Clean Green Natives

How To Say Goodbye To A Garden

2011-12-30T23:43:00.000-05:00

Saying goodbye to 2011 is easier than saying goodbye to my garden - after all, I only invested one year in 2011. The garden, however, received almost exactly eleven years of my attention. Eleven years of thinking, planning, digging, pulling, weeding, planting and learning. Not to mention wandering, daydreaming and solace-seeking.

So how do you say goodbye to a garden?

Here's what I think. I think you have to take ritual final walk. Your walk may not be on your last day there, or your last actual look at your garden. But you decide: "This is my ending here. I will see everything. I will change nothing more. I will touch, smell, remember." Only then can you can let go, and walk on to the pathway beyond.

And so, I remember - when the St. Augustine grass came right up like flat, green, shag rug to the front door, with no bees or butterflies, or anything else to welcome us.


Native flowers and ferns, part of the results of the mini-gardens from previous post

I try, try, try to remember the fragrance of a fiddlewood blossom, because nothing in the world is as gently light and sweet as a fiddlewood in bloom.

Citharexylum spinosum, otherwise known as fiddlewood

I seek out my friends, and wish them fare well.

I remember how long it took to learn, first, how to spot a skipper, and second, to have the patience to photograph one.

Gulf fritillary munching on coral honeysuckle

One of the skippers on a firebush, Hamelia patens

I remember when a friend gave me six little greenstems, and slowly but surely, with no help of any kind aside from sporadic weed removal, they covered a wide patch of ground. This is the Florida peperomia, Peperomia obtusifolia, endangered in Florida now.

I think you have to cry just a little.

Goodbye, Red Cedar.

When you have walked all the way through the garden, when you have remembered the successes, and the failures, then you need to remember that there is still so much to learn. You will never know everything about gardening. What would be the fun of that anyway? So now it's time to hold your memories tightly, say goodbye softly, and walk on through, through to the path beyond, where new plants will need you somehow, even you don't ever have a new garden of your own to move into.

Coffees, ardisas, stoppers filling in where we used to have to mow grass. So many birds, caterpillars, bees and other beings live here now. A little window to look out from...

This is the last Clean Green from Florida, where the last five months have been consumed by selling a house, finding a new one, and moving, with all the et ceteras that involves. Now even though I have no yard, I am already learning new plants in Virginia. I am member of FNPS and VNPS!!

I look forward to planting and conserving in 2012.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, PLANT LOVERS EVERYWHERE!

A SuperBowl - of Natives!

2011-07-06T17:43:00.002-04:00

Jane Thompson, out at Indian Trails Native Nursery has come up with this amazing Super Bowl, and I am so excited to share the news! Jane has invented a Super way to get a mini, native garden, instantly. You will be able to :

know what and where the plants are - no scratching your head,"is THIS the coreopsis?"
skip the weeding
have blooms right when and where you want them
bring butterflies to your limited outside planting area

Here's what Jane says:

I want customers to place orders before they come out, so the bowls are made fresh. When they order, they will have a list of wildflowers to choose from. "Custom built!" (How cool is that?! You can see the list if you scroll down below the big image at the bottom.)

The bowls are suitable for starting all year long right here in Palm Beach county. They can be used in full or part sun depending on species selected. I can help people choose the right plants when they tell me about their spot.

Coreopsis

Bowls are built for Moist or Dry conditions and can be customized to reflect different plant communities. For example if someone lives over near the beach and they want a patio bowl there, I would recommend: Beach Dune (blanket flower, verbena, dune sunflower, and a couple of sea purslane). My favorite mix for the 18" bowls is: Salvia, Blazing Star, Blanket Flower and a couple of Coreopsis for dry and Twinflower, Macromaria, Blue Flag Iris and a couple of blue eyed grass for moist.

I can also make a "succulent" bowl with a combination of prickly pear, coontie and spanish bayonet w/ perhaps a trailing purslane to cascade over the edge. (ooohh - I want one of those!)

Herb bowls are in the works. I have mint, basil and dill growing for those who would like a mini herb garden.

Directions will be included. You will know when to cut back spent flowers. And then you can toss out them into an area of your yard where you would like to see them reseed. Watering tips will be discussed. Each bowl will last for up to a year on your patio, or, you can them plant directly into the ground! There is a list for you to choose from if you scroll down below the large image of the poster.

So give Jane a call (561-641-9488) and plan your custom-built native garden today! Indian Trails is out just west of 441 in Lake Worth; yes, it's a trek out there, but make it a destination! Jane has a beautiful demonstration garden, you could go on down to visit the Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge, or head into the town of Lake Worth and treat yourself to lunch with some friends. And of course, Indian Trails also has a huge selection of native plants for your landscape.

The Nitty Gritty!

Soil: Composted yard Waste

Mulch: Shredded Australian Pine Trees

Plants: Florida Native and Florida Friendly plants

Yes, yes and yes!

18" bowls 5 1g plants $25

14" bowls 3 1g plants $20

12" bowls 3 4" plants $15

~Native Plants for Florida's Wildlife~

6315 Park Lane West, Lake Worth, FL 33467

561-641-9488 fx: 561-641-9309

Certified Minority Business Enterprise

DPI:04723384

List of plants to order from depending on availability:
Salvia (assorted colors)
Twinflower (moist or dry)
Milkweed (non-native)
Blue Eyed Grass
Dune Sunflower
Blazing Star
Coontie
Scorpion Tail
Spiderwort
Sea Purslane
Tapa Verbena
Golden Creeper
Sea Oxye Daisy
Southern Wood Sage
Lyre Leaf Sage
Porterweed
Coreopsis (Moist or Dry)
Native Boston Fern
Gopher Apple
Ambrosia
Mimosa Strigalosa
Prickly Pear Cactus
Spanish Bayonet
Blanket Flower
Wild Petunia
Silk Grass

Drought Tolerant Natives

2011-06-08T19:38:00.002-04:00

Dry weather has the growing season in a kind of state of suspension right now. Usually our plants are reaching skyward by now, but this year they are curling inward and looking kind of crispy. Even some of the native plants look like they would really like a drink. I was interested to make a comparison-walk through the yard today to see which natives were the toughest in these dry conditions. Here's what I found.

The usual suspects were completely unfazed, as you might guess: cabbage palm, saw palmetto, cocoplum, both upright and horizontal, Simpson's stoppers, wax myrtle, myrsine, firebush, and of course, beach dune sunflowers. The dunes, Helianthus debilis, are blooming their heads off, a solid mass of color, even the new ones put in only a few months ago. These have had absolutely not one drop of supplemental water. For one thing, I have been gone!

Hackberry tree

There were other natives that I might not have predicted would hold up so well, like this hackberry, Celtis laevigata. This tree was planted at the end of the summer last year, so it has not yet been through a rainy season, an event I usually wait for when I am deciding whether or not a plant needs supplemental watering. The hackberry is a great wildlife attractor; yellow-bellied sapsuckers especially like it, and it is a larval host for several butterflies.

Locustberry, Byrsonima lucida, another favorite plant that is not so well-known, (covered with pink flowers in spring) is also oblivious to the fact that it is living in an extreme drought. Same with the Walter's viburnum, Viburnum obovatum, Dahoon holly, Ilex cassine, and my one Ironwood tree, Krugiodendron ferreum, which is just a baby yet. The Florida privets, Forestiera segregata:green and happy; ditto pignut hickory, Carya glabra, (I urge you to plant more of these trees which provide mast, fancy word for nuts, for wildlife). The acacias, Acacia farnesiana, check, check, green and happy. The live and laurel oaks, Quercus virginiana and Q laurifolia both mature specimens AND newer, young trees appear unaffected.


Coral honey suckle growing on fence

The lovely coral honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens. This plant blooms heavily in summer, and sporadically in the colder months, but is attractive to many butterflies and to hummingbirds. Drought apparently no problem. I checked: this anecdotal evidence backed up by real books.

Ilex glabra, or inkberry

Here's a another tough, tough native you may not know about,

Ilex glabra, commonly called inkberry, or sometimes, gallberry. Just look at the berries this thing is producing, and it has not had a drop of rain in literally months. I do love the little miracles! This bush will slowly colonize, but this has not been a problem - it is not rampant.

