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Gardening with Florida
Native Plants
Stephen Brown
Lee County Extension
Horticulture
A Florida native plants landscape design basic
Why Garden with Natives?
•
•
•
•
Approximately, 2,700 Native Florida Plants.
They have evolved in our climate.
Provide food and shelter for native wildlife
wildlife.
Many gardeners that grow natives tend to use
less water
water, fertilizers and pesticides
pesticides.
• Create a sense of flora locality and identity.
• Enhance local plant diversity
diversity.
How It’s
It s Done
Ask yourself a few questions:
• What do you want to achieve?
attract, animals
animals, birds
birds,
• What do you want to attract
butterflies, kids?
• Do you want a garden that has some natives or
one replete with native plants?
Minority, majority or naturalized gardens
How It’s
It s Done
• You may or may not use a design plan.
• There are no firm or fixed rules on what to do.
Be the artist.
• Consider a series of “stages” culminating in the
ultimate g
goal. A little bit at a time.
• It will take desire and pleasure of work.
Know your
•Climate (hot, cold, drought)
•Plants (heat, cold, drought tolerance)
•Soils (pH, drainage, compaction)
RIGHT PLANT, RIGHT PLACE
Plants are highly individualist. If it does not
grow in this spot,
g
p it might
g g
grow in another
spot. Examine why?
Know your Degree of tolerance
For:
• Mess (litter)
• Cold
C ld d
damage
• Drought
• Insects
• Diseases
Firebush cold damage
Wild coffee drought
stress. Even in shade
whiteflies
scales
Strangler fig insect damage
Cocoplum disease
problem
Three Basic Ways to go Native
• Minority Natives. Native and exotic plants
grown together in this garden. Often done.
• Majority
j
y Natives. Native p
plants are dominant in
this garden.
garden. Essentiallyy all native p
plants
• Naturalized g
in this garden.
The minority native garden
General characteristics:
• Native p
plants are the minority
y in this g
garden.
• Sometimes done without the knowledge of
landscapers, designers and gardeners.
• Plants commonly use include slash pines, oaks,
wax myrtles, coonties, wild coffees.
Slash Pine
in park.
Live Oak in
parking lot.
Wax Myrtle
as hedge.
Coontie in hospital
parking lot.
Wild Coffee by
driveway.
The minority native garden
General characteristics:
• More formal than the majority or naturalized
gardens.
• Usually more turf grass
grass.
• Often irrigated and clipped.
• Usually no reduction in maintenance or water use
use.
Clipped
Jamaican Caper
Clipped
Climbing Aster
Fiddlewood along
driveway
The minority native garden
Fishtail Palm
Jatropha
Hibiscus
Schefflera
Coontie ((N))
Podocarpus
Beach Sunflower (N)
Two of eight plants are natives
I
Ixora
The minority native garden
Queen Palm
Slash Pine
Silver
Buttonwood
Christmas Palm
P. Selloum
Indian Hawthorn
Beach Sunflower
Thee majority
j
y nativee g
garden
e
General characteristics:
• A garden with native species in the majority
• Less formality
• Little
Littl or no tturff grass
• More retention of natural ground litter
Mass planting of sand cordgrass used as a ground cover
The majority garden
Slash Pine
Sea Grape
Necklace Pod
Cabbage Palm
Appears not irrigated
Although natives dominate, there is a high degree of formality
The majority native garden
Property entrance. Notice landscape symmetry. Can you identify the natives?
The majority native garden
Less Formality.
1-9 are all natives
1
2
3
4
8
6
7
5
8
6
9
9
Not irrigated
1. Gumbo Limbo
2. Sea Grape
3. Slash Pine
4. Florida Olive
5. Cocoplum
6. Sea Lavender
7. Cabbage Palm
8. Bay Cedar
9. Seaside Ambrosia
The majority garden
Important things to remember:
• Locate plants in spots where they will mature
comfortablyy and are not constantlyy trimmed
• Changes in landscape is normal and good. i.e.
self-seeding,
g, colonization,, and/perennial
p
movement of species.
The majority garden
Cabbage Palms
Sea Grape
(tree/screen)
Cinnecord (trees)
Cocoplum
(shrub)
Seaside Ambrosia
(groundcover)
Golden Creeper
(groundcover)
Pervious
path
Muhlygrass
This is just as much work as a traditional garden. The plants here are all
Florida natives.
