Going native

Susan Toloczko loves butterflies. Bernadette Duncan cannot see the point of wasting precious water.

They pretty much represent the reasons crowds were snapping up Florida friendly vegetation Saturday at the 30th iteration of Spring Native Plant Sale at Morningside Nature Center on E. University Avenue.

“I’m trying to attract as many butterflies to my yard as I can. I have lots of milkweed for monarchs and passion flower and citrus trees,” Toloczko said. “Just to see all the different colors of butterflies in the yard, I became addicted to it. I found one caterpillar and that started it for me.”

Toloczko was buying a twinflower to lure common buckeyes and a water dropwort for black swallowtails from the Florida Museum of Natural History, which was a vendor.

The museum sells plants to raise money and to promote the importance of native plants to Florida butterflies, said Ryan Fessenden of the museum’s Butterfly Rainforest.

The Florida Native Plant Society has been a sponsor of the sale for all 30 years. Laura NeSmith, society member and landscape designer, said all plants sold at the event must be native to the state.

Society member Howard Jelks is the “plant police” who ensures compliance.

Native plants are important because they thrive in Florida’s climate without the need for watering or much care. And they are sustenance for native wildlife — butterflies, hummingbirds, reptiles, mammals and pollinators such as bees that are crucial to agriculture.

NeSmith said seven vendors were selling Saturday.

“We’re trying to promote pollinators and wildlife. It’s very important,” NeSmith said. “A lot of the native plant vendors are aging out so it’s very important to get younger people involved.”

Vendor Claudia Larsen of Micanopy Wildflowers has been a vendor at the sale since it started. At one point Saturday she was explaining the characteristics of the Carolina jessamine vine — yes, it’s a Florida native despite the name — to Duncan.

For Duncan, using native plants is all about water.

“I always look for native plants. It’s like this — I don’t want to water anything. If it’s not native here, it doesn’t belong. I don’t want my house to run me,” Duncan said. “Our water table isn’t that wonderful because we have too many people drawing from it.”