25 Years of Community
Part of our $25 for 25 Anniversary Series — explore more stories here.
From July 16 through August 19, when you purchase or renew a Florida Wildflower Foundation membership, you’ll receive a second membership of equal or lesser value to share with someone of your choice — free.
We’re celebrating the community that makes our mission possible. And no one embodies that community better than our members.
Long before the Florida Wildflower Foundation officially came to be, a community was already forming around a shared love of Florida’s native wildflowers. People like Gary Henry, Anne MacKay, Carolyn Schaag, Nancy Bissett and many others brought their knowledge, leadership and passion to a growing movement. They organized, advocated, volunteered and shared what they knew, laying the groundwork for the community we know today
Members Since the Early Years
Teri Jabour was part of the wildflower community before the Florida Wildflower Foundation was even official.
While volunteering — and later working — at The Nature Conservancy’s Blowing Rocks Preserve in Martin County, friends introduced Teri to the Florida Native Plant Society and a broader community of people passionate about Florida’s native plants. She began attending statewide conventions, where programs on Florida’s wildflowers quickly became her favorites. Later, she attended the Foundation’s educational symposiums and learned from experts including Nancy Bissett, Walter Taylor, Roger Hammer and others.
“So many members share their knowledge,” Teri says.
That spirit of sharing has been at the heart of the Florida Wildflower Foundation community for 25 years.
When asked what has changed since those early days, Teri points to just how much the native plant community — and the Foundation’s reach — has grown.
“The obvious change is the outreach to so many people, not just us native plant and wildlife people,” she says.
As interest in native plants has grown, so have the resources available to help people learn. Teri has watched the Foundation’s educational offerings evolve alongside new research and changing needs, making reliable information accessible to an ever-growing audience.
Today, she helps carry that knowledge forward. As an educator, a Master Gardener volunteer for 30 years and a member and past president of the NABA-Atala Chapter, Teri frequently gives presentations and participates in community projects. She regularly turns to Foundation resources — including 20 Easy-to-Grow Wildflowers, our online plant and pollinator profiles and other educational publications — to support that work and share what she knows with others.
Teri has also enjoyed Foundation webinars and field trips, including a memorable trip to Blowing Rocks Preserve led by CJ McCartney, and she fondly remembers the symposiums held in years past. For Teri, supporting the Foundation and its programs remains the most important benefit of membership. But today’s members also receive benefits that help them learn, explore and share their own love of wildflowers, including complimentary printed educational resources and native wildflower seeds upon request, early field trip registration and free or reduced admission to field trips and other events.
Newer Voices in the Community
Everyone discovers Florida’s wildflowers in their own way. For Jill Cozza, that discovery began with fire.
As a park ranger at St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park, Jill spends much of her workweek in the field, working with birds, prescribed fire and invasive plants. It was through prescribed fire that she discovered one of her favorite wildflowers: Many-flowered grasspink (Calopogon multiflorus). The striking native terrestrial orchid appears in recently burned areas.
“They truly are a beautiful sight to see,” Jill says. “Completely magical if you ask me!“
She has also developed an appreciation for other native wildflowers she encounters in the field, from fire-loving Pine lilies to native milkweeds. They’re a bonus of spending so much time outdoors — and a subject she’s continually learning more about.
That desire to keep learning is also what brought Jill to the Florida Wildflower Foundation. When asked about her favorite membership benefit, her answer was immediate: field trips.
Members receive early registration and free or reduced admission to Foundation field trips, offering opportunities to explore Florida’s natural places and learn from experts and fellow wildflower enthusiasts along the way.
For someone who already spends her days immersed in Florida’s natural landscapes, membership offers Jill another way to explore them — with a new focus on the wildflowers that have increasingly captured her attention.
Her story is still at the beginning. And that’s exactly what makes it such an important part of ours.
Teri and Jill joined the Florida Wildflower Foundation at very different moments in its history. But their stories share something important: curiosity becomes knowledge, knowledge is shared and connections grow into community.
Help Us Grow Our Community
For 25 years, the Florida Wildflower Foundation community has grown because people have shared their knowledge, enthusiasm and love for Florida’s wildflowers with others. Now, we’re inviting you to help grow that community for the next 25.
From July 16 through August 19, when you purchase or renew a Florida Wildflower Foundation membership, you’ll receive a second membership of equal or lesser value to share with someone of your choice — free.
For Teri, that person is Kat Rahla, someone she says “promotes and plants Florida wildflowers passionately and routinely on her own.“
Who would you invite into the wildflower community? Maybe it’s the friend who loves gardening, the neighbor curious about native plants or someone who simply needs an introduction to discover a new passion. Together, we can welcome new members, share what we love and build a stronger future for Florida’s wildflowers, pollinators and natural landscapes — one person at a time.