A select group of members walked part of the Oklawaha Greenway starting from the Patton Park trailhead. Katie Breckheimer, Friends of the Oklawaha Greenway chair, started us off by explaining how the Greenway was created and their goals for the future. Then she and Sharon Burlingame explained how Wes got involved with planting native trees and plants along the Greenway. We then walked down to Mud Creek and the pollinator gardens. Thanks to Tom Ferguson who adopted us on our return hike and pointed out all the special plants we had missed!

We hadn’t visited the Oklawaha since October 2017. The area was flooded during Tropical Storm Helene in 2024. Thus, a field trip to check out the Wes Burlingame Native Plant Garden which features over 30 varieties of native shrubs, trees, grasses, wildflowers, and ferns was clearly overdue! A list of the plantings can be found here.

Botanical plant names seem to change almost every day, but for now we use those approved by ITIS, the Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Plants that are non-native to North America are indicated by an asterisk (*) placed after the species name. Photography by Sarah King & Penny Longhurst. Click on any picture to zoom & enter the slide show.