What's Blooming - Wildflowers in  Florida Yards
To report what’s blooming along roads in your yard-mail the site location (and photo, if you have one) to executivedirector@floridawildflowerfoundation.org with “Wildflower Yards” in the subject line.

Please note: You must own the rights to any photo you send the Florida Wildflower Foundation. The submission of a photo or photos to the Foundation for this feature gives the organization permission to post it on its Web site.  The Foundation is not responsible for photos that are copied from its Web site and displayed elsewhere. Please note the photographer’s name so we can credit him or her.
Rubeckia

5-16-2008: Blackeyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta) keep the butterfly garden in my side yard gay. I won the Rudbeckia and a goldenrod plant (Solidago fistulosa) during a raffle at a meeting of the Tarflower Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society -- another reason to love our FNPS friends! One of the latest visitors spied at dusk in my garden was a hummingbird, which a friend mistook as a moth. It's easy to do in metro Orlando, where the birds are a rare sight.
 
Reported by Lisa Roberts, Florida Wildflower Foundation executive director, Maitland
Blue Flag Iris



5-15-2008:  Sanford -- Purple flag, once recovered from the St. Johns River a few generations ago, now is in a magnificent spring bloom in a pond in my back yard.
 
Reported by Bill Belleville

Coreopsis basalis Zinn Farm
 
5-4-2008: Alachua -- FWF board member Terry Zinn has acres of Coreopsis basalis popping up at his farm, Wildflowers of Florida Inc. As soon as they go to seed, the harvesting will begin. He and other Florida wildflower farmers produce thousands of pounds of seeds annually, much of which is used by the Department of Transportation for roadside projects. To learn more about the Wildflower Seed and Plant Growers Association Inc., visit its Web site, www.floridawildflowers.com.

Reported by Terry Zinn
 
photo of Walter Taylor yard

4-19-2008: You would expect nothing less than an abundance of wildflowers in the yard of Dr. Walter K. Taylor, aka "Mr. Florida Wildflower," and his wife, Karin. Why? Taylor is the author of two books on Florida's wildflowers, a professor emeritus of biology at the University of Central Florida and a FWF board member. Here's what he says about "what's blooming" in his front yard:
 
"The two yellow ones are tickseed (Coreopsis  basalis) -- predominate one with dark center -- and skunk daisy (Verbesina encelioides). The white  on the left is yarrow (Achilles millefolium), the purple one is spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis), and the red in the left corner is coralbean (Erythrina herbacea).
 
"Other things not readily visible are greeneye (Berlandiera subacaulus), pennyroyal (Philoblephis rigida), pineland wild indigo (Baptisia lecontei), garberia (Garberia heterophylla), moss verbena (Glandularia pulchella), blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium angustifolium), polysfoot (Dichondra caroliniensis) and mullein (Verbascum virgatum). The tree is tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) which is starting to leaf out. Red salvia (Salvia coccinea), Elliott's lovegrass (Eragrostis elliottii) and purple lovegrass (Eragrostis spectabilis) are also in the landscape."

Reported by Karin and Walter Taylor, Winter Park