Starry rosinweed blooming despite drought

Starry rosinweed, Silphium asteriscus, has, like the beach sunflowers, continued to put out flowers despite the heat and drought. Rufino Osorio, in his book, A Gardener's Guide to Florida's Native Plants, says this is "yet another overlooked native with much horticultural potential. It is tough, long-lived perennial, that, throughout a prolonged period, bears large, highly attractive yellow daisies..." I had heard a lot of praise for this flower, but finally had the chance to purchase some early this year. I watered it in when I planted it, but it bloomed during the time I have been absent from the home front. It has certainly lived up to its descriptions of glory!

Carolina jessamine growing on pond cypress

Carolina jessamine, Gelsemium sempervirens, (sempervirens means "always green") is another toughie. It has already bloomed for the year, but has continued to grow greenly and spread....You can see that I have whacked it. I don't ordinarily go for the poodle-top look, but this vine can be aggressive. I have heard, and choose to believe, that a very heavy, thick vine can be a liability to a tree in high winds, as well as having the potential to inhibit photosynthesis by smothering. Interesting side note: this pond cypress, which grew here by itself, is nowhere near a wet spot. I always wondered about that, but learned recently that pond cypress can adapt to living with wet feet, but it is very happy in on dry land.

Coonties sending up new leaves after scale attack

Coonties, Zamia pumila, ( there are several
synonyms for pumila among them angustifolia, floridana and integrifolia) of course are doing fine. But I thought this was noteworthy: these coonties got a case of scale this spring. Never had it before, it didn't spread to any of the other coontie stands in the yard, but it was awful. I knew the proverbial advice was to "just cut it down to the ground." Hated to do that, but the scale was killing the leaves off anyway, and I certainly wasn't going to use pesticides. That was about six weeks ago. I watered once, just after I cut it down, once, and look at this fantastic lime-green growth! Zounds!

Well thanks for taking a walk with me; I always feel happy when I'm out with the natives, and it was fun to have you along.

OK, one plant for the road,Tillandsia fasiculata. Drought? Huh?

Tillandsia fasiculata, cares not about drought

Want to buy some of these?
http://www.plantrealflorida.org/plants/detail

Want to learn more about any of them?
http://www.floridata.com
http://www.regionalconservation.com
http://florida.plantatlas.usf.edu/

Native plants do add life to your landscape. And to mine, too!

Clean Green Vegetables

2011-02-06T14:16:00.000-05:00

The heaping mounds of knee-high weeds are gone. Finally.

I paid the ultimate price for the last year's summer of absence, but progress has been made!

Vegetables by the square foot

I decided that since time is at more of a premium than ever, I would give a try to the Mel Bartholomew method of raised-bed, square-foot gardening. His book contains formulas for how to build a raised bed in multiple shapes, how to create your own soil for filling the beds and, of course, how to partition the beds into sections of one square foot each to maximize growing area.

He suggests that the planting medium you create be made up of one third each of compost, peat moss, and coarse vermiculite. Vermiculite is sold in two grades, with the fine, or smaller type more commonly available. I had to search around for the coarse grade, but did find it at an independent garden center.

I had a moral dilemma with the peat moss element, because it really is NOT a sustainable crop and harvesting kills off the life in the bog areas it comes from. The companies tell you that they leave the bogs in condition to re-grow, and they do re-grow; but it takes hundreds of years to return it to the life-giving source it originally was. Not only that, but the harvested bog also ceases to function at a high level as a carbon sink.

Coir is best alternative to peat moss. Coir is the name given the fibrous material that makes up the mesocarp, or middle layer, of the coconut fruit. As far back as 1949, E. Hume was writing about the benefits of this medium for growing. Several Dutch companies have been using it since the 80's and the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew is currently shifting most of its plant production into coir.

Coir comes mostly from Malaysia and Sri Lanka where it is a by-product. Sri Lanka processes over 2.5 billion coconuts each year and has built up an infra-structure that guarantees the most consistent quality of coir dust. It has to be free of contaminates such as animal manure and salinity. Alan Meerow, U. of Fl., has a very informative article: Coir Dust: A Viable Alternative to Peat Moss. An interesting read, it describes the production of coir, and the experiments that have been conducted comparing it to peat as a growing medium.

Anyway. I looked around for coir, and found some very small bags for sale in box stores, but not nearly in the quantity I needed. A fertilizer plant about an hour away from me had some, but you had to have three yards of it delivered by their trucks. That was not an option either. So I rationalized the purchase of two bales of peat, saying it would be my last ever, and also that I would compensate by blogging here about why we should not be using it. According to Bartholomew, once you have started out right, the only thing you ever have to add is compost. So I won't need to add more peat or coir to the project going forward.

Brocs are squishing the littles

I planted broccoli seedlings right after the first of the year, and we are eating them now. There is just nothing like garden fresh! I also have onions, planted according to Mel's rule of 16 little things to a square foot. Onions get big when they are mature, but I'm harvesting green onions from the crowded square to make room for the eventual grown-up bulbs.

The beds are as easy to maintain as Mel claims. The only complaint I have is that the big-leafed broccoli do not really mix well with smaller plants. Mel says you can intermix any plants if you stick to the rules about how many to put in each square. Broccoli gets one plant in each, but although each broccoli plant got enough light, the smaller things, like lettuce, basil and even peppers, next to them could not compete equally for sunlight. Small detail to pass on to the next user!

So far, it's a great method, and I'm working extra hard on my compost so I won't ever need peat moss again. Latest trial along those lines: fire ants seem to like it there...the battle continues.

Eat Local, Plant Native.

sue dingwell

Red Berry Day at CleanGreen

2010-11-17T14:00:00.001-05:00

Red berries.

I love 'em, you love 'em, the birds love 'em. And this time of year there are plenty of them around in a native-happy yard. It was bright and sunny yesterday so I went on a red berry hunt, interested to see how they compared in photos.

The two coffee bushes, Psychotria nervosa and Psychotria ligustrifolia, both had berries. Here is the ligustrifolia, also called 'Bahama coffee." It really is a Florida native, despite its name, just the Jamaican caper is.

Psychotria nervosa was also loaded with berries; note the deeply impressed veins on its leaves. This is a good way to tell them apart. They both are easy growers, but like to be in at least partial shade most of the day and also prefer to keep their little feet in a moist environment rather than in dry sand.

This picture shows the form of the nervosa. The plant to it's right is a wax myrtle.

There is one more coffee, Psychotria sulzneri, know as the Velvetleaf coffee, and I don't have one, darn. I have seen them in natural areas, they have a distinctive blue green color, with, as you might guess, a lovely rough texture to the leaf. Rufino says they often grow together, the Velvetleaf and the nervosa. I'd like to have one, but they are not as commonly for sale. Good to have a mission...

Glory of the skies; here's one of the reddest of the red - a Dahoon holly, Ilex cassine. This tree had escaped the bulldozer somehow, when the folks who first lived here put in the house.

The Dahoon has an open canopy and is another plant that is easy to grow. It's also listed as a commercially exploited species by the Florida Department of Agriculture. So is protected and wild populations should not be disturbed. It is however, easy to buy from native sources.

There are other red-berried plants, as well, but this is the last one for today - the Florida privet. And when I stuck my head in to get a close up of the berries, look who I found. It's the little Hydra squirella. I wrote about him last time I stuck my head in a bush too, in a post about FNPS grant money. It never ceases to amaze me how many living creatures are in plain sight when you take the time and care enough to go looking. Good reasons to give them native plants to live in, right?

The Florida privet, Forestiera segregata is a relative of the privet so widely grown up north. Birds are especially fond of its berries. Here is a photo from after I removed my head, showing the branches The forestiera is a wonderful addition to a mixed hedge grouping, tolerant of a wide variety of soils and sun levels.

New Native Nursery!

2010-10-24T08:34:00.001-04:00

Congratulations to Jeff Nurge and Susan Casamento who have just opened a brand new all-native nursery in Palm Beach County! What a happy day for natives, and for the folks who want to plant them! This is really exciting news! And don't you love the name? Native Choices! Yes!

Jeff tells me that they have registered Native Choice as a member of Association of Florida Native Nurseries, and their listing will appear in next year's Real Florida Gardener.

Here in Palm Beach county we now have three all-native nurseries. Is that some kind of record? Indian Trails and Meadow Beauty have provided invaluable support to our local FNPS chapter outreach events through the years, and links to their addresses are over on the side bar, too. All three nurseries are owned by people who are knowledgeable, friendly, and passionate about natives.

Welcome to the retail world, Native Choice!

