Florida Native Plants

Does anyone else have a problem with p. suberosa being invasive. It takes over everywhere here and I'm constantly digging it up to no avail. One passi I could live without.

Budgie, is that the one with the red flower? When we moved here one had grown the entire width of the wood fence across the back of the property. The weight of it was breaking down the fence, so the neighbor cut it off. Apparently the main plant was in the corner next to our covered shed/shop area and a few months later I happened to go out there and it had grown inside the shed and covered my son's motorcycle! I think it's considered a weed here. It grows like Kudzu!
Pati

Yes. It is not really a big problem but Corky Stemmed Passion Flower does come up quite regularly around my trees and amongst the flowers and in the hedges and amongst the Azaleas--beneath any place where the birds hang out after devouring the little P. suberosa berries. I have transferred some of them to other more appropriate locations (sunnier locations preferred by the Gulf Fritillaries) but they seem to be very slow to take off in the new locations. There are some huge ones growing in my hedges and amongst the Azaleas but I leave those for the Zebra Longwings who prefer to dine in the shade.

p. suberosa and corky stemmed are the same. It has a small inconspicuous white flower which produces purple berries.
You red might be vitafolia

Yes. I know. :-)

Thanks, edf, for the info on butterflies and the preferences for sun vs. shade for different species! So much to learn, so little time. I am mostly naive to butterfly gardening and appreciate all the tidbits anyone can share. Info that might seem old news to many is greatly appreciated by those of us that have a lot of catching up to do. DG is great resource for me to learn and grow as a gardener, and I always appreciate the info on all sorts of garden topics that is so freely shared here.

Jeremy

I am a big fan of the passiflora.. so if you want to get rid of any subrosa tell me! Also roundup will do just fine on it if you use a slightly higher concentration to rid yourself of the passiflora... go with like 6-10% solution and if you have some type of sticker/spreader to help it will kill it down to the root... small peices of that root will keep sprouting new plants year round... I had a problem like that with passiflora incarnata.. but over time I just mowed it over and called the battle a draw... but the roundup did a good job of ridding my garden of most of the unwanted passiflora I had... That red one someone was referring to might be p. vitaflora would have to see some leaves or blossom to be sure of it..I have one of the commercially grown "reds' and it is listed as passiflora alba, and it is not alba at all.. totally different flower and leaf..

If you want to send postage, I'll stuff as much in a box as I can of suberosa. It comes up everywhere.
Jan...

This thread got me thinking, and I went and got a Florida Native Plant book, and I have a TON of natives in my garden and I didn't know most of them were native! I'd post a list but hubby is wanting me for something but my goodness - I'm planning to get more too, because (duh) I want plants that actually thrive as opposed to suffer in my yard.

Jnana, what is the Flamingo Road nursery that has good natives? I get down to South Florida every so often, a good plant friend of mine lives nearby (I think) just off Griffin Road.

Beautyberry is all over my place here in Central Florida. I saw a weeping form of it a few years ago at a nursery near Athens Georgia, gorgeous but too big to bring back.

Mary

Hi Size123, the nursery is called Alexander's Native Plant Farm. It's on the service road off Flamingo Road just south of 595.

jnana

This message was edited Jun 13, 2006 10:06 AM

Thanks Val, that is always exciting to find a new place to get goodies.

Mary

Here are some pics of my Fiddlewood. I obtained this bush about a year and a half ago at a native plant sale. It contained berries and blooms when I purchased it. I took a cutting and planted a berry and now have two others. I think the Fiddlewood is dioecious. The original plant and the cutting are both producing flowers and berries. The one that came from seed is producing flowers only--I think it must be the male.

Another shot of one of my Fiddlewood Trees.

One last shot of the Fiddlewood. The birds keep devouring the berries and the plant keeps producing racemes of flowers. The flowers have a wonderful fragrance.

This message was edited Jul 16, 2005 1:23 PM

Pati~

Thanks for the fnps.org sight. It is great. I especially like the part which gives the native plants by county along with pictures and much information on each one.

Thanks again for the site. I had seen it before but did not realize it had the native plants by county until Jeremy mentioned it.

Hi all - I have a Florida elm, a sugarberry, a farkleberry, a Carolina silverbell, a live oak, a bunch of water oaks and a bunch of sable palms. I have beauty berry, fire bush, milk weed (keeps getting eaten by catepillars), Stoke's aster, cross vine, campis radicans, baby passion flower vines. I bought a group of my plants at Native and Uncommon Plants in the Ortega neighborhood in Jacksonville. If you are in the Jax area, its worth checking out. See their list at nativeanduncommonplants.com. I would love it if Lowes, HomeDepo et al stocked more natives and labled them as such so I didnt have to drive out to Ortega or do as much research. Between my natives and my drought tolerent, non-invasive non-natives, I barely have to water. I would also be interested in a Florida Native Plant Society branch up here.

barksy, welcome to dave's garden. There are several of us gardeners here in this area. I have been looking for a farkleberry and nice to know someone really does have one. Hope you will go with us on some jaunts, like http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/526702/
on August 7, (I think, will have to check).
sidney

Hey, neighbor barksy. North Shore area of Jax here.

