Swamp Rose - Rosa palustris

Over the years many people have asked me about Florida native roses and I never had anything to tell them until now. This is the first year that I had the opportunity grow Swamp Rose (Rosa palustris) and see it bloom.

Swamp Rose is the most common of the three Florida native Rosa species. It can grow up to 7 feet tall and it can spread by suckers over time. It’s large prickles have a downward curve to them and are unforgiving if you get caught up in them. The species name “palustris” means “marsh loving” hence it’s common name and the ecosystem you normally find this plant growing. This Rose can be grown in very poorly drained soils, ditches, or almost any other wet areas you can imagine. 

As I am sure you are aware cut-roses generally have no fragrance. This is because the scent has been bred out in order to get perfect massive blooms. I never knew until this year what I was missing. The fragrance of this pale pink bloom is breathtaking. If I were a Rose breeder I would do whatever it takes to get the Rose to smell that sweet again. 

The blooms start to appear in spring and are either solitary or borne in clusters. Depending on where you are you may see flowers into the summer. I took these pictures in May in Hawthorne, Florida.

This plant would make an excellent addition to your yard if you had an out of the way, low lying area where you could enjoy the blooms in the spring but not endure the hassles of the prickles in a high traffic area. The rose hips are also a good food source for birds so this bush can increase birding opportunities in your yard. This Rose’s growth habit allows it to be trained on a trellis or fence as well.

Camphor Weed, Heterotheca subaxillaries

Another prime indicator that Fall is around the corner is Camphor Weed, Heterotheca subaxillaries.  It starts blooming yellow flowers in August and continues to produce new blooms through October in the Gainesville area.  You can still find some new blooms in November but you will find that most of the plant is producing seed. The flowers are small but they are numerous creating a big splash of color to the roadside,

 Camphor Weed is often found in pinelands, on sandy roadsides, and in disturbed areas throughout Florida and in much of the United States. It's leaves have a rough texture when touched and may leave your hand feeling a little sticky due to glands on their leaf's surface. When the leaf is crushed it emits an odor similar to camphor hence the plant's common name. The leaves also have a very interesting shape and attachment to the stem. The margins are wavy and they attach by clasping to the stem. 

Many species benefit from and are attracted to this plant. While I was photographing this particular specimen I was amazed at how much was going on in the 3 foot canopy of this roadside plant.

Moths come to get nectar.

As well as butterflies.

Spiders come to hunt, as they are opportunists. 

This spider's color completely blends in with the plant's foliage. 

This baby dragonfly didn't make it. 

I read that birds will come and eat the seeds of this plant but I have not witnessed that myself. The seed is an achene. It is found in the white puffy ball pictured above. One flower will produce many seeds. Below are some seeds germinating from seed I collected.

Beautyberry - Callicarpa americana

     Here in Gainesville Fall is upon us. It almost seemed that on August first the weather started to lighten up a bit. It’s funny how a brutal summer will make 90 degree highs seem tolerable. With the Fall season comes change….. a new school year, nicer weather, and colorful plants in the Florida landscape.

      Yes, I said “Fall, color, Florida, and landscape.” all in the same sentence. It is true that in most of Florida the only tree you may see change color for Fall is the Red Maple while in northern states entire plant communities light up mountainsides with a spectacular array of colors. You will have to look a little harder in Florida but the colors are here!

      May I present Beautyberry to you. This woody shrub, to me, is a great indicator of Autumn’s arrival. Right now I can spot a Beautyberry at 60 miles an hour due to the glow of the berries. They have such a brilliant color to them that they just pop out of the landscape.

     The scientific name for Beautyberry is Callicarpa americana. The genus Callicarpa is actually a compound word from the Greek words for “beautiful” and “fruit” For once the people who give plants common names got it right! I could just see them calling this Beautyweed or Uglyberry the way they name some other plants….

     Beautyberry flowers are white to pinkish in color and are usually present late spring to fall depending on where you live. The leaves are so large and the plant so bushy at times that you may not even see the flowers.

     The berries like the flowers are borne on the stem of the shrub.  The berries start green and ripen to a brilliant purple. As they ripen the berries increase in weight. When all the berries are ripe the branches of this multi-stemmed shrub bend downward revealing giant clusters of berries.

     The berries persist on the plant well into winter and are a good food source for many different animals. Beautyberry is deciduous which basically means it drops its leaves and goes dormant.  If you have a Beautyberry in your yard you can cut back the bare stems very hard so you won’t have a scraggily bunch of stems sticking out of your garden and it will come back from roots in the Spring.

Beautyberry can be grown in shade or full sun and can tolerate many different soil environments making it a great addition to you Florida friendly landscape

Purple Thistle – Cirsium horridulum

Purple Thistle – Cirsium horridulum

I have finally found it! I have met my match! Purple Thistle is a very interesting and beautiful plant that I have absolutely no interest in growing. Its genus is Cirsium which is a name from the greek relative to our Thistle. Stearn’s Dictionary of Plant Names says that this “genus has a great many pernicious weeds and very few plants of value to the gardener.” Also, its species horridulum means very prickly.  Step too closely or kneel in the wrong place and you will find out why this species of Thistle was given the name “horridulum.”