Water, Water Everywhere. Not

2010-10-15T00:07:00.002-04:00

Looking back into the dim and foggy mist of your recent past, maybe you recall this famous verse:

Water, water everywhere

and oh the boards did shrink,

Water, water everywhere,

Nor any drop to drink.

Samuel Coleridge

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Or maybe not. And you probably remember it being quoted, "and not a drop to drink," which is not

correct but sounds better to our modern ears. Bringing us to the point, this Blog Action Day: our terrible misuse of the precious resource, and our coming perilously close to the Last Drop.

Have you ever stopped to think that we have all the water on earth that we are ever going to get?

When you walk down the grocery store aisles do you ever fast forward and realize that the entire contents of the soap and cleanser jugs on the that aisle are just about to be poured into your drinking water? Ditto all the gunk on the surface of the ground; oils, fertilizers, gasoline, pet waste, just about to be washed by rain into your water supply, directly or indirectly. Suddenly the water supply looks a little more vulnerable these days. And while it may be possible to live without fossil fuels for a month or more, ten days is about max without water.

We all need to do what we can to protect our water, and make sure that wise choices are being made in relation to the issues that surround water use. We all live in a watershed. We can all use water wisely.

We can teach our children to do the same.

This being the home of Clean Green Natives, I am of course going to advocate the use of native plants to cut down on wasteful and unneeded irrigating. Many states now have native plant societies where you can learn how to use these gems in your landscape.

And here are two of my favorite water books, for you to share with the young people in your life. Or read them just for yourself, you will enjoy. The first one is non-fiction, A Drop of Water by
Walter Wick. This book combines spectacular photographs with simple but accurate language to explain and celebrate the awesome complexity of the properties of water. The youngest will enjoy the pictures and you can explain and demonstrate to whatever level you wish. Older elementary types can read on their own. Evaporation, condensation, capillary attraction and surface tension. Yum.

Want to brush up yourself, especially on the things a gardener needs to know about water's properties? Here's a good link for that :http://www.sky-bolt.com/water-science.htm

And the second, Rain, by Peter Spier. Rain is a wordless picture book by a man who is simply a genius. It can be enjoyed at many levels. A story evolves centered around two children in a rainstorm; the pictures are filled with so much engaging detail, you can never see enough. You can talk about the story you see, the story your partner sees, the rain and its story....which can lead to discussions about the importance and protection of water. I see tonight, to my regret, that even the used paperbacks of this classic are expensive. But if the price is too steep, get it at your library.

Raindrops on dog fennel up at Tall Timbers. Read about this ecosystem on the FNPSblog.org.

Breaking News!

2010-10-08T12:15:00.000-04:00

Oh what a beautiful morning!!!

The blogosphere lit up this morning with the debut post of one of our own FNPS members who Tweets and runs the Facebook page for the Pinelily Chapter. Today she was published on the blog Wildlife Garden.

You will love this blog with its focus on the backyard garden and the wonderful diversity of life it can support. Read today's post from Loret and see how the efforts of one person can provide a fantastic ripple effect. We do have the power to make change for good, in our yards and in the knowledge base of those we reach and teach. Her work "in the field," that would be literally and figuratively, is first-rate.

So exciting! And Loret gives great mentions of FNPS, which is just incredibly cool! Read it for yourself! And sign up for a feed: Loret is on their team now, and will be posting frequently.

http://www.beautifulwildlifegarden.com/when-choosing-plants-think-food-chain.html#comment-1008

Also, go out and do likewise.

Happy gardening.

In the Weeds

2010-09-15T15:06:00.000-04:00

When I promised the story in my last post, of Gardener versus Jungle, I had envisioned rushing out with my camera and showing you transformational photographs of how the gardens and maintained areas looked before and after the weeding. However, when I rushed out there - after a three month absence - it was not with a camera in my hand, but with weeding tools. Gardener first, I guess; photographer only second.

There is one hold-out place, though, that is still not done. The vegetable garden. Okay. Feast your eyes.

Yes. It's a mess, the fence attached to the poor gate is completely covered. I knew two things at the end of the spring garden. I was not going to be able to do a fall garden this year, and I didn't have time to put the garden in a proper rest phase; weeded and with some kind of cover crop. So I decided to let it go wild, which it did. But that’s another story.

The good news is that in the areas where I actually had areas, in other words, in places where I had planned, prepared for, and maintained plantings, the weeding went quickly and was not too hard, even after three months. This points out the validity of the most important lesson I have learned about weeding, which is this:

do not plant until you have properly prepared the ground by removing weeds

I routinely ignored this in my early stages in eagerness to get to the fun part: putting seeds and plants in the ground. I learned the hard way that you will spend far, far less time weeding if you do a clean-out first. It doesn’t really matter what the name of the weed is, either. Just get it out. This means the roots! When you garden routinely, you get to know which weeds come out easily and which ones have tenacious roots. I will on occasion get out the herbicide to spray small patches of places that are infested with weeds that fall into the deep root category, because often you leave enough of a piece underground to enable the root to send up new sprouts.

While I am on the subject, a good weeding tool is something that is worth a real search. The right tool feels good in your hand and is designed and crafted to help you get the job done. I have found that locally the stores catering to the landscape trade, the ones that sell mowers and power tools, are the ones most likely to have good hand tools, too. The box stores do not carry hand tools for real gardeners.

A whole world of options is readily available online, also. My very best, most favorite weeder was found there. It has a smooth wooden handle, a curvy, ergonomically gentle neck, and a metal triangular blade. The design gives you good accuracy and control, and really gets the job done. It's called a Cape Cod weeder, and several companies offer them.

Here is a clean green native planting that I put in last fall, AFTER irradicating the weeds. It took only about 20 minutes to fix up. These wild tamarinds will hide the neighbor's roof and provide both nectar and host site for numerous butterflies. The messy pods they drop won't be a problem out from the house. Underneath are marlberry, white indigoberry, simpson's stopper and callicarpa, all natives. The Real Green.

Natives Across the Nation

2010-08-09T22:16:00.000-04:00

When I last went traveling out to our mighty West, I knew nothing about ecosystems, biospheres, or micro-climates. I loved being outdoors, but knew nothing about native plants, or how they made possible the spaces I loved so much. So our trip this summer was taken with a completely different viewpoint, one much richer in appreciation of the unique natural worlds we explored.

When I saw plants in unlikely places, or when the plant palette changed abruptly in the space of a few feet, I knew there was a reason why. I have a collection of photos in the category 'Plants in Unlikely Places." Here's a preview from the rocky coast of Vancouver Island:

I was excited to discover that everywhere we went, state and national parks, local highways and visitors centers alike, we encountered signage featuring native plants. Excellent and easy-to-read displays gave explanations of plants’ specific contributions to the ecosystems they inhabited.

Equally present were warnings about invasive exotic plants, and the havoc those can cause. There were fancy displays, and simple signs like this one which was standing guard along a bike path in Illinois.

Canada did a great job of explaining to people why invasives are so harmful and how people can help as they wander around. Check out this site in Alberta: www.invasiveplants.ab.ca

Canadians use the name “alien” instead of exotic. I think this is a good choice. “Exotic” can be thought of as having desirable qualities. Alien may or may not be desirable, but it doesn’t fit in.

When we plan and plant our yards, we can certainly use some aliens we love - if they are not invasive. But we sustain and support our world in the most effective way if we plant the natives that fit in. Like this self-sustaining meadow in Glacier National Park.

I saw this sign in Johnston’s Canyon, Jasper, CA. Black swifts time their journey so they can be feeding their babies exactly when certain flying ants will be plentiful. The Swift population is in decline as the abundance of aerial insects decreases due to loss of habitat.

In Florida, our scrub jays have nearly disappeared for the same reason - loss of habitat. So. Are we helping with our planting, or not??

Native plants really do add life to your gardens!

The camper van has come to rest back in South Florida now. Next post - Gardener vs. Jungle.

Sagebrush

2010-07-13T18:14:00.000-04:00

Sagebrush - the very name calls up images of the wild west: cowboys and cattle, dry, dusty deserts, and hats blowing in the wind. Sagebrush is common throughout the Great Basin, (the American Desert) so we had encountered lots of it our travels already. Here in Wolcott Park, Idaho, outside Rupert, though, we came across this excellent sign as a part of a fascinating self-guided walk. Idaho was full of surprises. Like for instance the largest sand dune in the U.S. is in Idaho. In Bruneau Dunes if you ever need to know.

