Florida's Aquatic Butterfly Gardens: How to Create a Beautiful Backyard Habitat for Attracting 70+ Species with 100+ Native Plants - Paperback

by Sean Patton (Author), Kendall Southworth (Author)

Sean Patton and Kendall Southworth, specialists in creating aquatic ecosystems for pollinators and other wildlife, share their knowledge and skills in this guidebook for creating aquatic butterfly gardens in Florida. Of the nearly two hundred butterfly species that call Florida home, more than seventy are closely associated with aquatic ecosystems, and their survival and reproduction depends on the trees, shrubs, wildflowers, grasses, and vines that color and compose these habitats. Florida has lost more than nine million acres of wetlands (more than any other state), but the countless water bodies that remain--everything from backyard ponds to tidal marshes--provide opportunities to create healthy, resilient hotspots for pollinators and humans alike. Patton and Southworth cover these underrepresented and undervalued aquatic ecosystems and show how they can be used to create the critically important habitats necessary for the butterflies of Florida.

Author Biography

Sean Patton is an aquatic biologist and founder of Stocking Savvy, a habitat restoration company. Sean has researched alternative methods of restoring Florida's landscapes with natural biological systems and native plants and wildlife species. He is a professor of biodiversity at Ringling College and plant coordinator at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. He regularly lectures and teaches throughout the state on aquatic butterfly gardening. Sean lives in Sarasota, Florida.

Kendall Southworth is a restoration specialist and manager of Stocking Savvy. She has a BA in environmental ethics from New College of Florida and works directly with the Science and Environment Council of Sarasota as its outreach coordinator. Kendall lives in Sarasota, Florida.