Florida Native Garden at Lake Helen City Hall”

08/22/2024

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has just announced plans to defile up to 9 of our illustrious State Parks with grossly incompatible development, including golf courses in the scrub of Jonathan Dickinson State Park, a 350-room lodge adjacent to the beach and dunes at Top Sail Hill Preserve State Park, and pickleball courts and a disk golf course in the mesic hammock of Hillsborough River State Park. The proposed unit management plan amendments and conceptual maps for each of the parks are available in our action alert at https://www.fnps.org/news/alerts. It is difficult to comprehend the incompatibility and insensitivity of these proposals, and the process for conducting a public review is similarly outrageous.

The FDEP announcement of these proposals was released on Tuesday the 20th – and the 8 one-hour public meetings to collect public comment will all be conducted concurrently NEXT TUESDAY, AUGUST 27. This is a stealth attack on our public lands. Information on the proposals for each of the 9 affected State Parks (Jonathan Dickinson, Hillsborough River, Honeymoon Island, Anastasia, Topsail Hill Preserve and Grayton Beach, Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson, Oleta River and Camp Helen State Parks), and meeting locations and times, are all available using the links provided below. If one of these Parks is especially important to you, or if you live near one of these meeting locations and can plan to be present, PLEASE ATTEND and speak in defense of our entire State Park system. Because if state officials are allowed to get away with this kind of development in these parks, they will not stop there.

Jonathan Dickinson State Park Public Meeting | Florida Department of Environmental Protection
DATE AND TIME: Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024, 3 – 4 p.m. (ET)
PLACE: The Flagler of Stuart – 201 SW Flagler Ave, River Room, Stuart, FL

Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park Public Meeting | Florida Department of Environmental Protection
DATE AND TIME: Tuesday, Aug. 27, 3 – 4 p.m. (ET)
PLACE: Downtown Event Center - 416 NE First Street
Lecture Hall, Building C – 2nd Floor (Enter at Main Entrance B), Fort Lauderdale, FL

Hillsborough River State Park Public Meeting | Florida Department of Environmental Protection
DATE AND TIME: Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024, 3 – 4 p.m. (ET)
PLACE: Jimmie B. Keel Regional Library – 2902 W. Bearss Ave, Community Room D, Tampa, FL

Oleta River State Park Public Meeting | Florida Department of Environmental Protection
DATE AND TIME: Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024, 3 – 4 p.m. (ET)
PLACE: Florida International University – Kovens Conference Center
Room 114, 3000 N.E. 151 Street, North Miami, FL

Honeymoon Island State Park Public Meeting | Florida Department of Environmental Protection
DATE AND TIME: Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024, 3 – 4 p.m. (ET)
PLACE: The District, 11141 US HWY 19 N., Suite 204, Clearwater, FL

Anastasia State Park Public Meeting | Florida Department of Environmental Protection
DATE AND TIME: Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024, 3 – 4 p.m. (ET)
PLACE: First Coast Technical College – The Character Counts Conference Center, Building C 2980 Collins Ave, St. Augustine, FL

Camp Helen State Park Public Meeting | Florida Department of Environmental Protection
DATE AND TIME: Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024, 3 – 4 p.m. (CT)
PLACE: Lyndell Conference Center – 423 Lyndell Lane, Panama City Beach, FL

Topsail Hill Preserve and Grayton Beach State Parks Public Meeting | Florida Department of Environmental Protection
DATE AND TIME: Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024, 3 – 4 p.m. (CT)
PLACE: WaterColor Lakehouse – 238 Watercolor Blvd W, Santa Rosa Beach, FL

If you attend, please make it clear you object to the proposals and consider sharing any of these points:
-The mission of the State Park system is to preserve these lands in a natural condition in perpetuity for the enjoyment of all Floridians, current and future. Preservation should supersede recreational use.
-Recreational uses allowed in State Parks should be resource-based activities that are dependent on a natural state and condition. Pickleball courts and disk golf courses can be developed nearly anywhere, and the enjoyment of those activities does not require natural surroundings.
-The enjoyment of compatible, passive recreational uses like hiking, botanizing and wildlife observation can be greatly compromised by uses that intrude on the quiet and solitude of a natural area, and that could be more easily and effectively be provided in urbanized areas.
-The rare and sensitive natural resources protected in a State Park should never be destroyed or displaced in favor of nonpassive uses.
-Altered areas should be dedicated to habitat restoration or low impact development necessary to provide access for compatible uses.

We will continue to oppose these proposals until they have been withdrawn. Stay tuned for a follow-up alert that will launch the next stage of our opposition.

08/08/2024

Friends of Lyonia Environmental Center’s
Lyonia Garden Keepers have had several volunteer days installing the rescued plants from the city hall native garden.
Most have survived and it will be exciting watching the spaces transform over the next few years.
Some plants will establish quickly and spread, others might take a few years to establish and begin thriving. The old adage which holds true with most well behaved plants, “1st year it sleeps, 2nd year it creeps, 3rd year it leaps” holds true more often than not.
The Twinflower species will serve as erosion control on the steep slopes. This was a much needed addition and will be so beautiful and also serves as
A host plant for the gorgeous buckeye butterfly and variety pollinators visit the flowers!
There are 2 species from the city hall garden,
Swamp twinflower, Dyschoriste humistrata.
I have found from my experience in my high elevation sandy garden, the swamp teinflower grows fine in dry sand when in shade to part sun.
The other species, Oblong leaf twinflower, Dyschoriste oblongifolia, thrives in all the soil/moisture conditions as long as not inundated in water.
Both get aggressive once established and don’t share flower beds with less aggressive plants without regular aggressive taming back.
Visit Lyonia Environmental Center for the gardens and the animals kept within, our local scrubland ecosystem and animals.