I love words, especially when learning about them sheds light on a subject being studied, as it so often does. After reading this sign, I will certainly never forget the latin name for sagebrush, or its identifying features. And so neat to discover the connection between this iconic plant and an ancient botanist/goddess. Here are the three lobes:

I wish you could smell it, too! The artemisia family is often easy to identify by smell. They give off a strong, usually rather pungent fragrance, and sagebrush definitely does!Those volatile oils responsible for the smell also render the plant toxic in various ways to most grazing animals. There is only one animal that can use sagebrush as primary source of food: the pronghorn. The reason pronghorn can eat sagebrush? Because they co-evolved. Over time, a balance was created that enabled both to survive.

In contrast, the cattle and sheep man brought into the desert were not animals that had co-evolved, but were introduced from other environments. A major drawback to this introduction was that the native grasses once much more prevelant there were eliminated, allowing sagebrush to become the predominant plant. We know now that native grasses are a major foundation for most of the various ecosystems, and much more attention is being paid to their importance. Maybe time to plant your lawn in native grasses where you don’t actually need lawn? LawnReform.org has lots of ideas for lawn alternatives.

Happy trails while you think about it!

Native Plant Demonstration Gardens

2010-07-02T19:51:00.000-04:00

Folks, I am taking a short cut today. I just posted an article on the FNPS (Florida Native Plant Society) blog about demonstration gardens you can visit in Florida. Please visit fnpsblog.org to read the full story. The article features our own Indian Trails Native Nursery, and has clickable links to several other gardens as well.

For the benefit of the Palm Beach County gardeners, I will take the liberty of adding that although Meadow Beauty Native Nursery in Lake Worth does not have a formal demonstration garden, if you go there you can view natives in mature form that are planted as landscape around the owners' home.

I have just finished a spectacular visit to the Canadian Rockies. This blog is behind the travel itinerary because it has been so hard to be connected. But I have great native wildflower pictures and comments coming soon.......

Clean Green Natives in Mesa Verde

2010-06-17T14:11:00.001-04:00

Mesa Verde is a place that haunts the imagination. But first things first. You can no longer use the word “Anasazi” to name the people who once lived here. Turns out that one is a Navajo word, and worse, a corruption of a Navajo word that can be used with negative connotations. The real word, depending on the reliability of my source and my hearing, is something like N’tsazi. So now the people who lived at Mesa Verde are referred to as Ancient Puebloans. Which is a mouthful.

The vast spaces, visual records of the thousands of generations of people who came before, and plants that form a living part of that history blend in a delightful kind of sensory overload. In the east we really forget what the words “wide open space” really mean.

Bountiful rain meant bountiful blooms just like in Texas. I went nuts trying to identify things I had never seen before, but in the end I usually had to content myself with just knowing, or guessing, the family a flower came from. I forgot to be a botanist when I went to college. I actually forgot to do anything in college, but it wasn’t till later that I realized it.

The native people used the yucca and the bark of the juniper tree in many ways, including making diapers and weaving it for sandals. Here is a really nice pinyon tree that was both candling and forming cones at the same time; they don’t make cones every year. The nuts are nourishing food. The ranger was very proud of this particular specimen so I gave it an honorary title of "Champion Tree." Birds singing in this tree could hide from me forever.

Irresistible combinations. New generations of purple and orange against ancient dwellings.

Here is a serviceberry (Amelanchier, a form of which is native to every state but Hawaii.) simply bursting with blooms. Whole hillsides were covered with them. This wonderful native has berries that bears love in the fall. Going to be a good year for bears up there.

When I spied this perky blue character, my brain said, “Lupine,” and turned out it was.

This is an area that that was allowed to burn when lightning started a fire. Just like in Florida, fires are a natural control mechanism that keep the system balanced. Here old pinyons and junipers have given way to new Quercus gambelii, Gambel oaks. It was neat to see a new kind of scrub oak, much like Florida’s many scrub oaks.

Horned lizard, needs those clean green natives to host his insect dinners.

Mule deer, just needs the clean green natives...of course the plants need the pollinators...kind of like the house that Jack built isn't it?

Well, after all, this is what Mesa Verde is all about. They are saying now that what drove the Ancient puebloans off their cliff homes was gradual depletion of the soil due to over-farming. Along with wiping out the trees to use as fuel and construction materials. Which meant no game either. A fifty-year drought didn't help, but the fact is they used up their resources with no thought for tomorrow. Huh.

Keep your world clean and green.
Sweet winds from the West~

Texas Wildflower Extravaganza

2010-05-30T22:04:00.000-04:00

Saw a lot of my old friends from Florida here - wildflower friends, that is. Here is Palo Duro Canyon, Texas, the second largest canyon in the US. I had never heard of it till we got to Amarillo and were looking for a place to park the RV for the night.

It was one of those serendipitous finds - absolutely gorgeous rock formations, colored stones, wildlife, and FLOWERS! They had had a lot of rain this spring and the flowers and grasses were just abundant.

So you recognize monarda and gaillardia, right? And there were just hundreds of them clumped together. My husband is a mile down the trail and I am jumping from clump to clump, "oooohh, I have to get this one!"

I called this an opuntia birthday cake. I have never seen so many opuntias in bloom in one place in my life. And OK, I have to show you a little of the canyon.

And the cool rocks!

And the wildflife! This is a collared lizard, he held completely still - hoping to hide from us as we unloaded the camera, got it out aimed etc etc.

I don't know what kind of butterfly this is, but if YOU do, tell me. We also saw turkeys, mule deer,
a cute little shovel nose snake and birds, lots of birds. I don't know which ones.
Well, the bus is going to leave without me if I don't get going. Goodbye with a lovely little flower that is clean and green Texas, so I don't know it either.

When I have time, I am going to find it on the great website www.wildflower.org, the site maintained by the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the U of TX.

Clean and Green in North Carolina

2010-05-21T11:38:00.001-04:00

Clean Green is on the road again. I thought about shutting down for a few weeks as we travel, but what the heck; native plants are everywhere! And wait till you see the photo I took at a GAS STATION recently!

But here is the beautiful NC native, Kalmia latifolia. We got to see loads of it in both white and pink. I call it kalmia, some folks call it mountain laurel or just laurel. My husband became terminally confused at one point until I explained that they were all names for the same plant. And that points up the issue of why the latin names are important when we are trying to have discussions about plants. For updated info on this subject, tune in the to the Society's blog (FNPSblog.org) in the next few weeks when an expert is going to try to clue us all in on what's happening with names in Florida.

And here's the photo I took at the gas station. Can you believe this? Everybody wants to be green. This is a classic example of what people are calling "greenwashing." Just remember that you can be REALLY and truly green, sustainable and helpful if you plant natives. And teach your friends. Native plants add life to your landscape.

Swamp Dogwood

2010-04-29T23:16:00.000-04:00

This time of year we are hearing from our friends up north about dogwood trees in bloom. Did you know that we have three kinds of dogwood native to Florida? Dogwoods belong to the genus 'Cornus,' and the three that are native here are: C. amonmum, or silky dogwood, C. asperifolia, or rough dogwood, and C. foemina, the swamp dogwood. My swamp dogwood is blooming prolifically right now, and the flowers are just beautiful.

This is a good plant for wet areas, which is why I got mine in the first place. Half of my yard is not really a wet area, but it is low enough that when hurricanes come, it can be covered with standing water for days at a time. Since swamp dogwood is native to wet sites, I thought it would be a good candidate there. I made sure I kept it watered for the first month, but haven't touched since, and it has grown happily with no assistance from me. The literature says it "colonizes" from suckers, but in the past six years, the colonization in mine has been very minimal despite the fact that it is thriving. It's the tall one at the right, shrubby to the ground.

Pollinators of many kinds are all over the blooms right now. Flowers are followed by small blue fruits in autumn, and birds love them. The shape is not elegant in itself, but it looks good in a grouping. Here is a plant that is truly maintenance free and good for wildlife. Locally it is carried by Meadow Beauty, see side bar, and if you are reading from farther away, check out AFNN.org for other sources.

Free Mulch

2010-04-21T16:57:00.001-04:00

Yes, it's true; you can get free mulch from Palm Beach County's Solid Waste Authority. The facility is on Jog Road, which is tricky in itself before you understand it! This section of Jog Road is not yet connected to any of the other roads with that name. Don't ask me to explain that. You can get there either by traveling all the way to the western end of 45th street, or by turning onto it from the Beeline Highway (710) just west of the turnpike.

