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Celebrating a new partnership bringing art, history and wildflowers together!

We are proud to partner with the Cortada Foundation to bring Xavier Cortada’s "Flower Force" project to schools across Florida. For over a decade, this eco-art initiative has inspired communities to restore native habitats for pollinators and reconnect with nature.


Beginning in 2025, schools participating in the Foundation's Seedlings for Schools grant program who dedicate their garden to one of 500 people who helped shape Florida’s history will also be eligible to receive one of Cortada’s iconic ceramic wildflowers. Through this collaboration, students will engage with art, history and conservation to make a lasting impact in their community. Learn how to bring "Flower Force" to your school today!


Photo courtesy of Avalon Elementary
 
 

Your membership matters!

Join or renew before our rates change.


To keep growing our impact, we’re making a small but necessary update to our membership rates — our first in years. But there’s still time to lock in today’s price! Renew or join by April 1 to support Florida’s wildflowers at our current rate.


Don’t miss this chance — join or renew today!
 
 
 

Viva Florida Landscape Demonstration Garden grant deadline fast approaching — Apply by February 28!


Bring your community to life with native plants! These grants provide funds with which to purchase Florida native wildflowers and plants for public projects that showcase the beauty of Florida natives while demonstrating their uses. Learn more and apply today!
 
 

February bloom highlights!


There's a common refrain that Florida lacks seasons, however, if you get to know its flora you'll discover seasons as vibrant and unique as anywhere! Our winters may be mild, but they are marked by a brief dormancy of many flowering plants. In February, our early spring wildflowers begin to wake up — meet a few of our earliest risers below.

Carolina jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens)


The sunniest of flowers, it brings cascades of vibrant yellow blooms to light up Florida's forests in late winter, heralding the abundance of colors that will come with spring.


Learn more about Carolina jessamine.

Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida)


Arguably one of Florida’s most beautiful flowering trees, it can be an easy low maintenance landscape tree, but only if conditions are perfectly ideal!


Learn more about Flowering dogwood.

Tropical sage

(Salvia coccinea)


No pollinator can resist its bright red flowers and it is particularly attractive to bees, large butterflies and hummingbirds. Tropical sage is highly adaptable to a variety of conditions and makes a great addition to a mixed wildflower bed.


Learn more about Tropical sage.
 

UPCOMING EVENTS
 

Join us on Wednesday, March 26 at 2pm for Saumya Vanderwyst’s presentation, Creating a Colorful Native World Inside an HOA, focused on improving the soil biome around new construction, modifying designs for mobility-restricted individuals, and harnessing native plant seasonality to meet homeowner’s association (HOA) landscaping demands. Come hear her journey and how she has worked together with her HOA board!


DETAILS & REGISTRATION
 

Join us on Saturday March 22 at 9am EST to explore the many habitats of Old Miakka Preserve in Sarasota County. We’ll be on the lookout for blooming wildflowers, including Prairie iris (Iris savannarum), Florida scrub roseling (Callisia ornata), Florida false sunflower (Phoebanthus grandiflorus) and more!


DETAILS & REGISTRATION

Join us on Saturday March 29 at 10am CST to learn about the endangered Frosted elfin butterfly and its habitat in the Blackwater River State Forest in Okaloosa County. FWC technician Mackenzie Sconyers will guide us to sites where the butterfly's host plant, Sundial lupine (Lupinus perennis), is being preserved through a variety of land management strategies.


DETAILS & REGISTRATION
 

COME SEE US AT THESE UPCOMING EVENTS:
 

Botany in Context Webinar Series

a six-part webinar series with Jim Folsom, PhD.


This crash course in basic botany for the beginner will take us on a journey from understanding plant anatomy and physiology to learning how plants are named and the botanical jargon that will demystify plant keys and identification. Dr. Folsom will contextualize it all in Florida native plant communities.


Series schedule:


  • Part 1: Basic Wildflower Botany – Watch the recording here
  • Part 2: 10 BIG IDEAS Regarding Plants – Watch the recording here
  • Part 3: Coming to Terms with Plant Names – Watch the recording here
  • Part 4: Getting Familiar with Plant Families – Wednesday, April 16, 2pm
  • Part 5: Botanical Jargon, A Concise and Precise Language for Plants – Wednesday, May 21, 2pm
  • Part 6: Using Keys to Florida Plants – Wednesday, June 18, 2pm


CLICK HERE FOR ADDITIONAL DETAILS AND REGISTRATION
 
 


Check out our calendar for a full listing of upcoming events across the state!
 
 

Members make a difference!
 

Thank you to all the members who joined or renewed in January. Your support helps create habitat in schools and urban areas, spread wildflowers on roadsides, and educate people of all ages about the importance of native plants and the pollinators that depend on them.

New Members

Addie Gilkerson, Alison Paoline, Bilouvenie Provilon Jean, Celia Hartnett, Diana Hall, Diane Braun, Doulenys Avilez, Gillian Lankshear, Ginger Ayer, Griselda Franco, Irina Tarzian, Jacqueline Charafardin, Jane Bullock, Jenna Workman, Jennifer Mohler, John Adams, Jonathan Elmquist, Julio Castano, Karina Veaudry, Kunnee Chew, Lyndsey Stoner, Lynn Aiello Lees, Marilee Catalano, Mark Binette, Mary Frankini, Melissa Ballard-Martin, Molly Gunn, Omayra Ortiz, Pauline Chung, Rafael Sosa, Roger Bowers, Sandra Wilson, Sara Villa-lobos, Sheila Montante, Starla Lopez, Teresa Nooney, Tess Murphy, Vicki Robertson, Florida Native Plant Society, Lake Beautyberry Chapter


Renewing Members

Alice Smith, Deborah Noell, Dee Hackett, Gail Farley, Ingrid Scheer, Jack Wooster, Jody Willis, Laura Parkel, Mariana Pardo, Phyllis Hall, Tracy Calla, Sharon Hodges, Sue Clark, Vida Bauer, Sandra Nojiri-Matsheshu


Want to see your name on the list? Join Team Wildflower today!
 
 




Get the plate that supports wildflowers and preserves natural Florida!
 

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Florida Wildflower Foundation | PO Box 941691 | Maitland, FL 32794 US

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