The majority garden
One year later almost all of the Seaside Ambrosia was removed because
of its rampant growth and was replaced by horizontal cocoplum.
The majority garden
5
3
2
2
1
4
Water catchment
area
An unusual front yard
1. House
2. Bald Cypress
3. Silver buttonwood
4. Royal palm
5. Sea grape
The naturalized garden
General characteristics:
• No exotic species
ecosystem, OR
• Mimics natural ecosystem
• Was the natural flora left alone
• Asymmetric balance of plants
• Uneven or random spacing
The naturalized garden
General characteristics:
• Retention of dead materials including branches
and leaf litter.
• No irrigation after plants are established.
• This can take a lot of time and patience when
started from scratch.
The naturalized garden
Nature created inland garden
garden.This
This area includes cabbage palms
palms,
American beautyberry, greenbriar, velvet leaf wild coffee, wild coffee.
The naturalized garden
2
2
1
3
1
1
4
6
5
5
7
7
8
Nature and human created coastal garden. 1. Sea grape 2. Cabbage palm
3. Wild olive 4. Golden creeper 5. Ink berry 6. Seaside ambrosia 7. sea oats
8. Beach sunflower
Create Layers and Enclosures
Horizontal
Layers
Vertical
Layers
Create Ceilings and Rooms
Ceiling Enclosure created
by branches. Wall
enclosure created by trees
and shrubs
• Spatial
S ti l requirements
i
t
• Spatial relationships
2009
2011
Plant Uses/Selections Examples
We will Cover: Click on the plant group below to jump to those plants.
• Hedges
• Small Trees
• Flowering Trees
• Flowering Shrubs
• Shade Trees
• Shade Lo
Lovers
ers
• Sun Lovers
• Highest Salt Tolerance
• Ground Covers
• Grasses
• Vines
• Wildflowers
• Silvery/Blue Foliage
• Exfoliated Bark
• Edibles
Eighty Species and one variety are pictured in the following
slides. Many of them are shown multiple times emphasizing their
various uses and forms
forms. For my fact sheets on many of these
plants, click here.
Hedges
Click here for more
on hedges
Florida’s native hedges
Cocoplum (Chrysolalanus
(Ch
l l
iicaco))
Necklace Pod (Sophora tomentosa)
Green Buttonwood (Conocarpus erectus)
Simpson’s Stopper (Myrcinathes fragrans)
Hedges
W l ’ Vib
Walter’s
Viburnum (Viburnum obobatum ‘Walter’)
Pitch Apple (Clusia rosea)
Wild Coffee
C ff (Psychotria nervosa)
Others:
• Cinnecord
• ‘Dwarf
Dwarf Schelling’
Schelling
• Firebush
• Jamaican Caper
• Sea Grape
• Silver
Sil
B
Buttonwood
tt
d
• Wax Myrtle
Return to plant uses slide
Small Trees
Click here for more
on small trees
Florida’ss native small trees
Florida
12’-20’
Simpson’s Stopper
(Myrcinathes fragrans). 15’-20’
Sweet Acacia (Acacia farnesiana).
10’-15’
Walter’s Viburnum
(Viburnum obobatum ‘Walter’)
Small Trees
Wild Lime (Zanthoxylum fagara)
20’-25’
Marlberry(Ardisia escallonioides)
Blolly (Guapira discolor)
15’-20’
25’-30’
Small Trees
Dahoon Holly (Illex cassine)
20’-40’
Wax Myrtle (Myrica cerifers)
15’-25’
Joewood (Jacquinia keyensis).
10’-15’. Pictured on beach.
Small Trees
Elderberry (Sambucus nigra Subsp.