They provide two stacks of mulch. One is fresh and dry, and the other is dark and HOT. The lighter-colored, dry mulch is best for use as top-dressing. The dark mulch has begun to break down already: good for incorporating into soil as compost if you need some. Just be sure it doesn't touch any roots or stems of plants - it will burn them. It will take three or four weeks before the dark mulch cools down enough to actually touch a plant part.

The best tool is a pitchfork, shovels are harder to push in
Pull mulch down from above and remove material from the looser sections
If you have a truck or trailer, cover mulch with tarp so you don't lose it on highway
Trash cans or recycle bins make good containers if you don't have a truck
Go early in day and bring water!

Here is my husband demonstrating how to pull the mulch down so you can push your tool into a spot
where the mulch is more loose. The next photo shows that it will be easy to tell which one is the HOT mulch!

Here is a place where I used the county's mulch in my yard. After the hurricanes knocked down a lot of trees, we became weary of sawing trunks down level with the ground. In this patch, I dressed up the trunk with a native grass, and am replanting the area with native shrubs and trees a bit at a time. The free mulch helps fight weeds while the other things grow in.

Take your leftover paint cans or poisonous materials to the Hazardous Household Waste facility on the opposite side of the street when you're done, too. It's easy and well marked. If you have some strange containers and you don't know what is in them, there is a place for those!

Plus, the SWA has put beautiful trails along their waterways to walk and enjoy. Go to the SWA homepage to read about hours of operation.

Free mulch, free disposal, free hiking. You can't beat the price!

Coral Honeysuckle

2010-04-13T22:00:00.002-04:00

When the storm clouds moved behind my trellis of coral honeysuckle it was a command performance and I ran for the camera! The dark background just set off the pink flowers so beautifully.

Spring is glory time for coral honeysuckle. The flowers are numerous and full, the vines are sprouting like crazy. Butterflies and hummingbirds love Lonicera sempervirens. A pair of mockingbirds have a nest in mine at the moment. Sempervirens means 'evergreen' of course, but it is more thrifty in the spring and early summer than later on. By September it is getting a bit thin, and by mid-winter you may have to have a bit of patience with it. You can cut it back if it is looking too pathetic then.

If you look at the right side of the trellis you can tell that the vine on that side was planted later. I used to have a climbing rose there, but it never did well, and one day it made me MAD.

You can see I have also been lazy. If you want to train this plant up a trellis, you have to pay attention to the vines as they grow out. If they aren't touching something that they can hold onto and go upward, gravity pulls them down as they lengthen. Oh well! Even though I have been mad and lazy, this Florida native is paying me back in spades.

Everyone is looking for good ground covers these days, and coral honeysuckle can be used in that capacity too.

While I was out with the camera, this balbisiana caught my eye. I just love all of the tillandsias. They hang on in crazy places and just do their thing. Had to include this one, framed by new cypress leaves.

If you're wondering what happened on my excursion to the panhandle, you will have to stay tuned. I am soon going to be blogging for FNPS, and my first post up there will tell all!

Happy gardening!

Suwannee River

2010-03-14T09:16:00.002-04:00

It's not as bad as I thought! I DID bring all my cords, connectors, plugs et al. I just hid, I mean, stowed, them in a really excellent, secure, safe place in the van. Safe but not easy to find. Came across the nice red canvas bag that holds everything quite by accident.

So it has not been downloading pictures or battery power, but lack of connectivity that has been holding up the blog. And such sights we have seen! I have only a few minutes in this wifi hotspot. I can't wait to share some of what we have been learning. And here is the Suwanee River, which we was down upon, altho now no longer.

Clean Green Natives on the Road

2010-03-10T22:18:00.002-05:00

Yep, we're on the road- and since we're learning about Florida natives I thought the blog should come along. This is a fantastic opportunity to learn from an expert who is a Florida native himself, Dr Bruce Means, author of Priceless Florida.
I have to give due warning here, this is a two-finger blog entry so editing will be minimal. I planned carefully, of course, and collected ALL the various power cords, plugs, connectors etc etc and so on that would be needed for this boondoogle, and then, of course...well you see where this is going don't you?? Yes. I left the bag on the table...

So this blogging-by-iPhone. Wish me luck.

We're taking a course called Hardwood Forests of the South and will be studying not only the plants but also the animals,geography, geology,and everything else that goes into the make-up of an ecosytem.

We'll Start in wakulla Springs tomorrow, but today, on our way here,we were

"Way down upon the Suwanee River"

my hope is that there will be a picture attached here. You'll I was sucessfull if one appears, or that I wasn't if not.

Planting Florida's Native Flowers

2010-03-05T16:30:00.001-05:00

Spring HAS sprung, and the plants know it. The longer light periods have triggered spring growth despite the cool temps. In my garden I am continuing to try to learn more about using Florida's native flowers and I thought I 'd pass on a few things that have worked for me.

Beginnings are key. So first of all, put your flowers into a space that is as weed-free as possible. Flowers themselves are easy to see, but when flowers fade, it can be hard to figure out which ones are weeds, rip, rip, and which ones are the flower plants you want to save! And if you are like me at all, you may not have a good data base built up in your mind for what the leaves look like.

Never buy just one! Too hard to track! Instead, buy at least three plants, and then plant them close together, and surround them with a nice border of mulch. Not cypress mulch, of course, but almost anything else that you like. Now you will have a reference point that you will be able to see. Eventually you will recognize the leaf well enough to distinguish from the invaders. Not only that, but the imprint or visual statement that the group makes will be much more effective as part of your design, whether its formal or casual.

You can see what I mean in this photo. Here is a clump of three coreopsis plants, put in last fall. I like the look of a merry mixed border, and other flowers are planted close by, but these yellow beauties are the first in bloom. I will know where they are when the flowers are gone!

Coreopsis by the way, is our state flower. Its main bloom times are early spring/summer and again in fall. Commonly called 'tickseed' because its seed resembles the insect, it is considered an annual or a short-lived perennial. You may get a couple of bloom cycles from one plant, depending, and also, it re-seeds itself fairly freely, so you get ongoing generations. In fields and on roadsides you usually see it growing in single sets. Not fussy and very cheerful, attracts several butterflies. You can learn more at the Florida Wildflower Foundation's website. Go forth and plant!

Clean Green Collards

2010-02-24T14:01:00.002-05:00

Yep, I said collards. Nope, collards are not a Florida native plant. But, hey, even us native nuts have to eat. So I thought that I'd expand the scope of this blog a little and include some edible news. Being somewhat slow, I discovered collards only last year. And I only discovered them because my local box store had no broccoli sets when I wanted to stick something in my garden in a hurry. But wow, I want to tell you that fresh collards are a fabulous tasting and super-easy plant to grow. Forget all that stuff about overboiled, soggy, porky-tasting glop, too.

How to cook good collards:

put chopped, fresh leaves in boiling water
when water reaches a simmer, cook for only 4 or 5 minutes more
drain, add a little butter and salt
use a good microplaner to add some zest of lemon or lime, and a sprinkle of juice

Yum! This tastes great, not bitter at all, and is SO good for you. Growing collards is a snap, too. After all this is one of the plants that sustained the south during the Civil War. It can tolerate a wide temperature range and is very free of disease and pest problems. It's long growing season means that you can harvest the outside leaves and keep the plant in producing for a long time. Harvest the outside leaves and it keeps on growing.

Try it! You'll like it!

You Can STILL Live and Learn!

2010-02-18T21:44:00.002-05:00

Well, no surprise, the one-day Sustainable Landscaping Course is full and sporting a waiting list, but there is good news. Put the Florida Wildflower and Garden Festival on your calendar for March 27, and you can still enjoy a great day of educational opportunities. Genuine star-caliber experts will speak on:

Growing Florida Wildflowers

Landscaping with Florida Wildflowers and Native Plants

Sowing Natives from Seed

Landscaping with Edible Plants

Making Wildflower Honey

Butterfly Gardening - and a release

Author Ginny Stibolt will be talking about Sustainable Gardening; read about her ideas, and her book, in a post here from October 25. There will be field trips to natural areas and a wildflower farm. You will need to sign up ahead of time for these, there is a phone number provided if you click either of the related links. And there will be plenty of tempting vendors. In addition to the Flower Festival, the Deland Outdoor Art Festival will be going on. You will be able to catch a shuttle bus over and back.

