Pawpaw Chapter FNPS

10/15/2026

Kudos to Karen for representing Pawpaw Chapter as she hosted a well attended Oct 4th Magnificent Caterpillar Show at the NSB library! This show offered as a "Regrow Volusia" activity, actually kicks off Pawpaw Chapter's participation in the annual FNPS Celebration of October as Florida Wildflower Month!

Almost every seat at this special Sunday afternoon library matinee was filled with avid gardeners, birders, and local South east Volusia residents! Everyone was spellbound by this Doug Tallamy promoted film of Sam Jaffe's amazing Caterpillar Lab! The exquisite close-ups of munching caterpillars shifted our focus to the magnificent contribution that these tiny critters make in helping to maintain this planet's web of life.

After the program Dr. Haleigh Ray from Stetson University was on hand with her Lepidoptera collection and butterfly handbook to answer everyone's questions. David Bruce from the Sugar Mill Garden Club shared their butterfly garden project.

10/15/2026

Pawpaw Chapter pulled off another great jam packed meeting on October 12th. We were lucky to have Florida Wildflower Foundation's Executive Director, Stacey Matrazzo, as our main speaker. Her bold power point on "Native Alternatives - Winning the battle against invasive plants" was a perfect partner to our chapter's plant of the month theme, and our brand new glossy brochure, "Invasive Plants & Their AlterNatives". Six first time visitors got quite a follow up message from our Plant-of-the-month presenter, Inia, during her power point on "Plant American Beautyberry - Not Mexican Petunia!".

Closing the night's program on a high note was the "Library Spot-light" where Leslie featured Stacey Matrazzo's very own great guide book, "Native Plants for Florida Gardening". If Stacey had just brought a box of her books, she could have gone home with royalty benefits jingling in her pocket!

Many thanks to the "Pawpaw Chapter Village" that makes these in-person and on-line Pawpaw meetings possible! That means Kevin who ran the AV tech system, Suzie and her crew who put many of the library books on display, Sara and her helper Jeannie for the home baked refreshments, and the members and friends who stay behind to stack chairs, fold tables, and clean up, and especially our presiding (Girl-Friday) Pawpaw Chapter President, Karen Walter.

09/26/2026

Pawpaw September Field Trip
Many thanks to, Holly Giles, Volusia County Environmental Specialist who provided the Ecobuggy transportation on September 25 for about a dozen pawpaw Members and friends as they made their annual foray onto local conservation lands in search of Pine lilies. It was a trip that did not disappoint! Not only was it Florida's first cool Fall day, but a pine lily was spotted right out of the gate and was followed by a surprising diversity of other wildflowers, some wild turkeys and several butterfly buggy tour escorts. Kate sat on the hot seat and gave the Ecotour talk regarding Volusia's early ground breaking history of conservation land acquisition. Certainly this tour through part of the 12,000 acre Longleaf Pine Preserve with its jigsaw puzzle of cypress stands, bay galls, scrubs, mesic and wet pine flatwoods confirms that this corridor is an irreplaceable hot spot of biodiversity.

09/26/2026

October 17, 2026 Field Trip to Hontoon Island
Reserve your seat on Eventbrite!

Discover the beauty of Hontoon Island State Park along the many nature trails with members of the Pawpaw Chapter.

09/26/2026

Join us for a Sunday Matinee of The Extraordinary Caterpillar and get a close-up look at the wild adaptations and surprising superpowers of these tiny creatures.
Hosted by Pawpaw Chapter FNPS and Re-grow Volusia
at the New Smyrna Beach Library on Sunday October 4, at 2:00 PM. Haleigh Ray, and Entomologist from Stetson University will be on hand to give expert answers to any questions.
Come learn, be amazed, and see caterpillars in a whole new way!

09/16/2026

36 people attended our Pawpaw September meeting in person and two people were online. We had three visitors who introduced themselves.

Susie with her library crew had a table all set up for folks to peruse and check out.

Cayla and Kris brought an extra yummy nutritious, brownie made of banana, bananas, dates, tahini, and beauty berries that added to Sara's refreshment array.

Thankfully, with a few glitches, Kevin got the AV going for the zoom session. Karen had to add Lib the few slides that didn't appear. But Barbara Davis who served as our recording Secretary as well as the program Chairman introduced our speaker, Rollins College, professor Dr. Leslie Poole.

The Rollins College students are lucky to have such an engaging instructor. Her talk on early environmental and cultural explorers coming to Florida was a heartwarming introduction to former leaders that make up the story of the real Florida

Judi did a great job of researching the Wild White Plumbago which is an alternative to the invasive arrow vine which can be a ground cover or climb the trees.

Treasurer Lisa collected donations for plants that were on offer.

09/12/2026

Pawpaw Chapter And Re-Grow Volusia present The Extraordinary Caterpillar at the New Smyrna Beach Library on Sunday October 4, at 2:00 PM. Haleigh Ray, an Entomologist from Stetson University will be on hand to give expert answers to any questions. Join us!

09/01/2026

The September field trip on Sept 25th will be an ecobuggy ride into Volusia County's Deep Creek Preserve. One of the highlights of this field trip should be Pine Lilies, also known as Catesby's Lilies.

Deep Creek Preserve 946 State Route 415.

Picnic lunch to follow at nearby Lake Ashby Park.

Attendance is limited. Register at Eventbrite.

A Volusia County eco-buggy ride looping through the Deep Creek Preserve

08/24/2026

Children and parents learned the importance of pollinators during a collaborative program put on by Pawpaw Chapter and the New Smyrna Beach Garden Club Butterfly Committee. The children donned costumes of their favorite pollinator and learned about which color flowers they were attracted to. The event culminated in the Marine Discovery Wildflower Garden by participating in the Great South East Pollinator census. Monarch expert, David Bruce helped the children identify and count pollinators as citizen scientists. Damien Rockwood’s Asclepias Acres plants supported the mission of adding more native plants to home gardens for the benefit of the pollinators.

08/07/2026

The Important Role Of Pollinators
on August 22, 10:30 - 12:30
At the Marine Discovery Center