gardening with your sea rocket chapter - nbbdget into gardening every tuesday by helping at the fnps...
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Summer 2018 Email us at [email protected] page 1
Summer 2018
Florida Native Plant Society ~ Sea Rocket Chapter ~ Serving Central & North Brevard County
The purpose of the Florida Native Plant Society is to promote the preservation, conservation, and restoration of the native plants and native plant communities of Florida.
~ Sea Rocket ~
Board of Directors
President
Lois Harris
Vice President
Jim Robey
Treasurer
Karen Lyle
Secretary
Molly Traugott
Chapter Representative
Vacant
Committees
Membership Kate Chiodini
Education/Outreach
Janina Shoemaker
Special Media / Marketing
Arlene Perez-Garrido
Nursery
Lois Harris
Hike Leader
Paul Schmalzer, PhD
Newsletter
Cheryl Tyson
Hospitality
Armand De Filippo
To contact us by email:
Mark your Calendars for the
Titusville Sea Turtle Festival
June 8 and 9
Jpin us at the Titusville Sea Turtle Festival come as a visitor or vol-
unteer. We still need volunteers to Staff our Tent and Table. Fri-
day evening should be cool, and Saturday is an all-day effort to
spread the Gospel of Native
Plants to save $$, labor, and
H2O. June 8 & 9. This is
great timing as it just before
our plant sale. Please let us
know if you can help for Fri-
day and or Saturday.
Please call (321 567 5210) or
email Janina ([email protected]) to volunteer for this fun event.
Gardening with your Sea Rocket Chapter
Friends
Get into Gardening every Tuesday by helping at the FNPS Sea Rocket Chapter Nursery Workdays 9am-12 noon. Kid-friendly. Saturday in the Garden: Join us June 23, July 21 and August 11 for maintenance and preparation of our gardens for planting.
Summer 2018 Email us at [email protected] page 2
Emergency Preparedness
For more information go to Bre-
vard County Emergency Manage-
ment page at:
http://www.brevardfl.gov/docs/def
ault-source/emergency-
management/all-hazards-
readiness-guide-040417.pdf
Summer 2018 Email us at [email protected] page 3
Sea Rocket Chapter Plant Sale
June 16th
10 am to 3 pm
Enchanted Forest Sanctuary
PLANT LIST
American Elm / Ulmus americana
Beauty berry / Callicarpa americana
Black-eyed Susan / Rudbeckia hirta
Blanket flower / Gaillardia pulchella
Blazing star / Liatris spicata
Blue curl / Trichostema dichotomum
Coreopsis / Coreopsis leavenworthii
Elephants foot / Elephantopus elatus
False Rosemary, Lg. / Conradina grandiflora
Florida paintbrush / Carphephorus corymbosus
Goldenrod, seaside / Solidago sempervirens
Green eyes / Berlandiera subacaulis
Ironweed / Vernonia gigantea
Rayless sunflower / Helianthus radula
With Lakeside sunflower/H. carnosus
Red Cedar, Southern / Jumiperus virginiana
Scarlet Sage / Salvia coccinea
Spotted beebalm / Monarda puntata
St. John Wort, scrub / Hypericum tenuifolium
Starry Rosinweed / Silphium atericus
Yellowtop / Flaveria linearis
VOLUNTEERS
NEEDED
Please contact us if you
can help with the plant
sale, an important chap-
ter fundraiser.
Summer 2018 Email us at [email protected] page 4
Powerline decline in Palms By David Humphrey
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ep263
Did you know Palm Trees can be damaged by high voltage power lines?
It seems only palms are subject to this malady. Even the native Sable
palmetto will demonstrate signs of decline. Information as to why
only palms are affected does not openly present itself. Possibly be-
cause the economic impact is minimal so little research has been
done, and besides the remedy is simple, don’t plant palms under
power lines. “Powerline Decline” as it is called is rarely fatal to the
tree but will affect the leaf by yellowing or even killing the leaf tips.
Contact is not required, even at a distance of five feet, the visual de-
cline can show. Certainly, it is a result of the electromagnetic field
surrounding the 13,000 or 23,000 volt AC power line. (Maybe that’s
why when a warning of “downed lines” is issued, we really should
take notice and keep clear). But why only palms? This quote from the
UF/IFAS Blogsite may help. “Visual symptoms alone may be sufficient
for the diagnosis of potassium deficiency, although leaf nutrient anal-
ysis may be helpful in distinguishing a late stage deficiency from
manganese (Mn) deficiency. These two deficiencies can be extremely
similar from a distance, but close examination should reveal characteristic spotting and marginal necrosis in
K deficiency or necrotic streaking for Mn deficiency. Potassium deficiency symptoms are also more severe
toward the leaf tip and are less so at the leaf base. The reverse is
true for Mn deficiency.”
http://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/orangeco/2018/02/27/potassium-
deficiency-palms/
Even though the article is talking about deficiencies the symptoms
are very similar for palm decline. Could it be that the power line
electromagnetic field interferes with the potassium (K) or manga-
nese (Mn) transfer in the palm leaf?
Power companies do not recommend planting any large tree of any variety near power lines due to eventual interference with power delivery and then the mandatory tree “surgery” to remove the offending limbs.
And now you know, and “Knowing is half the battle.” G.I. Joe
For a comprehensive view of Sea Rocket activities go to
https://www.facebook.com/searocketchapter/
Summer 2018 Email us at [email protected] page 5
FLORIDA MASTER NATURALIST PROGRAM INFORMATION
AT MAY SEA ROCKET MEETING
G reg Hendricks was our guest speaker at the May monthly meet-
ing for SeaRocket Chapter was . Greg is from the Florida Master Natu-
ralist Program (FMNP) which runs through UF’s IFAS extension pro-
gram. The mission of FMNP is to promote awareness, understanding,
and respect of Florida’s natural world among Florida citizens and visi-
tors and focuses on adult education for people of all backgrounds who
seek to further their knowledge of Florida’s natural ecosystems.
