Florida is home to an entire library of native plants that evolved to thrive in its range of climate regions. Native Plants for Florida Gardens will profile 100 Florida native wildflowers, shrubs, vines and trees that can transform typical Florida landscapes. Each 300- to 500-word profile will be accompanied by striking color photography showing species and flowering characteristics. Photos showing species use in landscapes may be used as well.
Native Plants for Florida Gardens will share the expertise of the Florida Wildlife Foundation to help anyone create lovely, low-maintenance gardens that will tolerate Florida’s roughest conditions, resist disease, and support biodiversity.
Author Biography:
Nancy Bissett is a horticulturist, restoration ecologist and botanist with The Natives Inc., a Davenport, Fla., firm offering consulting, ecological restoration and landscape architecture services. At The Natives’ nursery, she has experimented with the propagation and growth of many native plants, including grasses, wildflowers and rare species. Nancy, who serves on the Florida Wildflower Foundation board, developed many restoration techniques for upland communities while working on projects for state agencies, water management districts, mitigation banks, mined lands, developers and corporations throughout Florida. She has assisted with monitoring research projects for The Nature Conservancy, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and others, and she has performed rare plant and vegetation surveys and helped federal, state and local authorities find and evaluate rare plant communities.
Stacey Matrazzo joined the Florida Wildflower Foundation staff in 2015 as its program manager after serving several years as a contractor. She is an environmental educator and adjunct professor at Rollins College, Winter Park. Stacey is a certified Florida Master Naturalist who holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies and a master’s degree in Liberal Studies from Rollins, where she is an adjunct professor. She has compiled more than 250 native wildflower species for the Foundation’s popular weekly social media/online feature, “Flower Friday.” A native Floridian, she spends much of her free time kayaking, hiking, birding and photographing Florida’s amazing natural environments.
About the Florida Wildflower Foundation
FWF is the national advocate for Florida’s native wildflower species, many of which occur throughout the Southeast. Through our education, research and planting/conservation programs, we nurture the awareness, understanding and enjoyment of native wildflowers and plants.
Each year, we engage tens of thousands of people across Florida through school gardens, field trips, community planting projects, events, our roadside protection program, active partnerships, and the distribution of publications. Our website, www.FlaWildflowers.org, generates an average of more than 2,000 unique page views each week, and our social media channels have more than 13,000 active followers. Through Facebook alone, our posts reach more than 23,000 people per month.
