Resources & Links
Nurseries that sell Florida Native Plants
The Nectary
A native plant nursery that is open to the general public.
Thursday 11am-3pm
Fridays and Saturdays 9 am – 3 pm
They are located in Lakeland, Florida
1047 E. Main Street (863) 937-7879 TheNectaryLKLD@gmail.com
Use this link to get to Google Maps to show the location.
1047 E. Main St, Lakeland FL 33801
The Natives
I can’t recommend this nursery anymore. I bought over $300 worth of plants and they all died except for four of them. Two hackberries died! You honestly can’t kill those trees but they were in such poor condition they couldn’t survive. The prices were outrageous and all the plants looked half dead. The nursery manager, her name escapes me, pulled my order and didn’t let me choose my plants, and was snobby and rather mean. She couldn’t care less about me or what I wanted. It was – I pulled these take them or leave them attitude. People are no longer standing for this horrible treatment so your business needs to change … from customer service to your nursery stock.
When I showed up my order of plants was on the mat and looked like they needed to be thrown away NOT sold to a customer for exorbitant prices! They all looked half dead, but trying to be loyal to my friend Bill Bissett, and against my husband’s wishes, I paid over $300 for poorly cared for nursery stock!
A friend just recently has been trying to purchase native plants and is finding it nearly impossible. She has gone to two native plant events where she describes that plants as sickly looking weeds so refused to give them her hard earned money.
I have been loyal to the FANN and the FNPS for three decades, but no more. You guys need to change with the times. It’s 2025 get with the program and stop being elitist snobs! Provide the general public with plants that are worth their money and stop acting like you are the only ones that have knowledge about native plants. Anyone that can read can learn about natives … you guys don’t have the market on it!
They are located in Davenport, Florida.
2929 J. B. Carter Road 863-422-6664
Mail Order Natives
We have provided native plants to wonderful people across the USA for 15 years. That is our mission! We also would like you to know our plants are NEVER collected from the wild. We grow all of our plants from seed or cuttings in our own facility. We will be adding extra plant selections over the next few months, so come back regularly. You can contact us at: 850-973-7371 (cell) and 850-971-5416 (fax).
A native plant nursery that ships plants through the mail.
They are located in Lee, Florida.
Their plants are the most gorgeous natives that I have ever purchased. Yes shipping can be expensive, but it is so worth it because of the quality of the plants. They also pack their orders with great care. I’ve been thrilled with every purchase and I’m sure you will be too.
Green Isle Gardens
Green Isle Gardens specializes in Florida native plants and wildflowers, with a focus on upland plant species. The nursery has 8 acres under production and features more than 150 species of native plants.
Our plants are grown without using pesticides with the goal of preserving nature, and all its critters, in mind. We encourage the use of pine straw mulch and offer bales for sale.
Green Isle Gardens is open to the public for retail sales.
Wednesday – Friday: 8am to 3:30pm
Saturday: 8am to 3pm
They are located in Groveland.
Green Isle Gardens Retail Plant List
Green Isle Gardens
11303 Florida 33
Groveland, FL 34736
Use this link to go to Google Maps to show the location:
Botanical Links
An amazing, easily searchable, online database to find information on botanical uses and descriptions of plants.
A Modern Herbal (Amazon Assoc. link to buy her book)
Mrs. Grieves book continues to be one of the most popular resources for herbal information. Written in the early part of the last century, the advice is both timely and historical. More than 800 varieties of herbs & plants.
University of California Museum of Paleontology’s searchable glossary databases for Phylogenetics, Geology, Biochemistry, Cell Biology, Ecology, Life History, Zoology, Botany and Paleogeography.
Vascular Plant Systematics Online Glossary
An online, searchable, version of the book Vascular Plant Systemics by Albert E. Radford, William C. Dickison, Jimmy R. Massey, and C. Ritchie Bell. This is a great resource for finding the meaning of botanical terms and illustrations of plant shapes and structures.
New England plants, but an awesome Simple Key for identifying plants. They don’t have many Florida plants, but it is a wonderful way to learn to ‘key’ out plants.
Ethnobotany Links
Dr. Duke’s Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases
Dr. James Duke’s Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical searchable databases. Dr Duke teaches at Tai Sophie in Maryland and leads eco-botanical tours specializing in ethnobotany.
