Palpi (scaled beaklike structures) on either side of the proboscis (a straw like feeding tube) This butterfly is a member of the longbeak family. Bobbing, rapid, erratic, and moth like describes the flight pattern of this unusual looking butterfly. Perched on a twig, this butterfly uses its snout, wing shape and color as camouflage to resemble a dead leaf and stem. This small and in many ways peculiar family has an ancient history, first recorded in the fossil shales of Lake Florissant, Colorado. That species lived around 35 million years ago. Although the snout butterflies are found on every continent, there are only around 12 species worldwide. Snouts can be found in disturbed areas, river bottoms, and open wood edges where their host trees Sugarberry (Celtis laevigata) and Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis) grow. Several years ago, while photographing in one small area of Alachua County, the author came upon a Snout caterpillar, along with the caterpillars of Question Mark, Hackberry Emperor and Tawny Emperor. Close by were Question Mark and Hackberry Emperor butterflies, along with a Tawny Emperor butterfly laying eggs. The Snout is found in the Panhandle and Penisular Florida, becoming less common in South Florida. This species ranges from the Great Lakes area through central New England, south through the Rockies and east into Mexico. The author has observed and photographed this butterfly in the Mexican states of Oaxaca and Chiapas. In the United States, the Snout is believed to be a resident only in the South, and probably reestablishes its northern populations in the summer months by migrations. In Texas and Arizona, massive flights of huge numbers are legendary but unpredictable. According to the documented records on the Butterflies and Moths of North America (BAMONA) website, in Duval, St. Johns, Clay, and Nassau Counties, the Snout butterfly is only documented in Duval County. This past April the author observed and photographed several of these unusual butterflies in Simmons State Forest in Nassau Co. In the four county area the best chance to see this butterfly probably would be in the months of April and May.

6 FNPS Ixia News Vol 2, Issue 1 Page 6 Lawn Reform Coalition By Ginny Stibolt The Lawn Reform Coalition was announced in September 2009 with nine original activists from across the USA, including me as the representative from Florida. Its website ( provides resources and examples for helping homeowners and businesses all over the country change the way they think about lawns. In addition to the website, there is an active page on Facebook where anyone can become a fan and post photos or comments about their lawns or lack thereof. The other day one of my neighbors stopped me as I was riding my bike and asked what was wrong with his lawn. They have a lawn poisoning service, but still had some really large dead patches. I had no idea what was wrong, but I noted smugly that there are no brown areas in my lawn these days. Mother Nature fills all of the gaps with the best-suited plants for each area. I joined with the eight other members of the coalition to provide reasonable actions and alternatives for Florida's climate and soils. I think we can work together to restore some of the 'Real Florida' by reducing lawn acreage and by reducing the use of poisons and fertilizers all over the state. In these tough economic times, why spend your time and money on unsustainable lawns? Since moving into our house in the spring of 2004, we've not used chemicals or fertilizer on our lawn, but our lawn areas are presentable, as you can see in this photo taken this summer. I wrote about our lawn care several times, but after working with the other members of this coalition for the past few months, I now have a name to describe it--a "Freedom Lawn." If you look closely, you can see that in some areas there are several types of plants growing there, and most of them are not turf grass. In other areas, there is still a lot of the original St. Augustine grass left. In addition to more environmentally sound treatment of our lawn, we've also we've also reduced its area by creating meadows in several areas and replacing lawn with mulched areas under trees and in pathways where grass was not doing well anyway. Freedom Lawn! Lush, green Freedom Lawn Phyla nodiflora and St Augustine grass

7 FNPS Ixia News Vol 2, Issue 1 Page 7 FLORIDA PRIVET Foresteria segregata Florida Privet is an evergreen, salt and drought tolerant shrub. This native shrub makes excellent hedges and is a superb food source for songbirds. It is good for hedges, slope erosion control and shorelines. It can grow to 10 feet tall and wide. It tolerates pruning so it s excellent for hedges for screening patios or outside sitting areas. The small yellow flowers usually appear in January, followed by black berries. The cold winter of 2010, a 50 year record, was the first time I ve seen the leaves defoliate. They grew back quickly, but it prevented them from flowering this year. I would expect them to return to their normal flowerberry habit this coming winter. Every year new leaves are formed early along with the flowers. Florida privet doesn t seem to have any pest problems and it is a welcome substitute for the Redbay, which has succumbed to the laurel wilt from the ambrosia beetle. There are many companion plants like Yaupon Holly and Beautyberry. Plant in sunny to light shady areas. It prefers moist, sandy loam, but will tolerate dry soil once it s established. Hardy from Zone 8 to 11. Native and Uncommon Plants has them for $15 in 3 gallon pots. Leslie Pierpont Native and Uncommon Plants Photo from Google Images

8 FNPS Ixia News Vol 2, Issue 1 Page 8 Meetings, Events and Field Trips: August Dec, 2010 Click this Link to Calendar of Events on Ixia Chapter Webpage Ixia Chapter meets at 6:30 PM on the third Thursday of each month except for May, July, August and December. We sometimes have field trips in place of our regular meeting date. Please check our Chapter Calendar of Events prior to attending a meeting. We meet at the Regency Square Library, 9900 Regency Square Blvd, Jacksonville, FL Regency Library Phone