Cinnamon Bark (Canella
Myrsine (Myrsine guianensis)
Canadensis) 10’-15’
winterana) 15’-25’
15’-20’
Small Trees
Others:
•Bahamas Strongbark
•Black
Black Ironwood
•Cinnecord
•Cocoplum
•East Palatka Holly
•Fiddlewood
Fiddlewood
•Firebush
•Florida Boxwood
•Pond Apple
•Redberry
Redberry Stopper
•Satinwood
•Silver buttonwood
•Spanish Stopper
•Spicewood
Spicewood
•White Stopper
•Yaupon Holly
Lignum Vitae. (Guaiacum sanctum)
Jamaican Caper (Capparis
cynophallophora) 10’-15’
10’-20’. Very slow growth
Return to plant uses slide
Click here for more
on flowering trees
Orange geiger
Flowering Trees
Sweet Acacia (Acacia farnesiana)
(Cordia sebestena)
Jamaica Dogwood
(Piscidia piscipula)
Southern Magnolia
Lignum-vitae
Jamaican Caper
(Magnolia virginiana)
(Guaiacum sanctum)
(Capparis cynophallophora)
Flowering Shrubs
Bahamas Cassia (Senna mexicana
Necklace Pod
var. chapmanii
(Sophora tomentosa)
Jamaica Caper
(Capparis cynophallophora)
Pineland Pawpaw (Asimina reticulata)
Return to plant uses slide
Elderberry (Sambucus nigra
Subsp. Canadensis)
Shade Trees
Click here for more
on shade trees
Florida’ss native shade trees
Florida
Paradise Tree (Simarouba glauca)
Mahogany (Swietenia mahagoni)
Shade Trees
Wild Tamarind
Tamarind. Tree on lawn
lawn, plus fine leaflets,
means less or unnoticed litter.
Sea Grape. Big leaves, “messy” tree
(Lysiloma latisiliqua)
(Coccoloba uvifera)
Shade Trees
Gumbo Limbo. Briefly deciduous around May.
Bald Cypress. Often broadens with age.
Deciduous, fine leaflets, not messy.
(Taxodium distichum)
Others:
American Elm
Green Buttonwood
Live and Laurel Oaks
Southern Red Cedar
Strangler Fig
Sycamore
(Bursera simaruba)
Return to plant uses slide
Shade Lovers
Florida’ss native shade loving plants
Florida
Peperomia (ground cover)
Peperomia
Coontie (Cycad) (Zamia
Dappled shade
(Peperomia obtusifolia)
pumila) Full sun to dappled shade
Bahamas Coffee (shrub)
(Psychotria bahamensis) Sun to shade
Velvetleaf Wild Coffee (shrub)
(Psychotria sulzneri) Part to full shade
Wild Coffee (shrub)
(Psychotria nervosa) Part to full shade
Shade Lovers
Rouge Plant (shrub)
(Rivina humilis) Sun to shade
Florida Anise (shrub)
(Illicium floridanum) Part to dense shade
Myrsine (shrub/small tree)
Marlberry (Ardisia escallonioides)
(Myrsine guianensis) Sun to shade
moderate shade
Light to
Swamp Fern (Blechnum
serrulatum) Sun to shade
Sun Lovers
Florida’ss native sun loving plants
Florida
Canna Lilly (Canna flaccida).
Moist soils.
Wild Sage (Lantana involucrata) Wild Sage
Necklace Pod
Horsemint
(Sophora tomentosa)
(Monarda punctata)
Blue Porterweed
(Stachytarpheta jamaicensis)
Sun Lovers
Bay Cedar
Beach Sunflower Cocoplum
Joe Wood
((Suriana maritima))
((Helianthus debilis))
((Jacquinia
q
keyensis)
y
)
((Chrysolalanus
y
icaco))
Others:
Bloodberry
Golden Creeper
Necklace Pod
Snowberry
Varnish Leaf
Walter’s Viburnum
Wax Myrtle
Coontie (Zamia pumila)
FL Rosemary
Firebush (Hamelia patens)
Highest Salt Tolerance
Florida’ss highest salt tolerant plants
Florida
Sea Lavender
(Argusia gnaphalodes)
Bay Cedar
(Suriana maritima)
Inkberry (Scaevola plumieri)
Beach Sunflower (Helianthus debilis)
Railroad Vine (Ipomoea pes-caprae)
Highest Salt Tolerance
Cocoplum (Chrysolalanus icaco ‘Horizontal’)
Seven-year-apple (Casasia clusiifolia)
Julien D. McGee
Mastic (Mastichodendron foetidissimum)
Silver Buttonwood (Conocaprus
erectus var. sericea)
Highest Salt Tolerance
Florida Rosemary (Ceratiola ericoides)
Yucca aloifolia
White Indigoberry
(Randia aculeata)
Spanish Bayonet.