I don't know about you, but if I don't plan ahead and get these dates on my calendar early, they stay on my looooong list of "gee, why didn't I....." The Florida Wildflower Foundation has planned a super day. And guess what! It's free! Go out and enjoy it!

Live and LEARN!

2010-02-15T20:54:00.000-05:00

The flurrious weather up north has had side effects down here in South Florida, hasn't it? As in mass migration of friends and relatives .... well, that's my excuse anyway for recent dearth of posts.

I am very excited though, to share news of an event that will put some shine in your calendars, and here it is! In two parts.

First is a one-day course, Sustainable Landscaping with Florida Native Plants and Wildflowers. This course will be offered in Deland on March 26th. CEU credits will be available for FNGLA and ISA requirements. The truly exciting part, though, is the instructors: Bill and Nancy Bissett, and Brighton Logan. The wealth of information that these people have to share is simply worth more money can buy. Google them if you want to, but trust me, their experience is unparalleled.

Secondly, the course (sponsored by the Association of Florida Native Nurseries) is held in conjunction with a terrific event, the Florida Wildflower and Garden Festival. The course is on Friday, and the Festival will be held on Saturday, March 27 in beautiful, historic Deland. The festival is open to all, naturally, whether you take the course or not. Experts will be on hand for talks and demonstrations on native flowers, seeds, butterflies and landscaping, honey-making and edible plants. Vendors of plants, and of crafts relating to environmental art and gardening practices will be there, too. Way too much good stuff to cram in here, so look for yourself, and I will definitely see you there!!

Grassy Waters Preserve: A Secret

2010-02-06T18:18:00.001-05:00

I want to share a secret with you: Grassy Waters Preserve. So many people don't even know it's there, and it is such a fantastic place to visit. Treat yourself or your out-of-town guests with an opportunity to see and experience the natural beauty of Florida. And it's free! That's Grassy up at the top of this page.

The 20 square miles that Grassy Waters covers used to be the headwaters for the Loxahatchee Slough. Today it is the water catchment area for the City of West Palm Beach. You can walk extensively on nice, level boardwalks. See native plants and birds. Choose from a wide range of educational and guided recreational activities, including midnight canoe paddles! You have to sign up ahead for these activities, and some of them have a fee.

If you would like to take a little tour right now, click here: Grassy Waters. This goes to a set of photos on Flickr. When you get there, click on the large photo and it will become bigger and display the text. Of course you know that I have labeled the plants for you! To continue the virtual stroll, click on the photo in the little box to the right, and it will display in turn.

Grassy Waters is off Northlake Boulevard; the boardwalk is at the entrance on your left as you head west. It's easy to miss. If you get to the Ibis Shopping Center, you passed it.

Go out and enjoy some of Florida's native plants right where they like to grow!

Mangrove Habitat

2010-01-31T21:53:00.001-05:00

The Florida Wildlife Federation held a roundtable discussion last Thursday out at Pine Jog. A variety of organizations and individual citizens met there to exchange ideas. Fishermen, hunters, plant lovers and folks who just like to walk around in the woods came to discuss success stories and to share ideas for ways to keep some open space in our shrinking world.

What does this have to do with mangroves?

We all know that the native trees called mangroves provide the best protection there is against wind and storm surges. But they also play a critical role as protected, or nursery, area for juvenile fish, shellfish, birds, and turtles.

When we had that super cold spell a few weeks ago, water temperatures dropped low enough to kill thousands of fish. Our popular native fish, the snook, suffered serious population drops. One of the experts at the roundtable event explained that snook are programed to respond to this kind of catastrophe by generating a far above-normal spawn in the spring.

Now we are getting to mangroves. The snook's natural response this year will not be adequate to replace their numbers, because more than 50% of our mangrove shoreline has disappeared in the past two decades.

Case closed. Or is it?

Those Blooming Natives

2010-01-18T15:21:00.004-05:00

Time for a post about plants! This gorgeous shrub, Lyonia lucida, is blooming its head off in my yard right now. It shares space with some saw palmettos and gallberry. I have lived here for ten years and never once watered, fed or chemicaled it any way. You really have to click this to see the color.

The flowers are followed by berries attractive to many kinds of birds and other wildlife.

Now you would think that such a hardy and lovely plant would readily be available for sale wouldn't you?
Well, it's not, and here's part of why.

This plant is not easy to reproduce vegetatively nor are the seedlings easy to grow out in a nursery setting.
Read, "No profit."

The many plants that are commonly available at your local box stores and nurseries have the benefit of being either easy to grow, OR have had the stimulus of research in a laboratory so that they have BECOME easy to produce in massive quantities. Read, "Profitable."

So what's my point? Simply this. One of the many goals of the Florida Native Plant Society is to help channel money at our state's research labs towards the study of our native plants, which have been
almost completely neglected there.

This easy-care plant would be a boone to any xeriscape design. If it takes a little research to figure out how to produce it commercially, well, that's a better investment than say, a non-native which contributes nothing to the web of life that co-evolved and is trying to exist here.

The mission statement of the Florida Native Plant Society is to promote the preservation, conservation and restoration of native plants and native plant communities. Go to the FNPS website, (lots of good information there) FNPS.org and click to join today. A new membership is only $25. You will be glad you did.

Florida's Native Wildflowers Survive the DeepFreeze

2010-01-13T16:18:00.002-05:00

A recent news release from the Florida Wildflower Foundation heralded the great news that Florida's wildflowers, unlike the tiresome and ubiquitous impatiens here, survived the recent freezing weather quite well. In an interview this afternoon with Dr. Jeffrey Norcini, spokesman for the Wildflower Foundation, I learned a little about why.

Dr. Norcini explained that the native wildflowers, having adapted to conditions here over many years, were able to prepare for the coming drops in temperature by releasing a soluble substance in their cells that could prevent the cells from bursting. That's why even a plant that has frozen may recover perfectly well the next day.

He cautioned me to let readers know that they need to be careful to purchase wildflowers from local sources. Plants not grown and raised here will not be conditioned the same way, even if they are native varieties.

Also, wildflowers in containers are not quite as resistant as their comtemporaries planted in the ground. Containerized plants should be placed in to a garage or porch, or next to a house wall for a little extra help. If their roots freeze, it's all over.

He also reminded me that when covering plants it is important to use fabric, not plastic. Fabric insulates better, and in every place where plastic is actually touching a plant, it will freeze.

Thanks for those helpful tips, Dr. Norcini! Here is a container of Bidens mitis that I put under a shed roof two nights ago, blooming away in good spirits.

To learn more about Florida's Wildflowers, click the title of this post.

It's Freezing Down Here! What Do We Do?

2010-01-11T15:45:00.004-05:00

Yes, it really did freeze in Palm Beach County this week. Here is proof, in the way of a hand-made wooden top resting on a thick covering of ice in a bird bath in my front yard. Natives, of course, survived quite well, but it is important to remember a couple of things when the temperatures drop this low.

Well hydrated plants are the ones best prepared for the stress of cold

Your recently transplanted natives need more than our rainfall to keep hydrated

Do not fertilize at this time of year, except in your vegetable garden

Just because a plant drops all its leaves does not mean it's dead

For instance, a couple of trees that may have dropped leaves recently include geiger and young mahogany. These trees will leaf out again, though, as the spring weather comes. I make sure any trees that seem stressed, or any transplants that have not been through one winter, receive about an inch of water a week until the rains return in late summer. After they have been through one winter/summer cycle, a native in my yard is either doing fine or in the compost pile.

Hang in there till Friday - I hear it is going to reach 80 again by then!

New Native Blooms

2010-01-06T11:16:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year to native plant lovers and to all those who will become interested in natives in this new year of 2010!

One of my resolutions last year was to learn more about Florida's native flowers and how to grow them in the home landscape. I started out with the shrubs and trees to get the structure going, but now I want the icing on the cake!

It turns out that fall is prime time for planting the natives and for sowing the seeds of many varieties as well. One of the things I put in was this Stokes's aster, which entered the new year with a burst of blooms. The picture was taken this morning after all our intensely low temps of the last few nights. The plant was not protected in any way.

Anyone else in Palm Beach County have pictures of native blooms to share? Click on my profile and send them over!

Why Do We Need Native Plants Anyway?

2009-12-12T16:23:00.007-05:00

So here are some of the other things I said in the interview.
(Scroll down for TV interview)

Native plants are kind of like the glue that holds our ecosystem together so that it can keep functioning. Remember the benefits of the ecosystem? Fresh, clean oxygen, safe storage of CO2, clean water, flood and erosion control, stuff like that?

