What's in Bloom
October 2009
We are going to give you quite a gallery this month, because we want you to go out there among 'em! You can download a black and white handy summary of these species for field use.
Where to Go
Twenty-seven percent of the land in Hernando is in public ownership and protected, and there are several prime areas where the public has access to these species. The bulk of conservation lands are managed by the the state, including the Florida Division of Forestry (DOF) and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FFWC). The Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) owns much of our coastal region west of highway 19. The county owns two primary tracts: the 327-acre Cypress Lakes Preserve, at Ridge Manor Boulevard and U.S. 98, and the 149-acre Fickett Hammock Preserve, which abuts the The Nature Conservancy’s Janet Butterfield Brooks Preserve property.
Many fall blooming species are easily encountered at Chinsegut Wildlife and Environmental Area. This FFWC property consists of the 420-acre Chinsegut Nature Center and the 408-acre Big Pine Tract, the second largest contiguous tract of old-growth longleaf pine in Florida. At Big Pine, you’ll find Florida paintbrush, blazing star, blue sage, various asters, wild buckwheat, and false foxglove (Agalinus sp.) etc. Along Chinsegut’s nature trail you’ll pass through restored sandhill to see blue sage, lopsided indiangrass, blazing star, wildbuckwheat, and golden asters etc.
Trail guides to both areas are available on-line or by visiting the Nature Center.
SWFWMD owns and manages the Weekiwachee Preserve, 9,000 acres that is part of a regional system of conservation lands that extends up to Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge. Weekiwachee Preserve is located west of US-19 near the communities of Weeki Wachee and Spring Hill. Visitors may enter the Preserve on foot or bicycle any day from the Shoal Line and Osowaw Boulevard access points to walk the 5.5 miles of interpretive trail and the paved road. Along with sandhill, this large preserve includes the southernmost coastalhardwood hammock in western Florida, and also features Weekiwachee River frontage, portions of the Mud River, dense hardwood swamps, fresh and saltwater marshes. To find fall flowers, look for the open sandhill and scrub areas.
Janet Butterfield Brooks Preserve was established in 1974 on the east side of Citrus Way just south of Centralia Road, in northwest Hernando County The 300 acre preserve is noted for examples of second growth high pine that come close to matching descriptions from early naturalists. Diligent management by The Nature Conservancy has produced fine conditions for fall blooming native plants, and in some years, many are in spectacular densities. This conservation land has been transferred to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, and will host several wildflower walks this fall.
Several DOF properties have been participating in a burn regime which should promote wildflowers. The Withlacoochee State Forest includes the Croom Wildlife Management Area which encompasses more than 20,000 acres. There are numerous recreational trails in the forest including the paved Withlacoochee State Trail. Directions to trails throughout the area can be found on-line.
The county’s properties will require more intensive management, including burning, to yield fall flowers in quantity, but they’re still well worth a visit. The Cypress Lake preserve can be accessed on foot from behind the Ridge Manor Fire Station. Ficket’s Hammock can be entered from 476 and Centenial, west on Centenial 1/2 mile, there is an entrance on the South side of the road.
October is Florida Greenways and Trails month, and Hernando County hosts the Suncoast Trail, a paved route following the Suncoast Parkway. You can preview the route online.
Miss last month's news? You can scan history from our archives.
Upcoming Programs
September 14
Edible Landscaping and Urban Horticulture, Jim Moll, Hernando County Extension
October 5
Planting, Growing and Harvesting Wildflower Seeds, Terry Zinn, Wildflowers of Florida Inc.
November 9
Florida's Grasses, Walter Kinglsey Taylor
Sabal minor E-news
Are you getting your Sabal minor on-line? If not, the Society may not have your correct e-mail address. Please send it to info@fnps.org to keep up with all the FNPS organizational news. You can also get the Sabal minor on-line, in pdf and expanded web page format.
Give a gift that keeps on giving by purchasing a FNPS gift membership for only $25.00. For a membership form, visit http://www.fnps.org
Shop for Native Plants when you Shop On-line
Many of us shop on-line. It's easy, fast, and our good are delivered right to our home. Gifts go to the door. Now you can send some bucks to FNPS each time you order those flowers or binoculars or beauty supplies. GoodShop gives a percentage of each sale to the charity of your choice. You can easily select Florida Native Plant Society, and find almost every merchant you'd normally visit. It costs you nothing, and helps to expand our efforts on behalf of Florida's native plants. Click here and bookmark it!
Monthly Meeting & Program
Growing Florida's Native Plants from Seed
Terry Zinn, Wildflowers of Florida, Inc.
Monday October 5, 2009
Demand for Florida native plants in conservation, restoration and consumer markets outpaces supply. Optimum germination requirements and vegetative propagation recommendations are known for only a small set of Florida native plants. As a result, growers of native plants have trouble meeting market driven demand and introducing native plants to the market place.
Learn where and how to obtain seeds for Florida's native plants, and how to turn seeds into healthy plants in your home landscape. Terry Zinn, our speaker, is a noted expert and supplier of seed for native species, and will bring a selection to sell following his program.
As President of Wildflowers of Florida, Inc., a wildflower seed farm in Alachua County, Terry is a member of the Wildflower Seed and Plant Growers Association. Terry's involvement in preserving the natural heritage of Florida includes service as an environmental attorney with the Florida Department of Transportation and his presidency of the Conservation Trust of Florida, a non-profit land trust founded in 1999 by a group of professional conservationists to address the need to protect rural land and natural areas in Florida.