A Native Plant nursery in Ortega! Wow! that is news to me and I will want to check it out soon.

Did you check out the coleus at the Edgewood/Lem Turner plant store, Sugarweed?

The Aug. 7 date is the day of my art show at the beach. I'm hoping we can all meet and browse some nurseries together after that date -- mid to late August or early September. I will be completely ready for a break from painting soon. My garden is being neglected -- no time to pull the waist high weeds in the back yard. I do turn on the sprinklers to keep in watered when there is no rain, but that is about all the time I can spare for what I most love to do! Otherwise, I'm just doing necessary errands and chaining myself to the easel until after Aug. 7.

Jeremy

Jeremy I'm in Chicago, got your message last night late and left at 4:30am.
Be home friday night.
sidney

Sorry you missed the coleus sale, Sugarweed. I should maybe go check the dumpster at the store. The guy there said he was trying to get rid of them and I think they may have been tossed out if no one took him up on the offer to haul them all away for $1 each.

Hope to see you soon. My central A/C went out today and I am sweltering! Boo hoo hoo! I'm hoping to get someone out tomorrow to repair it for less than a fortune. It is the outside unit that stopped working -- possibly just an electrical problem as a few times in the past, but I couldn't fix it through my usual methods.

Jeremy

Barksy~

How do you like your farkleberry/sparkleberry?? Are they worth buying? I am trying to provide berries for the birds in my yard and I have heard that the birds especially like this particular plant.

Hi edfinney - My sparkle berry is a small tree with sort of curvy grey/brown branches and bluish/green leaves. It likes to be in the shade in the afternoon. I had it in too much sun for awhile and the leaves got burnt. I dont see the berries long when theyre ripe. Somebody eats them quickly. It has a brief flowering in the spring. It survives on a sandy bank with erratic water. I think its modestly attractive and tough. Its not a knockout and wont ever be a huge shade tree but I like some wildlife activity in my yard. I also have a sugarberry/hackberry for the same reason. The hackberry may be a little more attractive (elm like) and is more of a big shade tree. Also, those berries never hit the ground. Beats a bird feeder any day.

Thanks. I am trying to increase the numbers of native plants in my yard, especially those that attract birds. I don't have a place for a hackberry/sugarberry at the moment but I will soon. I have an old citrus tree that I plan to remove and I can place the hackberry/sugarberry there. The hackberry attracts 3 kinds of butterflies as well as birds. I will probably get one of the Sparkle/Farkle Berry trees. I knew that it wasn't all that great looking and that it grows VERY slowly. Also, I am not sure it will get enough sun where I plan to put it. But I hear that the birds LOVE the berries; so I am going to give it a try.

We can't use the Carolina Laurel Cherry or Florida Holly, because they are so invasive; and I live too far south for Chokeberries or Serviceberries. Do you have any suggestions for other natives that would attract birds?

I have heard and read that Mail-Order Natives from Lee, Florida (Lee is a tiny town in a county on the border between Florida and Georgia) has lots of trees and shrubs native to the Southeast. AND that they ship excellent specimens for very low prices. If you don't mind planting bare root plants, you might be able to pick up some really nice shrubs and trees and vines for a song there. I haven't ordered from them yet but that is where I plan to get my Sparkleberry/Farkleberry.

Here is an URL: http://www.mailordernatives.com/


Thanks for the info on the Sparkle/Farkle berry tree AND reminding me of the wildlife attractive value of the hackberry/sugarberry.

ed

Ed, I have purchased from them twice and I was thoroughly satisfied both times.
Art

Hi Ed - I have run into this native plant nursery in Ft. Myers a few times on the web. "All Native Garden Center and Plant Nursery" I have never visited myself but, you may want to drop down and check them out as they are nearby and in your zone. http://www.nolawn.com/ Another popular berry feast happens in my yard at a group of yaupon (?spelling?) hollies. They would not be that attractive on their own but are OK sited in the back of the yard as a backdrop screen. I also get woodpeckers at a dead tree in the very back corner (we made it short enough not to crash too near the house in a hurricaine). The dead tree sounds eccentric but we get interesting things there - a pilated woodpecker for instance. One terrific non-native for hummingbirds/butterflies is Odontenema strictum. Its not invasive (up here in North Florida at any rate) as far as I know.

Be sure and add your comments to the Garden watchdog http://davesgarden.com/gwd/c/528/
I'm hoping for one of those sparkleberries myself.
sidney

In several posts I have made at Dave's, I mention this past January going to Naples and buying native plants. I didn't want to mention the nursery, however since it's mentioned already, it was "All Native Garden Center and Plant Nursery". It's in North Naples by the airport.
Friendly folks with lots of plants and literature for the taking. Prices are decent too.
I would suggest going way before winter. It gets cold enough for most of their plants to die back, go visit while their plants are growing.

Art