Longboat Key Garden Club takes deep dive into native plants

By Dana Kampa
| 5:00 a.m. March 16, 2026

Armando Ubeda, Ashley Ellis and Forest Hecker join the Longboat Key Garden Club as guest speakers from UF/IFAS Extension on March 10 meeting.

Longboat Key
Neighbors

Longboat Key Garden Club members welcomed three speakers from UF/IFAS Extension to their March 10 meeting at Windward Bay to take a deep dive into native Florida plants and what helps them thrive.

The guest speakers included Florida sea grant agent Armando Ubeda; Forest Hecker, Florida-Friendly landscaping community educator for Sarasota County's UF/IFAS Extension and Sustainability Department; and Ashley Ellis, a residential horticulture agent and Master Gardener volunteer coordinator in Sarasota County.

They highlighted the importance of thinking from an ecosystem-wide perspective when it comes to landscaping. That includes minimizing fertilizer runoff to avoid feeding into harmful algae blooms and considering replacing stormwater walls with permeable mangroves, which can withstand storm surge better than an immovable surface.

One tip they offered home gardeners is to avoid using rubber mulch or even the popular whitewashed seashells for plant beds to avoid them overheating in the summer months. Hecker offered pine mulch as an alternative.

They encouraged anyone with a passion for the outdoors to check out the UF/IFAS master gardener volunteer tours and other resources. For more, visit sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/sarasota.

author

Dana Kampa

Dana Kampa is the Longboat Key neighbors reporter for the Observer. She first ventured into journalism in her home state of Wisconsin, going on to report community stories everywhere from the snowy mountains of Washington State to the sunny shores of the Caribbean. She has been a writer and photographer for more than a decade, covering what matters most to readers.