A Year in Bloom: Highlights from the Micanopy Viva Florida Garden
The Micanopy Pollinator Garden, planted a year ago with over 500 native plants, has flourished into a vibrant haven for pollinators and a community favorite.
Spring — a time of renewal, planting and planning
Who doesn’t love spring? It puts us in a happy place to see plants bursting forth with new green leaves and a promise of growth. For gardeners, it’s a very busy time as we plan, pull weeds and plant.
Celebrating Micanopy’s Pollinator Victory Garden
Micanopy celebrated its 200th anniversary with a new Pollinator Victory Garden, supported by a Viva Florida grant. The garden will provide food, shelter and habitat for pollinators and be a centerpiece for this historic town.
Celebrate native bees and other pollinators
Do you enjoy juicy watermelons, local blueberries and strawberries and fresh Florida orange juice? How about carrots, broccoli, almonds and apples? If you do, please thank an insect.
Meet board member David Price
As a Florida Wildflower Foundation board member, David Price brings deep knowledge accumulated over a diverse horticultural career.
Chimney bees
Chimney bees like the Mustached mud and Hibiscus bees are solitary ground nesters that have serious architectural talent! Both bees superficially resemble bumblebees in appearance.
It’s not a garden, it’s a habitat
Thinking of native wildflower gardens as habitat is a new mindset whose time has come. Learn how to make the transition for the sake of wildlife.
Leafcutter bees
Megachilidae (commonly referred to as leafcutter, mason, orchard or cuckoo bees) are a large family of solitary nesters with distinctive and fascinating behaviors.
Bumble bees
Bumble bees are very efficient pollinators because they “buzz pollinate.” The bee grabs onto a flower and vibrates its flight muscles but not its wings. This causes the flower to release its pollen.
Carpenter bees
Many Floridians become familiar with carpenter bees by accident. They may notice a hole that appears to have been drilled into unpainted wood around their homes with a sawdust pile beneath it.
Flower color polymorphism — surprise colors from your favorite plants
Do you ever have white flower forms of your typically blue Spiderwort ( Tradescantia ohiensis) or Stokes’ aster ( Stokesia laevis)? Wonder what’s going on?
Great wildflowers for your dry landscape
If you have added wildflowers to your landscape, you’ve probably learned how adaptable they are to a wide range of environmental conditions.