Native American Enthnobotany DB
A Database of Foods, Drugs, Dyes and Fibers of Native American Peoples, Derived from Plants.
Database Plant Search Page: Edible, Medicinal and other uses of over 7,000 plants
Gardening Links
A searchable version of the book by Julia F. Morton.
Cornell University – Plants Poisonous to Livestock
A reference that includes a searchable database and images of plants that are poisonous to livestock and other animals.
United States Department of Agriculture Plant Database
USDA is a good site for finding out where a particular plant will grow and its native region. Find out if a particular plant will grow in your gardening zone. There are also fact sheets for about 1000 plants. The database is searchable with either the scientific name or common name.
The 2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map is the standard by which gardeners and growers can determine which plants are most likely to thrive at a location. The map is interactive … click on your state for an enlarged view.
Plants Links
Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants
A joint effort by the Institute for Systematic Botany, the University of South Florida and the Florida Center for Community Design + Research to provide users with a comprehensive searchable database of vascular plants in the State of Florida.
Florida Association of Native Nurseries
A wonderful resource for native plant nurseries in your area. Their database is searchable by county, zip code or plant name. Growing, planting and promoting Florida native plants for sustainable landscapes.
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
The University of Texas at Austin’s Native Plant Database for North America.
Milkweed Photo Guide at Monarch Watch
A Photo Guide for milkweeds. Includes a brief description of the species’ range and characteristics as well as thumbnail and full-size images of its leaves, flowers and entire plant
The Florida Native Plant Society Native Plants for your Area
The FNPS Native plants for your area database.
This website is a photo-based guide to the wildflowers of the continental United States, as well as Alaska, with a primary focus on those from the Northeast, Central and Southeastern United States …
Be sure to check out Jeff’s Seed Gallery and Seedling Gallery because they are wonderful resources for ID’ing!
And if you’re interested in collecting your own seeds don’t miss his Seed Collecting article!
Florida Wildflower Foundation
The Florida Wildflower Foundation protects, connects and expands native wildflower habitats through education, research, planting and conservation.
Wildlife Links
The ABA is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that provides leadership to birders by increasing their knowledge, skills, and enjoyment of birding.
Butterflies and Moths of North America
The Butterflies and Moths of North America project is ambitious effort to collect and provide access to quality-controlled data about butterflies and moths for the continent of North America from Panama to Canada.
A great resource to help identify beetles of Florida.
The “Goal” of the Federation is to be the leader in promoting, through education and political action, the conservation, restoration, sound management, and wise and ethical use of Florida’s natural resources, to the end that present and future Floridians may live, work and pursue traditional outdoor activities in an outstanding natural environment.
The Florida Museum of Natural History’s On-line Guide to the Snakes of Florida.
The jumping spiders are the cutest … amazing photography of these little guys.
The Polinizador’s Blog … Pollinators
Beatriz Moisset, Ph. D. is a biologist, author and photographer, from Argentina, who resides in the United States. She has some amazing photos, information, and articles at her blog about pollinators.
Volusia Naturalist … Peter May
Peter has amazing photos, information, and insights, about Florida natural history. Peter May is a Professor of Biology at Stetson University in Deland, Florida.
Andy Warren conducts research on the systematics, biogeography, biodiversity, ecology and evolution of butterflies and moths, with a focus on skipper butterflies (family Hesperiidae), in collaboration with students and researchers worldwide. An updated list of Andy’s publications can be found here.
Welcome to the rantings of a weed gardener from Osceola County, Florida.
This blog is an attempt to republish and give access to the content of my writings once published at Beautiful Wildlife Garden [dot] com which has gone defunct. I wrote these over the course of 5+ years every Friday beginning in 2010.
J. Adams is a photographer located in Orlando. He has a fantastic page of Resources for identifying many of our insects.
Singing Insects of North America (SINA)
The primary goal of this website is to help users identify all species of crickets and katydids from America north of Mexico.
They have very useful keys to help identification.
The captions to the above photos are not active links so please use the main link.
Thomas J. Walker, founder of SINA and Teresa Marie Yawn, editor, webmaster