In Jo's Yard - 67 Wild Lime Tree

Northerners come to Florida and “think palm trees”, but there are many other beautiful native trees.  My Wild Lime (Zanthoxylum fagara) is an example. It is known for its unusual foliage and fragrance.  You won’t get limes suitable for margaritas, but it can put out a tiny fruit that looks like a lime.  When it ripens the green skin opens to show two tiny black seeds that the birds like.  Its thorns make it a useful plant in buffer or screen area.  It will grow to 5-20 feet (height) and 2-12 feet (width).  It is evergreen, so it may provide some shade when it gets bigger.  On my Wild Lime tree, at least, the leaves are a yellow-green.  

This tree is host to for Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes) and Schaus' Swallowtail (Heraclides aristodemus) in southern Florida. 

RESOURCES:

https://www.fnps.org/plants/plant/zanthoxylum-fagara

https://flawildflowers.org/flower-friday-zanthoxylum-fagara/#:~:text=Wild%20lime%20(Zanthoxylum%20fagara),for%20birds%20and%20small%20wildlife. 
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fp619


                                              October 2018 - Three months after planting
                                   Wild Lime Tree with Pinelands lantana and Muhly grass

                                                          July 2018 - tiny lime fruits

                     September 2018 - the two fruits ripened, opened to offer shiny black seeds

                                June 2020 - a close-up of the foliage of my Wild Lime tree

In Jo's Yard - 66 Pineland lantana

Two of my front yard flower beds have Pineland Lantana (Lantana depressa) shrubs bordering them.  There are three other species: Lantana camara (an aggressive and invasive plant), Lantana involucrata and Lantana depressa var. sanibelensis.  This species – Lantana depressa – is the one most often planted in residential areas.  My plants have beautiful yellow flowers almost all year round.  They also have some shiny black berry like fruit, which at first I found alarming – thinking there was something attacking the flowers.  The birds enjoyed this fruit.     

Pineland Lantana is fairly slow growing, but can be trimmed to keep a tidy appearance in the Fall or Winter when there are fewer flowers.  The butterflies love visiting these flowers – I see them flitting around there frequently, when looking out my office window.  I’ve also watched as a crow, being chased by six mockingbirds, finally released the baby mockingbird it had kidnapped.  The baby bird hopped to the Pineland Lantana for cover. 

   

This native shrub is one of the lower maintenance, flowering plants in my yard. 

RESOURCES:

https://www.fnai.org/FieldGuide/pdf/Lantana_depressa_var_depressa.pdf
https://www.fnps.org/plants/plant/lantana-depressa-var-depressa

https://www.miamiherald.com/living/home-garden/article218656865.html

                         August 2018 Pineland Lantana blooms just 1 month after planting, 

                        October 2018 Pineland Lantana border with Wild Lime Tree & Muhly Grass

In Jo's Yard - 65 Bee Balm

Bee Balm (Monards punctada),  also known as dotted horse mint, is a late summer bloomer. It is described as having “showy flowers” – and the blooms are quite unusual – to me the shape is reminiscent of an elaborate crown or tiara. I don’t think of them as “showy” though, because of the pale pink / blush color.  The Bee Balm plant is quite lovely though.  

The plant can grow to 3 feet tall by 4 feet wide, but it is tolerant of being trimmed and shaped if you want to keep it tidy in a bed.  Bee Balm attracts a wide variety of pollinators – bees, butterflies, wasps.  The plant had many homeopathic uses – to treat ringworm and hookworm infections, has been used as an antiseptic in mouthwash and toothpaste – because of it is a natural source of the antiseptic compound, thymol. 

Bee Balm is an aggressive re-seeder, so you may want to cut the spent flower stalks as soon as possible. I read that it does not mix well with other wildflowers, so that explains why Green Isle Habitat Designer Kirsten Sharp-Ortega [Green Isle Gardens], planted it inside a bed, between my Flatwood Plum trees and behind the Pinelands Lantana.  The plant dies back down to the ground in the fall.

RESOURCES:

https://www.fnps.org/plants/plant/monarda-punctata
http://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/bayco/2016/09/16/attract-pollinators-with-dotted-horsemint/
https://flawildflowers.org/flower-friday-monarda-punctata/
http://hawthornhillwildflowers.blogspot.com/2010/11/dotted-horsemint-monarda-punctata.html

                    August 2018 – Bee Balm planted in July, starting to bloom

                             September 2018 Beautiful Bee Balm plant

                            September 2019 Bee Balm blooms in morning sun

In Jo's Yard - 64 Tropical Sage

Next to the Blanket Flower, I think the Tropical Sage (Salvia coccinea) is the most prolific flower in my garden.  My plants have flowers that are scarlet red, a rosy pink or white.  It is native all along the Southeast of the US from South Carolina to Florida to Texas.  It likes full sun to partial shade.  In my yard it grows best in the Wildflower garden that gets morning & afternoon sun, and grows also in the backyard which gets the afternoon sun.  It flowers nearly year-round depending on the weather, but typically from spring to first frost.  Tropical Sage pops up everywhere in my yard.  It is easily plucked from the ground and re-planted, or stuck in a pot to give as a gift.  I have found it growing up though the Scorpion-tail, in amongst the twinflower, all over the yard in the frog-fruit.  I love to look at its glowing red tubular flowers in the morning sun from my office window. 

The tubular flowers attract butterflies, hummingbirds, bees.  The sparrows and finches alight on it and pluck the seeds.  If not thinned out, it will easily take over the space.  You can pinch the spent flower stems at the bottom to encourage more flowers. 

I can highly recommend this flower if you just want to add a native plant to your bed, because it is so easy to grow. 

RESOURCES: 

https://www.fnps.org/assets/pdf/pubs/salvia_coccinea_tropicalsage.pdf

http://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/charlotteco/2017/11/20/tropical-sage-cheerful-little-native-flower/

                                        July 2019, bee (left) enjoys my red Tropical Sage

                        September 2019, white Tropical Sage in my Wildflower Garden