Several sections of classes are offered
by the FNMP: the Core Modules (Coastal Systems, Freshwater
Systems, and Upland Systems), the Special Topics (Habitat Evalu-
ation, Wildlife Monitoring, Conservation Science, and Environmen-
tal Interpretation), and the Restoration Series (Coastal Restora-
tion). The Core Modules are 40 contact hours each and are about
50% instruction and 50% hands on, whereas the Special Topics and
Restoration Series are 24 con-
tact hours long each. The Res-
toration Series on Coastal
Restoration currently includes information about planting
techniques and general restoration for oyster beds, man-
groves and marshes, but they are planning to add classes
including seagrasses and corals as well as dune system
restoration.
These classes that can be taken through FNMP are not
classes that you receive grades in. If you show up with a
good attitude and work through
them, you will receive a certifi-
cate and be in the online data-
base for completing FNMP coursework. You also receive a patch and
pin along with the course manual. If you complete enough of the
classes, you qualify as a FNMP Master Naturalist. The Core Mod-
ules cost $275 each and the Special Topics cost $175 each if you are
interested in trying them out.
Summer 2018 Email us at [email protected] page 6
MMMMM My mimosa By Lora Losi
The walking neighbors stop, the neighbors stare. Aren’t the new people (us) going to work and spend mon-
ey on turf?
The answer took a few years to be visible. The answer was MIMOSA.
We didn’t know exactly what would happen 6 years ago when we bought our
house on the “dune of death”. The lawn under the huge oaks had been
mowed too short, blown clear of any organic matter and had become sterile
bare white sand. We knew we had to do something, anything fast to prevent
the sand from being washed away down the front bank and onto the street.
Our first thought was not what the neighbors expected. Instead of buying sod
and fertilizing with chemicals and using copious amounts of precious water we
brought in 17 pickup trucks of free mulch, nature’s fertilizer. Who needs a gym when you could shovel?
And then we planted natives, lots of different native plants. We didn’t know exactly what would grow so
with the help of local nursery folk we dug in.
Fast forward 6 years and we have a nice variety on the front bank. Some things did better than others, Gar-
beria (a scrub bush covered with puffs of pinkish/ purple blossoms in fall) has established itself as nice ac-
cent bushes.
But the real pedestrian stopper is the mimosa. The 6 plants that were planted on top of the bank have
spread like a carpet to places that suit it. The apron along the road happens to have the sun it likes. And the
best thing is that this running vine has stomped out what little grass that was there!
We now have a 75 foot long meadow of lush green carpet
on the street apron with thousands of perky pink pompom
blossoms. This is not because of being watered, mimosa
does not need to be, once established. By the way, the
blossoms support thousands of pollinators, no wonder my
tomatoes set so many fruit!
We proudly put out an informative sign about mimosa. It
tells of not having to use fertilizer or water and the minimal
mowing and trimming needed. Many people stop and read
it! Some take cuttings. On the money we have saved not
paying for the artificial looking turf we can buy A LOT more native plants!!
A neighbor originally from Puerto Rico said that mimosa is also used in her country and is called Mort Y Vive
meaning death and life. The mimosa plants do get a little sparse over the winter but they really turn on
come spring, and beat the grass in to action. The mimosa leaves do curl up when touched, hence another
name” sensitive vine”.
Easy to grow, beautiful blossoms, and supports wildlife (we have a tortoise burrow in the bank).
Now tell me again why I should grow grass?
Summer 2018 Email us at [email protected] page 7
The Enchanted Forest Sanctuary Education Center 444 Columbia Blvd, Titusville, FL 32780 321-264-5185
Driving Directions to the Sanctuary:
From I-95 Northbound: take SR-407 Exit 212 east 2.7 miles to SR-405 intersection. Turn right onto SR-405 and go east 1.9 miles (the Sanctuary entrance is on the left 0.4 miles past Sisson Road)
From I-95 Southbound: take SR-50 Exit 215 east. Turn left onto SR 50 and turn right onto SR-405 (2nd light) Travel 3.6 miles (the Sanctuary entrance is on the left 0.4 miles past Sisson Road)
From U.S. HWY 1: go west 0.5 miles on SR-405 in south Titusville. Sanctuary entrance is on the right.
Florida Native Plant Society
For membership information, address change: P. O. Box 278, Melbourne, FL 32902-0278 Phone: 321-271-6702; Fax: 321-951-1941; Email: [email protected]/www.fnps.org Sea Rocket Chapter mailing address: 444 Columbia Blvd, Titusville, FL 32780
Sea Rocket Chapter Meeting
Our next meeting will be in September!
Have a great summer!
Sea Rocket Chapter April Board meeting will be held on June 12 at 5:30 pm.
The meeting will be held at (TBD)
All members are welcome to attend. Please RSVP if you plan to attend.
See you in September!
We are changing to have a summer edition of our newsletter to reflect that we do not meet during these months. Our next Chapter meeting will be September 26, 2018 The next newsletter will be sent out September 1, 2018. Have a safe and great summer! May our hurricane season be calm. And our gardens be filled with bright colors.
Travelling this summer? Enjoy your
adventures and be sure to stop and
smell the Native plants!
I saw this sign last summer in the gar-
dens of Malahide Castle outside Dub-
lin, Ireland. I highly recommend vis-
iting these gardens if you find your-
self nearby. - Editor
Be sure to check out the bi-monthly newsletter of the
Florida Native Plant Society
Located online at : http://fnps.org/resources/sabalminor