The Lyonia Garden Keepers have been busy welcoming these rescued native plants into their new home at Lyonia Environmental Center!

07/18/2024

I feel so much gratitude and appreciation for the friends who volunteered with me to rescue plants from Florida Native Garden at Lake Helen City Hall”🥰 Friends I’ve met from CCuplet Fern Florida Native Plant Society FFriends of Lyonia Environmental Center and local friends I’ve had from our mutual love of plants and gardening who I’ve had for several years pitched in. 🥰
A task I was dreading and heartbroken about, thinking I’d do alone, has become a project I’m excited to work on at LyLyonia Environmental CenterWe’ve already installed I don’t know how many plants and have many more to go!! 🤗
I am quite sad about the loss of host plants, berries, and pollinator plants for the insects and birds that have been fed and raised in the little oasis at city hall.
I want to grow a new oasis somewhere else nearby. Unfortunately one established as well as that one will take either several years or a large budget and more people working in it!!
I have grown a few native gardens in Lake Helen, so at least those locations still provide them with the food they need to nourish their bodies and offspring and complete their life cycles, but due to the dense and very diverse native plant species within THAT particular location, it’s a significant loss for the foundation of the local wildlife food web.
Still, looking forward, there are so many plans in the making, more than I can accomplish during this season of my life, but I’m feeling motivated and inspired, which is a welcomed and unexpected feeling to have experienced at the conclusion of the city hall native garden experiment.
I have learned a lot and would have been more restrained with the design which I’m sure some people suggested in the beginning stages, as I passionately created a design to contain as many butterfly host plants, berry producing plants, and even ensure there were always flowers available for pollinators year round.
I learned that controversy and complaints are a daily problem at city hall and I’m certain all government offices go through this.
Because most native plants actually DO change throughout the year, during the late seeding stage and as they are dormant, then during the growth stage from dormancy, the appearance of many native plants does not provide a controlled look, not the typical landscape, basic shape and color.
These time periods during their lifecycles cause complaints. I don’t know if there were many, but I know most adults think simple shapes and year round green, tidy like a clean living room, is how a yard should look and I do know the did have some
complaints and their was a complaint made that meant the garden had to be removed ASAP. Time for city staff to have one less thing to be disrupted by. Especially when often they are disrespected by fellow citizens possibly daily.
Distraction and complaints about landscaping are a stressful interruption from city hall staff and commissioners from doing more important things.
I didn’t have the energy to fight for this. I could have moved them to the back. It would have been a job I did with no pay. I probably would have if I had more free time, but I’m a mother, I have a home and yarden to care for and other priorities.
It would have been a responsibility I’d have to keep up with alone.
I was unable to develop a volunteer team with the garden as I’d hoped to because I schedule around my kids’ needs, home responsibilities, and my paid jobs, I don’t have a predictable life right now and my brain struggles significantly with organizing, collaboration with others, and planning. It feels like a huge handicap.
I didn’t get a lot of communication about people appreciating it very frequently. I definitely did from my friends 💕 of course 🥰 But random humans walking/biking by, things like that.
My assumption was, it was not that valued in Lake Helen. The majority of citizens aren’t into native plants. (Duh 😅) It may have been something that inspired a few to step towards that direction and if so, it was not a lost cause. I recognize I didn’t do nearly as much outreach as I’d hoped to. I’m not there yet. 😞🫶🚂
If time allows I will seek a replacement location nearby and install possibly through a grant. But for now, my volunteer time is devoted to Lyonia Environmental Center. A place where I volunteer with others, we have a great time together, and it is appreciated by many visitors daily. 💕

07/13/2024

I have the month of July to remove the plants from city hall. I have a few more volunteer days left to get what I can out. They need to be hardened off in pots before transplanting at Lyonia to allow for best chance of survival. Lyonia does a lot to not only display native plants at the garden areas, but also has a group that meets up on Wednesdays to learn about and maintain them and increase plant diversity at their nursery. They also give away native plants to the public regularly and offer many fun, educational programs for children and adults.

07/13/2024

I have the month of July to remove the plants from city hall. I have a few more volunteer days left to get what I can out. They need to be hardened off in pots before transplanting at Lyonia to allow for best chance of survival. Lyonia does a lot to not only display native plants at the garden areas, but also has a group that meets up on Wednesdays to maintain them and increase plant diversity at their nursery. They also give away native plants to the public regularly and offer many fun, educational programs for children and adults.

07/13/2024

03/15/2024

03/01/2024

03/01/2024

I worked on some winter maintenance this week. The signs of spring have already begun 🥰
Unfortunately, the city desires a different look in front of the building and I will most likely have to remove most of the plants. It’s possible some will remain.
I have been given the opportunity to save them, so I’m thankful for that.
I’ve watched these plants establish and many re-seed prolifically. The diversity and numbers have grown. My ultimate vision was incomplete as many of the plants take several years to really mature and fulfill their potential, lacking time and unlimited funding makes it difficult to acquire everything all at once and maintaining has own challenges.
This location started out with multiple invasive and aggressive non-native weeds. I have reduced that problem to a very manageable level. I learned a lot about working with native plants in a way that I compare to painting. Understanding how they look and bloom throughout the year. Mixing plants that naturally grow in different moisture levels, understanding how they can adapt- and those that are not as adaptive.
I will update when I learn more about what the city plans to do.