Monthly meetings and programs of the Hernando Chapter are held on the first Monday of the month, and are open to the public, free of charge. Meetings are held at the Hernando County Cooperative Extension Office – 19490 Oliver Street (next to the County Fairgrounds) in Brooksville. We gather for delicious food and fellowship at 6:30pm, meeting and program starts at 7:00pm. For more information about this program or the Florida Native Plant Society, contact the Hernando Chapter Board at hcfnps@gmail.com.
Reptile and Amphibian Festival - October 10
Join us at Chinsegut for the annual Reptile and Amphibian Festival and our fall plant sale! It should be a beautiful day, and a great opportunity to spend time with friends, as well as a rare chance to see a wide variety of our cold-blooded friends up-close and personal. We will have a limited quantity of many native plant species available, so be sure to stop by the Hernando Chapter booth.
Plants featured will include:
Beauty berry – Callicarpa americana
Black-eyed susan – Rudbeckia hirta
Blue-eyed grass – Sisyrinchium atlanticum
Bur-marigold – Bidens laevis
Button Rattlesnakemaster – Eryngium yuccifolium
Fakahatchee grass – Tripsacum dactyloides
Firebush – Hamelia patens
Hop hornbeam – Ostrya virginiana
Magnolia – Magnolia grandifolia
Pignut hickory – Carya glabra
Privet cassia – Senna ligustrina
Redbud – Cercis candadensis
Red cedar – Juniperus virginiana
Scarlet hibiscus – Hibiscus coccineus
Simpson stopper – Myrciantese fragrans
Swamp rose – Rosa palustus
Walter's viburnum – Virburnum obobatum
Yellow jessamiine – Gelsemium sempervirens
South Florida Water Managedment District Wants You to Get Outside
SWFWMD's revised recreation guide describes the opportunities for outdoor recreation available throughout the 16-county District. Hernando County is fortunate to have access to many District lands.
The District and its partners have acquired more than 436,000 acres of conservation land to protect the 16-county region’s water resources. More than 343,000 acres of this land is open for public recreation. Many of these lands are maintained directly by the District and offer a more natural experience, while some of these properties are managed as county and state parks and offer a broader range of amenities.
“Whether you want an off-road hiking adventure in the Green Swamp or a leisurely stroll down a paved trail at Flatwoods Park, we offer something for everyone” said Will Miller, District land use and protection manager. “We want everyone to know about all of the great activities these lands have to offer.”
Hernando's Fall Bloomers
We are fortunate in Hernando to have a variety of habitats that bring Florida’s flowers to us throughout the year. But fall may be the most spectacular season for its brilliance and its brevity. Because our county is home to large reminants of the once wide-spread sandhill and pinelands, as well as scrub communities, our natural landscapes feature species that most Floridians never see. You have to leave home to find them; many native fall flowers are notoriously difficult to propogate for home gardens, and are best viewed in their natural settings in populations. Get out your calendar and your camera; plan you field trip now! By the end of October, many of these species are past their peek.
The list that follows highlight species to look for that typically bloom only this month and in early November, depending on conditions. We are listing them in general categories, and highlighting public lands with good access where you may find the right places to see these plants. Happy hunting!
Sandhills, Scrubs & Ruderal
Garberia (Garberia heterophylla)An ever green shrub with rose purple blooms in clusters; threatened and endemic to Florida, but found in our Hernando County scrubs.
Blazing Stars and Gayfeathers (liatris spp.) From thin wands, these bright magenta stalks of bloom are unmistakable and found in groups. Telling them apart is another matter. Teuifolia is more often found in disturbed soils, chapmannii and tennuifolia are true scrub and sandhill plants. Look for these where there’s healthy populations of wire grass.
Chapman’s Blazing Star or Gayfeather (Liatris chapmannii)
Blazing Star - Fewflower Gayfeather
(Liatris pauciflora)
Shortleaf Gayfeather
(Liatris tennuifolia -ruderal)
Florida Paintbrush
(Carphephorus
paniculatus)
Vanilla Plant
(Carphephorus odoratissima)
Deer-tongue
(Carphephorus
paniculatus)
We are blessed with three great bloomers in this family in October, and fortuntely, they are a bit easier to distinquish, although similarly pinkish-purple. Paint Brush is flat on top, Deer’s Tounge is shaped, well, like a tounge, and Vanilla Plant is sparcer than the two, with air in its panicle.
Maryland Goldenaster(Chrysopsis mariana)
Coastalplain
Goldenaster(Chrysopsis scabrella)
Scrubland
Goldenaster (Chrysopsis
subulata )When is a Golden Aster not a Golden Aster? When it’s a different Golden Aster, common names are just that—common. And we have at least these five you’ll find out and about in October. They’re all a golden yellow, usually with hairy leaves and stems raising from a basil foothold. You may have to key these out to be sure, but it’s good practice. Dress’ Goldenaster (Chrysopsis linearifolia subsp. dressi) is endemic to FL.
Yellow buttons or Honeycombhead
(Balduina angustifolia) - at Chinsegut
This yellow daisy like flower can be distinquished from the Chrysopsis by its short wide petals and thread-like leaves. 