Native plants, the plants that originally started here (and that means wherever you are, of course, here, there, or someplace else) are specially equipped to handle the local conditions of weather and climate. They stand up and do their job. The exotic plants we bring in from elsewhere, which here in Florida means a ton of plant material, usually need a lot of help in the way of added water and chemicals.

On the opposite side of those chemically-addicted exotics, are the exotic plants that LOVE our climate here (or wherever YOU are) and would happily take over this corner of the world if we let them. Like Lygodium in Florida. A vine sometimes called Old World Climbing Fern, acts like kudzu. There are some people who argue (and I have read your blogs ) that these exotics should just be allowed to take over, it’s nature’s way, we can never go back to the way things were.

I agree, we can never go back to the way things were, but the important question now is how we choose to proceed to shape our future. The problem with letting the exotics run wild is that it is not really nature’s way. We have introduced these plants artificially into an environment where they did not have to compete and make compromises with their competitors to stay in business. So?

So what we get is loss of biodiversity. Look at it this way. The world that is evolving now is a challenged one. Never mind what or who caused it, we are faced with an environment that is struggling to support the burden of mankind’s demands on it. We need more biodiversity, not less. And we quickly lose plants (and animals, of course, see American Livestock Breeds Conservancy albc-usa.org) forever if we allow the introduced plants to run riot.

We don’t want to be dependent on fewer and fewer plants, we need the rich diversity that might be providing us with answers to survival on a crowded planet. The plants that know how to survive with only a little water, or in thin air, or on sterile soils, are ones we want to learn from, not lose. We are only just beginning to understand some of the secrets these plants contain: we have no way of knowing how, or in what ways, they might contribute to a sustainable future.

All that without even touching the sadness of losing their pretty faces, or the critical fact that all the animals dependent on those plants are faced with extinction as well.

Well, yes, I hear what you are thinking, and I confess. This is just a little more than I said in the interview. But only a little.

Go Clean, Go Green. Grow Natives!!
And give somebody a native plant this year.

TV Interview for Native Plants

2009-11-30T10:29:00.004-05:00

Be patient! The Live part comes a few seconds in. The whole thing is very short, but what a great advertisement for native plants. They open by commenting that we (meaning the Florida Native Plant Society) were one of the most popular displays at the Lantana Greenfest. And I am now officially an "environmental expert." Wow! I'm impressed! They shot a long interview but only included the smallest of bytes.
However, don't worry, next post here will include all the rest of my story!

The Secrets of a Beautiful Native Hedge

2009-10-29T20:38:00.011-04:00

Hedges are one of the first things that people want to add to a landscape. They give privacy, block unsightly views, and help form boundaries to the different areas of use within a yard. After you decide where your hedge will placed, you come face-to-face with the decision of what to plant. This blog will help you make some choices in selecting shrubs, and will also give you the knowledge that will ensure a happy future for your native hedge.

First of all, the most interesting and healthy hedges are composed using more than one type of plant. This mixed palette is the way nature does it, and it works. A variety of shrubs is not only more pleasing to look at, but is also more healthy for the plants. Different bugs or diseases have different plant preferences. An attack by any one disaster is much less likely to run through your entire hedge if several kinds of plant are used. Unlike the massive damage that is running rampant straight through miles and miles of the non-native Ficus benjamina in Palm Beach county right now. And of course, since your hedge is native, the chances of bugs eating more than 10% of your foliage at once are just about nil anyway.

So what are some of the best native shrubs for hedges? Here's my "short list" for some hedge material that is not fussy about growing conditions, can be restrained in growth, has visual attraction and is also readily available. Each of these will grow in full sun to almost anything short of deep shade.

Simpson's stopper - small white flower and red berries
Myrsine - larger leaves than the Simpson, small black berries, deep green, and easy
Fiddlewood - curvy, glossy leaves, fragrant white flower racemes, and clusters of berries
Florida privet - very good cover for birds
Florida boxwood - much like its northern cousin, small leaves, dense form, slower grower
Wax myrtle - vigorous, fragrant leaves, berries loved by birds
Marlberry - stately, slightly narrow in habit, beautiful white flower clusters and berries
White indigoberry - shiny leaves, small white flowers, berries white outside, blue inside
Jamaican caper - conical in shape, short season of ephemeral fragrant flowers, elegant

So choose a variety, at least three of these, or more and use them to make a hedge that is a delight to look at. Don't be afraid to make your hedge line curvaceous if you have the flexibility to do so. Place the plants in a random manner, rather than a predictable ABC ABC order. These do not all flower at the same time, so your viewing pleasure will be extended, and there will be cover and food for numerous birds. Place them two or three feet apart, depending on how much of a hurry you are in. You can take a few whacks in the first months to give the slower growers equal opportunity in the sun, but after that, don't worry. Let them intermix merrily.

One or two words about pruning. Long, straight boxed-shaped rows of green are not only boring, they are also difficult and expensive to maintain. Also, all that pruning and hacking to maintain an unnatural shape deprives the plant of its resources to make food and grow strong roots, causing it to be susceptible to diseases and insect attack. A shrub that is allowed to grow into its natural form will also be a plant that is strong enough to produce the flowers and berries that can provide food for wildlife and birds. So let your hedge be frilly, and enjoy the variety in shape and form.

At the top is a mixed hedge that screens a shed from the street. I give it a haircut once a year. If you absolutely must keep your hedge small and square, all the above plants will tolerate the shearing. Got questions or comments? Ask away; use comment feature below or go to my email in the profile.

Go forth and plant native!! It's so sustainable!

Sustainable Gardening for Florida: A Book Review

2009-10-25T18:46:00.013-04:00

I had the good fortune to meet the author of this book, Ginny Stibolt, at the Ethnobotanical Day held at Heathcote Gardens last weekend, and I am so glad I did! I have a whole shelf full of books on gardening in Florida, and I might not have purchased this one without the opportunity to preview it. Sustainable Gardening for Florida definitely deserves a place on my shelf, and I highly recommend it for yours, too.

Ginny, who is a naturalist with a degree in botany, as well as a talented writer, has written a timely, informative and practical guide on a broad range of gardening issues with the concerns of today's gardeners in mind. All the topics you would expect from a comprehensive guide are included: lawns, landscape, containers, vegetables, flowers. And also topics that have special import here, like Dealing with Salt, Sand, Muck and Erosion and Preparing the Landscape for Disasters. On the fun side, there are detailed instructions for planning rain gardens, bioswales, bog gardens.

Each chapter begins with a discussion of the sustainability issues related to its topic. You'll learn why things are sustainable or not. Ginny does a great job of including just a dash of some easily understandable science that gives a solid platform to the readers' understanding of her discussions. Each chapter also includes a booklist and website list that are especially valuable.

Are there some words being bandied about lately that you hear over and over but aren't quite sure what they really mean? This book contains an excellent glossary. An extensive plant list at the end of the book makes a sound resource for learning the good and not-so-good attributes of plants commonly used in Florida, both native and non-native.

I could go on and on, but I will conclude with just one example of something new that I learned. And darn it, I've been here five years longer than Ginny - where heck is my book anyway??

In the wonderful chapter on IPM - Integrated Pest Management - there is a section called Attracting and Keeping Insect Killers. I learned that all the flowers in the daisy family (like asters, daisies, goldenrod) and those in the mint family (monarda, catnip, salvia, and all the various mints of course) attract predatory wasps, (these don't hurt people) hover flies, and robber flies. Hey! That makes it so good to be bad!

I can't finish without mentioning the great diagrams, again so helpful and easy to understand. You'll learn some new tricks just looking at these! There was a neat idea for watering a strawberry jar.......but you'll just have to look for yourself. You can order Sustainable Gardening for Florida online by clicking the neat little widget on the right. Clicking will lead you to more information on the book and to actual points of sale. It's also available at University Press of Florida, Amazon, and most local bookstores.

HALF OF THE ROYALTIES FROM THE BOOK WILL GO TO
THE FLORIDA CHAPTER OF THE NATURE CONSERVANCY

SO GET ONE, YOU WILL NOT BE SORRY!

A Firebush Up Close

2009-10-18T10:46:00.013-04:00

To see the real color and vibrancy, click the photo!

