On March 19, 2026 Heather Hitt and Holly Ferreira from the Vero Beach office of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior, gave the final speaker presentation of Eugenia Chapter’s 2025 – 2026 season.
I smiled every time I thought about how appropriate it was that Heather and Holly, two women with plant names, were coming to speak to us with their talk entitled “Endangered Plants in Indian River County”. Going at step further, they also provided insight into how the USFWS works to conserve, protect, and enhance not just plants, but also fish and wildlife and their habitats, with an emphasis on species in Indian River County.
Several Eugenia Chapter members have assisted in planting Lakela’s mint at the Hallstrom Farmstead Conservation Area and North Sebastian Conservation Area . If you are hiking in those sandy areas, look closely for the small plants with the dainty flowers as pictured here.
If you were lucky enough to have been on the yard tour at the home of Ellie & John Klebonis, you should have easily recognized the slide below. Ellie’s property is one of the sites that is monitored for the resident population of fragrant prickly-apple cactus. Kudos to Ellie for long ago recognizing the rarity of the cactus and making efforts to preserve the population.
Much thanks to Heather and Holly who graciously donated their time to speak to Eugenia Chapter. Their parting slide reaches out to all of us:
Congratulations to Felicity Rask, happy winner of our native plant giveaway, a white beautyberry (Callicarpa americana). All meeting attendees have a chance of adding themselves to our FREE native plant giveaway if they just sign the meeting attendance sheet!
ircnativeplants.org 