Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens
Healthy Gardens. Healthy Planet
Loret is an active member of The Florida Native Plant Society. She writes about wildlife happenings in her native plant garden on a rural acre in Central Florida at the Osceola FL Garden Blah Blah Blog, posts daily at Central Florida Critter of the Day, as well as What Florida Native Plant is Blooming Today. Loret is also part of the team at Beautiful Wildlife Garden. Follow @PineLilyFNPS for daily updates on conservation and native plants.
"I garden for wildlife ~ the benefit to my senses is merely a bonus"
I was out overlooking the pond that has swelled just over the banks with the help of Tropical Storm Andrea and our wondrous afternoon downpours. I love when the dry season ends and the seasonal dry sections become one with the main pond again. I began to think about how my yard has changed since [...]
Some of us just can’t wrap our heads around scientific names for our flora and fauna. Try as I might, every time I snap a flower photo I have to go to the Institute of Systematic Botany’s Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants to look up the proper scientific name. It doesn’t matter if I’ve photographed [...]
While out and about I spied a long slithering thing…not an unusual occurrence in my garden. At first glance it looks like it is likely a black racer snake. But this one has a certain shine to it. A closer look proves it to be an Eastern Glass Lizard (Ophisaurus ventralis). It is only the [...]
Tomorrow is Valentine’s day and I just thought I would share the love of my garden with you all. Hmmmmm, maybe that is love IN my garden. I did a similar article over at Beautiful Wildlife Garden a while back, but there can never be too much L♥VE! I present to you, some more of my [...]
Depends on who planted it. I’d have to say the best description of my native plant garden would be “a hot mess”. If Better Homes and Gardens ever saw my place, they’d be issuing an executive order declaring it a disaster area. On the other hand, I’d likely get the Medal of Honor from the [...]
It’s holiday time. Suppose you were given the task of rewriting words to the tune of “The Twelve Days Of Christmas” based on what you found in your native plant garden? Here’s a look at my place: Twelve Days of Christmas A Native Plant Garden On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to [...]
So, where exactly do you want to go when the time comes? Settled below some flat, boring, turf-prevalent field covered with manufactured stones? If so, you will likely listen to the hum of the largest lawnmowers and weedwackers in the world ad infinitum. Or would you be more comfortable in a native plant-dominated playland designed [...]
As you may or may not know, I have a natural wonderland (at least in my eyes) that I call home. I live on a rural acre and Mother Nature planted the majority of my plants. I’m particularly fond of my pond area and am constantly amazed with the new things that pop up at [...]
Peppervine (Ampelopsis arborea) is a fast growing, deciduous perennial with use as a ground cover or it can be trained to cover a trellis or fence. I purchased my first peppervine at a local native plant nursery here in Central Florida. I was looking for something tolerant of moist (sometimes too moist, as in temporarily [...]
I heard a loud drone while walking out back. I glanced over to an area I have let restore that consists of a patch of Winged Sumac (Rhus copallinum). There, covering the creamy white blossoms was a gang of pollinators of many shapes and sizes. There were solitary bees, honeybees, flies, ants and many Thread-waisted [...]