The firebush merits one more segment now, because the hummingbirds returned last week.This blog started with firebush, which has so many desirable attributes. Check the archives if you want to learn more. (The green shrub is also native, a white indigoberry, more on that is coming up in a segment on hedges.) Here you see how firebush can be trimmed to be fairly low and still be covered with flowers. I love to sit by this window and be entertained by hummingbirds hovering inches from my nose as they drink from the blossoms. Cardinals, mockingbirds and many others come to eat the berries. Butterflies nectar here, too, of course. It's an ongoing show.

What could be better? The rewards of a native landscape are sustainable!

Plant Passionvines If You Want Zebra Longwings

2009-10-08T22:44:00.006-04:00

Here is the adult Zebra longwing, nectaring on our old friend, the firebush (Hamelia patens).
These butterflies are somewhat unique in that they eat both pollen and nectar, which makes them long-lived for butterflies; up to six months. If you want a resident population of these lovely creatures, and not just some occasional fluttering-by, then plant native passionvines like corkystem (Passiflora suberosa) and Maypop (Passiflora incarnata). These vines attract many butterflies, are easy to grow, and can be let loose to go up trees, or you can let them form a casual ground cover. Go native! Clean. Green. Sustainable.

Butterfly Life Cycles

2009-10-08T22:11:00.006-04:00

So many bugs! So little is really known! But finally I have the answer, from Doug Tallamy's great book Bringing Nature Home, as to why the same butterfly that nectars from one flower can't use it for a place to lay eggs. It's cuz nectar is basically just sugar and water, and has a very common composition from plant to plant. Adult butterflies can get food from a plant that is not necessarily a native. But larvae, of course, don't drink the nectar, they eat leaves. And leaves are made up of highly variable chemical compositions. In fact most insects, butterflies included, have spent years (as in thousands of) adapting their systems to be able to eat the plants that sustain them. Which brings us to the importance of native plants. The plants that come from Brazil and Hawaii don't feed the larvae of any of our Florida native butterflies. This is a Zebra longwings caterpillar eating a native passionvine. He will imbibe some toxins that will make the adult taste bad to predators. Neat trick.

Thinking about Cats

2009-10-01T15:31:00.006-04:00

This is a drawing by Dena Molar, a textile designer I was lucky to catch between jobs. She did some great interpretation of ideas for a pamphlet I was putting together on designing and using
Florida Native Plants. We do have to ask ourselves if we are doing wildlife a favor when we invite it into a setting that comes equipped with a resident, non-native predator.

Cats. And Where They Belong

2009-10-01T14:50:00.009-04:00

The title above is a link to an article that ran in the New York Times on September 29th. As with many free online papers, the NYT site will ask you to create a password and sign in if you have visited several times, but it is still FREE. The author is cat-lover who writes with both sympathy and empathy about issues relating to cats, their well-being, and their role in the environment. You will not be sorry you took the time to sign in whether you like cats or ..... otherwise.

Natives in the News

2009-09-08T18:46:00.014-04:00

Letter to the Editor of the Palm Beach Post:

Thank you so much for printing the excellent article by Carl Terwilliger, 'Welcoming Wildlife' in the Post on September the 6th. Now that the words "sustainability" and "green" are on the minds, lips and agendas of people from all walks of life, it is so important to understand the significance of native plants. The plants that co-evolved here are vital to the healthy functionality of the unique ecosystem we live in. People who want to learn more about the contribution of native plants, and how to use them in their yards, would benefit from reading Doug Tallamy's book Bringing Nature Home. Or by attending local meetings of the Palm Beach County Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society, on the third Tuesday of every month, at 7:30 in the auditorium at Mounts Botanical Garden. Most Sincerely, Suzanne Dingwell

For those of you simply dying to know; yes, I did actually send this letter. Only the shadow knows if it will be published at the Post!

YOU can read his fabulous article by clicking on the title of this entry, or copy and paste - http://bit.ly/jvllA

Link to 37 Great Articles on Florida Natives

2009-08-24T13:46:00.006-04:00

The Palm Beach Post has just published a compilation of 37 articles on Florida native plants, all accompanied by excellent color photographs. These articles include information on cultivation and use in landscape. Jeff Nurge, Publicity Chair of the Palm Beach County Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society has been writing an ongoing series for the paper called 'Native Roots,' where the articles previously appeared. Jeff and Rufino Osorio, also an FNPS member, are the authors. Check it out for great info!

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/home_garden/nativeplant.html
Click here to visit archive

How to Tell if its Really a Native Firebush

2009-08-19T10:34:00.007-04:00

Here is the real thing. Native firebush berries attract a list of birds so long I can't fit it on this page. However. You must be ware, meaning, know about, the evil twin. This is a bush sold in many nurseries as a native Hamelia Patens, often as "dwarf" but it is NOT a Florida native. The evil twin comes from South America, which is used by the critters who live THERE!

Here's how to know the difference. Our native firebush has a leaf with a definite, if slight, hairy texture. Rub the leaf gently. You can feel it. The non-native is smooth, sometimes even glossy. There is a big difference in the flowers also. The native flowers are a deeper, vibrant shade of red/orange. The non-native is a pale, washed-out orangey color. Finally, you can look at the ends of the branches and check the count of the number of new leaves appearing at the tips. The native firebush will have mostly groups of three leaves. Groups of four do occur sometimes, but the majority of ends will show the three-grouping. If you are seeing mostly four new leaves in the clump at the branch tip, it is a non-native.

The non-native, since it did not co-evolve with the flora and fauna that live here, is not a contributing member of the food web. In other words, it provides food for almost no living creatures here. I once had a call on the hotline for the county extension service - "I never see hummingbirds or butterflies on MY firebush!"

And now you could tell him why!

There is a close up of firebush flower in the first post.

Firebush - Hamelia Patens

2009-08-17T20:54:00.006-04:00

I call this shrub the poster child for Florida Natives. It just does everything. You can grow it in full sun, you can grow it in shade. It has beautiful flowers all year that attract butterflies and hummingbirds. It has berries loved by many birds. That's a firebush up at the top by the way. Firebush can be pruned low or let go to reach heights of 15 feet if it's happy. You can shape it carefully, or you can whack it right down to the ground and have flowers six weeks later if you want to. And if that's not enough, you can grow it in a container, too.

Flowers are more prolific in the hot weather than the cold, and more in the sun than the shade.

In my yard, I use firebush in two ways. I use it as part of a privacy hedge, where I let it grow to about 6 feet, and I use it in the color garden area by my front door, where I keep it to just under 3 feet. The larger hedge needs to be trimmed by foot or two once a year. Firebush grows in a somewhat rounded outline; this photo illustrates their natural shape. The smaller hedge I fuss over just a bit, because I want to keep it just underneath the living room window. A friend from our native plant society once asked me what birds I saw in my firebush hedge. I said I never saw any birds because as I walked up to the bushes, the birds flew away. He said "Move your bushes near the windows of your house!" What a revelation that was! I followed his advice and now I can sit and observe bird entertainment without interrupting their activities.

Native yards - Let Us Begin!

2009-08-17T10:17:00.008-04:00

For the past three weeks I have been cruising the gardening section of the blogosphere, which has nearly paralyzed my ability to actually begin this one. There are some great blogs out there. However, I've gotten this far, and I will steel myself for the plunge. Uh-o. Bad metaphor. If I steel myself for a plunge I am likely to sink. OK. I will just put on a life jacket, hold my breath and jump.
So here we are. Sustainability is a word constantly before us these days. Well, native plants are the ultimate answer to sustainability. My goal is to provide a resource, however imperfect, for the people in Florida who want some specific help in getting a native yard going. Pictures in books are one thing, but the question "How will that look in my yard?" is not always easy to answer. Many of the ideas discussed will have general usefulness for gardeners elsewhere, but I will be focusing on plants that do well South Florida.
I am assuming that you are already onboard with the imperative need to use native plants wherever you are. Native plants are like the glue that holds a functioning ecosystem together. And we need functional ecosystems whether we are plant-lovers, plant-haters, country or city dwellers. The trend in the U.S. has been to bring in bulldozers, scrape away the native plants and stick in stuff from other continents.This practice has not proven beneficial. If you want back-up info, go to FNPS.org and read About Natives, or read this book: Bringing Nature Home, by Doug Tallamy. You can buy it used today on Amazon for ten bucks. Go to montanawildlifegardener@blogspot.com, read his stuff and utilize his excellent lists of resources.
OK, too much writing and not enough pictures.

CleanGreenNatives

2009-08-07T11:25:00.000-04:00