C. horridulum is one of 7 species of Cirsium in Florida. Only one of those is not native but all of them are not nice. All have one form or another of a spiny lance like leaf that will be noticed if you are weeding without gloves.  The species horridulum is the nastiest though. It’s upright herbaceous stem is formed by alternate spiny leaves that wrap around each other at the base of the plant.  It’s leaves are longest and densest at the base of the plant where it forms a spiny rosette. This plant can be from 1 – 5 feet tall and its large head of disk flowers can range from red to pink to purple to white having one – several flowers heads per plant. It can be found growing in ditches, on roadsides, in fields, and in disturbed areas. You may also notice Blue Eyed Grass (S. angustifolium) growing in the same ditches I took most of the pictures.

Its flower is seems to bloom out of a very harsh environment yet it has an almost soft appearance. Its seed is born out of the middle of the flower head waiting for the wind to take it away. I will not be collecting seed of this plant. However, if one randomly comes up in my yard and is not in a hazardous place I will not show to the blade of my hoe but the lens of my camera. This plant is extremely hazardous to humans but not to butterflies. It is an attractant to Sulfer, Swallowtail, and Skipper butterflies and also a host plant for the Metalmark caterpillars who feed on it’s leaves. 

A great gift for an enemy 

Flowers about to emerge

 Random spider burrowing in the flower

Purple Thistle in seed

Sulfur Butterfly on Purple Thistle

Cercis canadensis (Red Bud)

Another tree currently blooming in the North Central Florida landscape that cannot go unnoticed is Cercis canadensis (Red Bud).  Despite its name, Red Bud has more of a prurplish to pink flower that should remind you of a bean flower. That is because this tree is a member of the pea family Fabaceae and plants within the same family usually exhibit a very similar flower. That being said the fruit of Red Bud is a pod. Red Bud’s native range is Florida to New Mexico and along the eastern seaboard north to Canada.

Red Bud grows between 15 and 30 feet tall and is not much to look at in the winter when it has no leaves. But it will remind you why you planted it there Janurary – March (depending on where you live) when the flowers start to open. The trunk and old branches of the tree are covered with flowers and the tree seems to glow a hue you only see in sunsets. The flowers attract hummingbirds, bees and butterflies to your yard.  Planted in the right place this is an all around rewarding tree.

Wild Plums (Prunus)

Wild Plums are blooming across Florida now and they are stunning.  As the trees reach full bloom their showy display of white flowers had me pulling of the side of the road taking pictures and deciding, “I want to grow this plant.”

As it turns out, at this stage of development, it is hard to tell whether these are Prunus angustifolia (Chickasaw Plum) or Prunus umbellata (Flatwoods Plum). These species exhibit many similarities but at later stages of development there are key morphological differences that will help me tell the two apart.  I have made a chart listing the similarities and differences of these two species based on my own observations, literature I have read, and correspondence with Craig Hugel.

Prunus angustifolia ( Chickasaw Plum)	Prunus umbellata (Flatwoods Plum)
Deciduous	Deciduous
Flowers are white with 5 petals	Flowers are white with 5 petals
Flowers in Spring before leaves flush	Flowers in Spring before leaves flush
Flowers attract bees	Flowers attract bees
Grows up to +/- 20 feet tall	Grows up to  +/- 15 feet tall
Multi-trunked or crooked stems	Tall thin single trunked tree
Wide crown	Narrow crown
Mature leaf has a distinct “V” fold	Mature leaf has a slight “V” fold and flatter
Moderate salt tolerance	No salt tolerance
Fruit is +/- ½” in diameter	Fruit is +/- ½” in diameter
Fruit is red to yellow	Fruit is red to purple
Fruit is tart and makes a good jelly	Fruit is tart and makes a good jelly
Fruit attracts wildlife	Fruit attracts wildlife

Thanks to Craig Hugel for information that helped me put this together.

http://pinellas.fnpschapters.org/wildplums.html

Scarletcreeper (Morning-Glory)

The scientific name for Scarletcreeper is Ipomoea hederifolia. The genus (Ipomoea) is from Greek: ips meaning worm and homois meaning similar to; referring to the sprawling growth habit of this vine. The species (hederifolia) comes from the Latin word for Ivy which is Hedera and the Latin word for leaf which is folia. It should be noted that not all the leaves on the same plant resemble those of the Ivy. Some leaves are heart shaped and others are Ivy shaped on the same plant.

I found this patch of Scarletcreeper growing on the edge of Pine forest thriving even without rain for the prior two months.  The vine was growing amongst a thick patch of Maidencane (Panicum hemitomon) whose ditch was dry.  It's vibrant red tubular flowers attract many butterflies for feeding and I imagine that hummingbirds might even be attracted to these due to the flower's shape.

The seed of Morning-Glory are said to be toxic if ingested.  I collected some seeds to check viability and I harvested some vegetative material for cuttings. I am going to try and grow this plant in a 3 gallon pot with a trellis and see how it looks then.  I'm sure that this native species of Morning-glory would make a beautiful privacy screen in your yard or cover a trellis you have over a bench to create a thick shade.

Above is a picture of a seedling at about 2 weeks after sowing. The primary leaves have an interesting shape to them and I also like the reddish foliage.