News Blog

Tuesday, October 10 1:00pm - 2:30pm. Our first chapter meeting of the 23-24 season is Tuesday, October 10 at 1:00 in the Visitors’ Center at Lemon Bay Park in Englewood. Our speaker for this meeting will be Kristin Hoffschmidt, Florida Master Naturalist and Immediate Past President of Venice Area Audubon Society, who will speak on Native Plants for Birds. This season we are introducing a new social aspect: a BYOP 30 minutes before the meeting. The Bring-Your-Own-Picnic has been popular in the past, and we want to give everyone an extra opportunity to get to know other members before the meeting begins. Bring a light lunch to nibble on while you meet and socialize with us before each meeting. See you then.

Saturday, October 14: 9am - 11am. Our first guided walk of the 23-24 season is Saturday, October 14, 9-11 AM, at Old Miakka Preserve, 251 Myakka Rd, at the end of Fruitville Road in Sarasota. Our leader will be Jeff Weber, Environmental Specialist at Sarasota County Parks. Following the walk, we are invited to bring a sack lunch to eat at the Florida Native Plant Nursery at 730 Myakka Road, just a short distance from the preserve, followed by shopping. Mangrove FNPS members receive a 10% discount.


Mangrove Chapter walk at Old Miakka Preserve, 2022

Wednesday, October 18, 4:30-5:30. Join Dave and Linda Manley at the Venice Rookery, 4002 S. Tamiami Trail via Annex Rd, Venice, behind the county building. This beautiful nesting area for waterbirds continues to grow in diversity as more native plants are added each year. The recently planted native tree thicket and understory offer great native plant viewing. Meet at the pondside pavilion.

Sunset Stroll at Venice Rookery, Spring 2023

Saturday, October 7: Mangrove Chapter will again have an information table at the Alligator Creek Fest, Saturday, October 7, 11 AM - 2 PM, South Venice Yacht Club, 4425 Yacht Club Dr, Venice. Come and enjoy this first event of the season!

Report from Dave Manley on the Coastal & Heartland National Estuary Partnership (CHNEP) 2023 Watershed Summit. Here is a link to presentations by all of the panelists. Panel Recordings and PowerPoint Presentations

Jerry Markussen and I attended the summit June 21 & 22 2023. I attended the morning sessions and Jerry attended all day. The summit speakers shared a wide variety of topics, but a few stood out for me:

Matthew Bunting discussed the conditions under which tarpon emigrate from their nursery ponds (such as those at Lemon Creek Wildflower Preserve) to the tidal waters of the coast. Dr. Chris Anastasiou shared his “hangover effect” detailing how Hurricane Irma set in motion a succession of events that caused a drastic loss of seagrass on the east wall of Charlotte Harbor. Teresa VanderWaag shared information about a project to restore Alligator Creek in Venice. The Alligator Creek Basin is approximately 11 square miles in size and has been severely channelized in the past. This stream will be restored in a fish-friendly manner. The design phase is wrapping up and financing is in place for (re)construction to begin in 2024.

Read the full report here

2023 Florida Native Plant Society Annual Meeting (YouTube video)

Join us for educational meetings and plant walks in October 2023. Watch this blog for updates.

Our theme for the year 2023 is Homegrown National Park®, a concept created by Doug Tallamy, one of the primary movers and shakers in ecology and biodiversity today. The concept is that if every single homeowner in the United States converted half of his or her lawn into native plants, we could create a new national park measuring 20 million acres. His NYT best-selling book, Nature’s Best Hope, laid the foundation of the homegrown national park and sparked the creation of a website of the same name. In the video above "What's the Rush", Doug explains the urgency to set aside 50% of everyones' yards for native plants. More Here

Tuesday, May 9, at 1:00 is our annual BYOP meeting; that is, Bring Your Own Picnic. Pack yourself a picnic lunch and we will have a social meeting so you can catch up with friends while you pick up gardening tips and tricks. Instead of a formal speaker, we will have an informal Q&A, sort of like Show and Tell. Remember that? Bring your favorite hints that make your gardening better or easier and share them with other members. If you have a favorite tool, bring it to show to others. And if you have a question, we’ll have our experts on hand to give you an answer. We’ll also have the last few leftover plants from Plant Native Day in March. These orphans need a lot of TLC and will be available for modest donations, or maybe even free. Meet at the Environmental Center, Lemon Bay Park, 570 Bay Park Blvd, Englewood.

Friday, May 12th, 9:00-11:00 AM Join Mary Davis from the Mangrove Chapter of the FL Native Plant Society for a nature walk at Shamrock Park and Nature Center, 3900 Shamrock Drive, Venice FL. On this walk we will explore the scrub habitat of the Florida Scrub Jay and Gopher Tortoise and learn how the ecology of the area has changed with development and the Intracoastal Waterway.  Bring your phone with the “Seek” app loaded as a tool to help identify the plants and animals we see.  Meet in front of the nature center. For information email mangrovechapter@fnps.org

Wednesday, May 17, 4:30-5:30 PM Join Dave and Linda Manley from the Mangrove Chapter of the FL Native Plant Society for a Sunset Stroll at the Venice Urban Forest, 308 E Venice Ave, Venice. This narrow strip of restored native habitat runs beside the Legacy Trail and features a butterfly garden and natural shelter for wildlife. The entrance has been changed so plan to park at the historic depot and meet under the bridge. We will walk across the street to the entrance as a group. This park has no restroom facilities.  For information email mangrovechapter@fnps.org

Wednesday, April 19, 4:30-5:30 PM Join Dave and Linda Manley from the Mangrove Chapter of the FL Native Plant Society for a Sunset Stroll at Lemon Bay Environmental Park, 570 Bay Park Blvd., Englewood.  While Lemon Bay is a large park, we will cross the footbridge and walk only the grassy, lightly shaded pine flatwoods trail.  Meet at the nature center. For information email mangrovechapter@fnps.org