Weekly plant profile of Florida Favorites.
Chickasaw plum is a deciduous flowering shrub or small tree that produces profuse white blooms, making for a spectacular early spring display. It occurs naturally in dry hammocks, woodland edges, and disturbed areas and roadsides. The flowers are attractive to pollinators; the fruit is eaten by birds and other wildlife — and humans! (They are quite tart!)
Coral honeysuckle is a robust, woody vine that is mostly evergreen, but can be deciduous in colder climes. Its showy blooms are scarlet red to reddish-orange and are attractive to many butterflies. Hummingbirds find them irresistible and birds such as cardinals enjoy the fruits.
Wild petunia is a low-growing, erect perennial wildflower that typically blooms in late spring through late summer/early fall. It occurs naturally in mesic hammocks, flatwoods and sandhills, and along roadsides and in disturbed sites. It is the host plant for the white peacock (Anartia jatrophae) and common buckeye (Junonia coenia) butterflies, but attracts a variety of pollinators.
Also known as Southern fleabane and daisy fleabane, oakleaf fleabane is a delicate, short-lived perennial wildflower. It typically blooms in spring and summer and attracts a variety of pollinators. It occurs naturally in sandhills and moist hammocks as well as in disturbed sites and along roadsides.
Florida greeneyes’ beautiful yellow flowers appear in spring in sandhills, pine flatwoods, and mixed upland forests, as well as along dry roadsides and in ruderal areas. They attract a variety of pollinators and are endemic to Florida.
Walter’s viburnum occurs naturally in hydric hammocks, riverine forests, floodplain swamps and bottomland forests. Pollinators are attracted to its showy spring flowers, while birds and other wildlife feast on its abundant summer and fall fruit production and use its dense foliage for nesting and cover.
Cardinalflower is a perennial herbaceous plant that produces erect spikes of brilliant red blooms. It typically flowers in summer through early winter in floodplain forests, riverine swamps, spring runs and along river and stream edges. It attracts hummingbirds, butterflies and bees.
Lyreleaf sage is an attractive perennial that produces leafless spikes of lavender to bluish, tubular flowers. Bees are its predominant pollinator, but it also attracts butterflies and hummingbirds. It typically flowers in late winter through late spring along woodland edges, in open areas and in disturbed sites.
Buttonsage is a woody, evergreen shrub that produces dense clusters of small, fragrant, whitish to lavender flowers. It occurs naturally along coastal strands, dunes, hammocks, and pinelands in coastal counties from Pinellas (on the west) and Brevard (on the east) south to Monroe and into the Keys.
Christmasberry gets its common name from the bright red, egg-shaped berries that it produces in abundance in December. It has also been referred to as Carolina desert-thorn, which is a reference to the occasional thorns borne on its branches. The nectar of the flowers attract a variety of butterflies and moths. The berries, while toxic to some animals, are a favorite food source for many birds. Christmasberry is a close relative of the Goji berry (Lycium barbarum, Lycium chinense).
Burr marigold is an annual wildflower that grows en masse in wetlands and along river and marsh edges throughout Florida. Its bright yellow flowers appear in late fall through early winter and attract many bees and butterflies. Its seeds have two barb-like bristles on the end that stick to clothing, hair and animal fur.
Climbing aster is a robust vine-like shrub that produces many fragrant daisy-like blooms of lavender to pinkish or even bluish. It occurs naturally in floodplain swamps and marshes, in coastal hammocks and wet pine flatwoods, and along riverbanks and lake edges, and is an excellent nectar source for many butterflies and bees.
Drumheads is a low-growing wildflower that blooms from late spring through fall. They occur naturally throughout most of Florida in wet pinelands, savannas and other open wetland habitats, as well as along marsh edges. The name Polygala comes from the Greek polys, which means “many or much,” and gala, which means “milk.” It is so-named because it was once believed that the presence of Polygala species in cow fields would result in higher milk production.
Garberia is a member of the Eupatorieae tribe of the Aster family, whose members produce flowers consisting of only disk and no ray florets. It is unlike most Aster species in that its growth habit is woody and shrubby rather than herbaceous. It is endemic to Florida’s north and central peninsula, and occurs naturally in scrub and xeric hammocks. It is a state-listed threatened species.
Narrowleaf sunflower (also known as swamp sunflower) is one of Florida’s most common sunflowers. It occurs naturally in marshes, wet flatwoods, and roadside ditches and is attractive to bees, butterflies and birds.