President's Message

Hi Friends,

I was recently reviewing some notes I had taken at a nursing conference several years ago about lessening the stress in our lives. The things listed that stood out to me were “plant flowers, listen to the birds, and take a walk in the woods,” all things we native plant enthusiasts do naturally. Other things he mentioned also work in conjunction with our “environmental“ sense -- things like “pick up litter in your area, help others, greet people, have potluck dinners, and bake & share from your table.”

Being in nature, helping others, and working with others give us a sense of usefulness and feeling good about ourselves and helps our brains to release certain neurotransmitters that, in turn, helps lower our blood pressure and stress hormones. Although those of us who love to be involved with the natural world have probably sensed this all along, scientists now have ways of proving why nature and our interaction with natural areas have such beneficial effects on us. So I hope you will take time to interact with nature and our native plant friends for some nice ‘stress-releasing’ events.

Our August speaker was the wonderful and witty author, Dr. Walter Taylor, who spoke to us about Florida’s native grasses. Although Dr. Taylor is mostly known for his books about identifying native wildflowers, he has recently written a book about our native grasses and his talk focused on that topic. Our field trip this month will be a relaxing hike and picnic to one of Florida’s most beautiful beaches, Caladesi Island.

In September, we will have our annual Landscape Tour, where we tour yards landscaped mostly with native plants. These yards help to bring back a ‘sense of place’ and the identity of what ‘real’ Florida is, and they give us a better understanding of how we can help bring nature into our own yards.

Our October meeting/talk will be about “Edible & Useful” native plants given by one of our former Pinellas Chapter president’s, Katy Roberts. Our October field trip (one of the best times of the year) will be to Tiger Creek Preserve in the Lake Wales Ridge. Also in October is our “Fall Wildflower Festival & Plant Sale,” held at Wilcox Nursery in Largo (See flier onpage 3). In these times, we need nature more than ever to keep our stress levels down. We also need to be ever vigilant of the cuts and plans proposed in Tallahassee to chop away at our natural areas and environmentally important lands and to make our voices heard. As we have already seen several times, if we do not let our legislators know how important our natural areas are they will continue to reprioritize what is essential to Florida’s future. Writing, calling and making your voice heard is IMPERATIVE.

Those walks in the woods and interacting with nature are probably more important than ever to keep our stress levels down …… but we need to stay involved so the legislators in Tallahassee leave us some to enjoy!