2026 Plant ID Retreat

Join FNPS's First Weekend Retreat in the Apalachicola River Region

Dates: June 12-14, 2026

Location: Tallahassee, FL

Field Biologist: Lilly Anderson-Messec, Director of North Florida Programming

Meals: Valerie Anderson (event chef), Director of Communications

Host: Melissa Fernandez-de Cespedes, Executive Director

Featured Critically Endangered Plants: Torreya taxifolia Taxus floridana

Format: Small group immersion

Spots are strictly limited to preserve the small-group experience. Registration is open now — don't wait.

Spend a weekend immersed in one of Florida's most botanically rich landscapes - and help fund the conservation, education, and advocacy work that protects it.

Led by Lilly Anderson-Messec, this small-group trip takes you into the sandhill bluffs and steep head ravine ecosystems of the Apalachicola River region, home to rare endemic species found nowhere else on earth, including the critically endangered Torreya taxifolia. Along the way, you'll build real plant identification skills using a scope and dichotomous key, guided by someone who knows this landscape intimately.

We'll be staying together in a comfortable vacation, sharing meals, and spending evenings working through challenging IDs as a group. It's equal parts field school and naturalist gathering - the kind of experience FNPS members have been asking for.

Your registration fee isn't just covering a trip - it's funding the conservation, education, and advocacy work that keeps Florida's native landscapes intact.