Plants for Birds
Sharing ideas to create a bird friendly habitat with native plants
Visit our St. Augustine Audubon Native Plant Garden!
The St. Augustine Audubon Native Plant Garden is located in downtown historic St. Augustine adjacent to the City’s Visitor Information Center at 10 S. Castillo Drive.
Led by Plants for Birds Director Laurie Gilmore, the SJRA spent two years designing and obtaining the necessary approvals for the garden. Installation finally took place in the Spring of 2024.
The purpose of this meadow-style garden is to show residents and visitors to the City that it is possible to have a beautiful native plant garden in a coastal area that is subject to flooding.
Construction of the garden required the SJRA to bring in new topsoil to ensure that no plantings disturbed more than 3 inches (depth) of the pre-existing topsoil. We were required to have the City Archeologist or her representative present for the installation of trees and shrubs that would disturb more than 3 inches of existing soil. Consequently, we brought in good quality topsoil to form a wide, shallow mound surrounded by a native coquina rock retaining wall to hold the new soil in place. This allowed us to properly plant over 25 native species without breaking more than 3 inches of ground. Outside the coquina retaining wall, sunshine mimosa was installed as ground cover for its durability because the garden is located in a much-visited area.
The SJRA also installed an interpretive sign for the garden and installed individual plant identification signs with QR codes for the specific species we installed.
For a list of plants used in the garden and their care requirements, please go to the spreadsheet pdf that Garden Team Volunteer Debrah Carlson maintains.
Native Florida Landscape Design Series
The Florida Native Plant Society (FNPS) developed a 3-part “Native Florida Landscape Design Series.” FNPS has created a playlist link to the series for St. Johns Audubon Chapter to view at your leisure.
The series is filled with all the basic information you need to know to create a native landscape in your yard or your community.
The presenter is Karina Veaudry. She has been a Native Plant Landscape Architect for over 32 years and is President of the Pine Lily Chapter of Florida Native Plant Society. The content of each series is listed below:
We are thrilled and thankful to the FNPS for creating this excellent playlist. We believe you will enjoy the entire presentation.
Following the 3-part series is an additional presentation by Doug Tallamy entitled “A Guide to Restoring the Little Things that Run the World.” In this presentation Dr. Tallamy discusses why it is vitally important to add native plants to our landscapes for the good of the insects and to our own health.
This was recorded by the Florida Wildflower Foundation.
If you are interested in using native plants in your yard, please contact Laurie Gilmore at plantsforbirds@stjohnsaudubon.com. Laurie or one of our Garden Team Volunteers can help you with ideas and resources to get started.
Want to purchase native plants in St. Johns County?
Providers of large selection of Native Plants in our area that we know of:
Wacca Pilatka
https://www.waccapilatka.com
602 Wesconnett Blvd., Jacksonville FL 32244
904-315-8519
Native Plant Consulting
https://www.nativeplantconsulting.com
St. Augustine, Florida
904-671-2880
Earth Works
https://earthworksjax.com
12501 Beach Blvd., Jacksonville, FL 32246
904-996-0712
Southern Horticulture
https://southernhorticultureflorida.com
1690 A1A S., St. Augustine, FL
904-471-0440
Leonardi’s Nursery
https://leonardisnursery.com
902 Anastasia Blvd., St. Augustine, FL 32080
904-829-5909
National Audubon Society also has a native plant database that contains the names of sellers: https://www.audubon.org/native-plants
The SJRA is providing this list of native plant retailers that we are aware of as a courtesy. It should not be viewed as an endorsement for any company on the list, or as a lack of endorsement for any company selling native plants that is not listed.