RURAL AND FAMILY LAND PROTECTION PROGRAM OPEN FOR ENROLLMENT Apply by July 27 The Florida Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services has announced an application cycle for landowners to apply to the Rural and Family Lands Protection Program. This is an agricultural land preservation program designed to protect important agricultural lands through the acquisition of…
Photo by Brenda Daly, MGVThere is no better month for pink flowers than June and no better flower than crinums for a vigorous, rich explosion of bright, blowsy, fuscia PINK! Many of our Duval County Master Gardeners are grew up around long stretches of crinums in childhood gardens. Those experts divide and share generously and…
Between June 1st and September 30th, Florida experienced most of its annual rainfall. We love the rain because the plants are naturally irrigated, but sometimes, we wish to put the rain on a timer. Unfortunately, the rain also irrigates the weeds, which tend to grow faster than our turfgrass, making it look unsightly. I have many weeds…
A new study from University of Florida and Kansas State University researchers found that bison carry plant-associated fungi in their saliva, with the potential to spread fungi across the prairie. The study raises questions about other grazing mammals and the role of the collection of microbes in an ecosystem. As some of North America’s earliest…
Branches and trees fell in west Pensacola during heavy rains and a tornado last week. Photo credit: Carrie Stevenson, UF IFAS Extension
The Pensacola area has had its fair share of rough weather lately. While the recent storms were not hurricanes, the rainfall totals rivaled many tropical storms, and the lighting and wind…
What do we really lose when we lose a tree? A thousand silent voices removed from the universal chorus. The tree is not a stand-alone unit, a single entity, a monument of stony bark, the tree is they. A connected symbiosis of lichens, fungi, epiphytes, ferns, mammals, birds, reptiles, and multitudes of insects. A mature,…
Dear King Phillip Thousands upon thousands of plants exist in the world. To better understand the thousands of plants, we use plant taxonomy to organize and classify different plant groups. You may remember the phrase from high school biology, “Dear King Phillip came over for good soup.” This mnemonic allows us (or me) to remember the varying levels of taxonomic classifications we…
As a commercial horticulture agent, I have been asked many questions about turfgrass. The following are some of the questions and answers. ■ Can I use an herbicide to control torpedograss in the St Augustine lawn? Ans: No herbicide is available to control torpedograss that will not injure St Augustine grass. ■ Is ProVista St. Augustine more resistant…
Happy National Pollinator Week! Please join us in celebrating a week full of pollinators of all shapes, colors, and sizes! First incepted by the US Senate on September 21, 2006, National Pollinator Week was initiated to “recognize the importance of pollinators to our ecosystem health and agriculture.” Really, the importance of pollinators cannot be understated.…
Gulf Fritillary butterfly on native scarlet salvia. A. Marek, UF/IFAS
If you’ve noticed a decline in butterflies, bees and birds, you’re not alone. Worldwide, pollinators are in drastic decline. Approximately 3 billion birds from the United States to Canada are gone, and 90% of monarch butterflies in North America have vanished. And for the first time…
Many of you may love to travel by plane, and if you’re anything like me, you may enjoy getting a window seat. I think that there is something wonderful about looking down on the earth, seeing
Groundwater discharges into freshwater springs and is affected by higher groundwater nitrogen.
people moving about their day, fields in…
Let’s travel back in time—to an early 16th century summer. You’re standing in an uncut longleaf pine forest in Florida; you have a ¼ mile view in every direction. Yellow and purple flowers dot the landscape of wiregrass, saw palmetto, and blueberry bushes. In one step, you cross over a hundred species of plants. A…