Spiny leaf tips
Others:
Necklace Pod
Sea Grape
Sea Myrtle
Seacoast Marsh Elder
Seaside Ambrosia
Gulf Croton (Croton punctatus)
Sea Oats (Uniola paniculata)
Click here for more
on ground covers
Ground Covers
Giant Leather Fern (Acrostichum danaeifolum).
Sun to shade, dry or moist areas.
Coontie. Sun or light dappled shade. Drought
tolerant.
Peperomia (Peperomia obtusifolia). Dappled shade
Railroad Vine. Full sun, drought and highly salt
tolerant. Not the densest coverage.
Ground Covers
Golden Creeper.
Mounding (Emodea littoralis)
Mimosa. Aggressive
(Mimosa strigillosa)
Blue Porterweed. 2-3 years
longevity (Stachytarpheta jamaicensis)
Grasses
Florida’ss native grasses
Florida
Muhly Grass
Sand Cordgrass
Fakahatchee Grass
(Muhlenbergia capillaris)
(Spartina bakeri)
(Tripsacum dactyloides)
These are bunch grasses with underground rhizomes. Most need a
hard shear about once a year usually in February-March.
Grasses
e
Return to plant uses slide
Vines
Florida’ss native vines
Florida
Coral Honeysuckle
Blue Jacquemontia
Carolina Jessamine
(Lonicera sempervirens)
(Jacquemontia pentantha)
(Gelsemium sempervirens)
Wild Flowers
Fl id ’ native
Florida’s
ti wildflowers
ildfl
Gaillardia/Blanket Flower
(Gaillardia pulchella)
Beach Sunflower
(Helianthus debilis)
Carolina Redroot
(Lanchnanthes caroliana)
Wild Flowers
Muck Sunflower
(Helianthus simulans)
Horsemint (Monarda punctata)
Pineland Heliotrope
(Heliotropi m pol
(Heliotropium
polyphyllum)
ph ll m)
Lupine (Lupinus diffusus)
Return to plant uses slide
Stokes Aster (Stokesia laevis)
Silvery/Blue Foliage
Sea Lavender
(Argusia gnaphalodes)
Silver Buttonwood
(Conocaprus erectus var. sericea)
Seaside Ambrosia (Ambrosia hispida). Also,
often green foliage
Saw Palmetto (clumping)
(Serenoa repens)
Lupine
(Lupinus diffusus)
Silvery/Blue Foliage
(Leaf underside)
Gulf Croton
(Croton punctatus)
(Leaf underside)
Key Thatch Palm (Thrinax radiata)
Sweetbay Magnolia
(Magnolia virginiana)
Sea Ox-Eye Daisy (Borrichia frutescens). B. arborescens is the green leaf species.
(Leaf underside)
Calusa Grape
(Vitis shuttleworthii).
Silvery Foliage
1
1
2
2
5
3
3
4
1. Arborvitae 2. Firebush 3. Wedelia
4. Sea Lavender (about 6’ tall in this photo).
5 B
5.
Beach
hS
Sunflower
fl
1. Mahogany 2. Silver Buttonwood
3. Cocoplum
Return to plant uses slide
Exfoliated Bark
Simpson’s Stopper
Sea Grape
Pigeon Plum
Gumbo Limbo
(Myrcinathes fragrans)
(Coccoloba uvifera)
(Coccoloba diversifolia)
(Bursera simaruba)
Return to plant uses slide
Edibles
Florida’ss edible native plants
Florida
(Zamia pumila)
(Opuntia humifusa)
Prickly Pear. Touching fruit can leave prickles
Coontie Caudex must be cooked
Coontie.
Elderberry
Pond Apple. Not at all tasty
Mulberry
(Sambucus simpsonii)
(Annona glabra)
(Sambucus simpsonii)
Edibles
Cocop u
Cocoplum
(Chrysolalanus icaco)
Muscadine Grape (Vitis rotundifolia).
Found growing all over.
Improved varieties available.
Sea Grape (Coccoloba uvifera)
Calusa Grape
(Vitis shuttleworthii). Less
commonly seen.
Return to plant uses slide
Stephen H. Brown is the Horticulture Extension
Agent with Lee County Extension located in
southwest Florida.
Sea oats
examination
[email protected]
http://lee.ifas.ufl.edu/hort/GardenHome.shtml
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4/2015