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K.I.N.D. Garden
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The Keep It Native Demonstration garden was designed in 2010 on Earth Day, to highlight the differences between native Florida plant communities with those that have been overrun by invading exotic weeds. It was also designed to act as an outreach educational tool.

Native plant communities support a wide variety of native plants that serve as food and habitat for many species of native animals, from butterflies to birds. Exotic invasive plants like Melaleuca and Brazilian Pepper crowd out native plants. Within the K.I.N.D. Garden there are seven different Florida plant habitats that surround a pond. Most of these plants are identified for class studies, or for the common gardener to see what environment our Florida Native plants thrive. One can also enjoy the beauty of several types of butterflies,birds and different pollinators.

Tours are available to groups upon request , please contact Eileen Pokorny at Eileen.Pokorny@ars.usda.gov

 

See our brochure for more information.

Please open below link to see the 2015 Summer program which took place in the KIND Garden. This publication is in the 2018 May Edition of the American Biology Teacher.

KIND Teaching Publication

 

 

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Left to right: USDA, Donna Signa, Ryann Valmonte, Danyelle Fitzgerald, Eileen Pokorny, and Dr. Phil Tipping; University of Florida, Dr. Robin Giblin-Davis; Broward County Extension, Michael Orfanedes.

  The Emerald Award Program in Broward County is designed to recognize businesses, government, individuals, or organizations in Broward County demonstrating a commitment to protecting and preserving our environment. The program recognizes exemplary performance in the following categories:

Pollution Prevention/Hazardous waste reduction, Recycling, Climate Change Leader, Green Practices/Innovation, and Naturescape.

The K.I.N.D. Garden was one of the Emerald Award winners for 2017, under the category of Naturescape.

The K.I.N.D. Garden is an outreach program which involves, University of Florida, Broward County Extension, Broward County Master Gardeners, volunteer interns from local colleges, and several volunteers from our facility.