Native Florida Plants for Weddings, Celebrations and Special Events

Annie Schiller has been with the Florida Native Plants Nursery in Sarasota for four years now, and has spent most of her youth here in Florida. She designs butterfly gardens, grows and maintains native and Florida-friendly plants, designs and maintains social and print media (including this website and www.floridanativeplants.com) and assists customers that come through the gate. She is interested in wildlife and edible gardening, permaculture, homesteading, vermicompost, sustainable practices, eco-art, and floral design. Annie has a background in visual art, art history and graphic design from Florida State University and from her years spent living and working in New York City. Annie designs the 'growing bowls' and arranges the cut wildflowers that are available for your event.

Rachel Andre-Schiller is a graduate of Hunter College in New York City with a background in art history and sculptural design. She has worked as an intern at Florida Native Plants Nursery and was a volunteer for San Francisco's Golden Gate Park Botanical Gardens. She has a passion for all wildlife with a particular interest in floral design, edible gardening and promoting native flora for a sustainable environment. Rae is currently working on establishing the upstate New York location for the William's Wildflowers coming soon!

Laurel Schiller is co-owner of The Florida Native Plants Nursery in Sarasota. She has a degree in wildlife biology from Oregon State University and a degree in systematics and ecology from Indiana State University. Laurel taught biology at Roosevelt University in Chicago. She also worked as a mammalogist at the New York Zoological Society (Bronx Zoo) and at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. She is a former National Landscape Design Critic (Florida Garden Club), a Florida Master Gardener, and a Florida Master Naturalist. Since moving to Venice, Florida, in 1994, with her husband and three children, Laurel's interests have been channeled into preserving the natural environment. She has served two terms as vice-president of the Florida Association of Native Nurseries and chair of the State Education Committee for the Association. She has served on the board of directors for the Friends of the Rails to Trails Park in Sarasota, many years on the county park's board and as vice chair for the Sarasota Tree Advisory Council. She served two terms as president of the Friends of Oscar Scherer Park, Inc., two terms as a Sarasota County Planning Commissioner, and had been the chair of the City of Venice Planning Commission. Laurel designs native plantings for natural areas for homeowners as well as homeowner associations. She specializes in native plant restoration and mitigation work and enjoys creating wildlife habitat. She has worked on native plant designs for numerous school sites and for state, county, and city lands. Laurel is on the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens' Speaker's Bureau and Sarasota's Peace Center Speaker's Bureau. Laurel presents programs and seminars on Florida native plants, natural Florida landscaping and eco-gardening to groups and societies throughout Southwest Florida. With her former nursery partner, Dan Walton, Laurel has written Natural Florida Landscaping published in 2007 by Pineapple Press.

William E. Keller, Dad, Grandpa Bill, was our inspiration for this business. Thirty years ago he turned the pasture next to our home into a wildflower meadow. All who walked by stopped to admire it. Grandchildren chased each other down the paths. We had a wedding in it. It was and remains a living legacy from a passionate gardener.