Firespike can really fool you. You might think that a plant native to Central America would perform poorly in cold weather, but this species is capable of doing quite well along a huge swath of the U.S. running almost uninterrupted from southern South … Continue reading
Category Archives: Butterfly and Hummingbird Gardening
Bauhinia is a large genus — more than 500 species — of trees and shrubs native to both the Old World and New World tropics. Typically, their leaf pairs are arranged in a butterfly wing, or back-to-back, configuration. Therein lies … Continue reading
It sounds like a headline out of the National Enquirer, but it’s true. Hibiscus sabdariffa, commonly known as roselle, not only has the capacity to taste like our popular condiment, but it has other tasty and valuable properties as well. … Continue reading
If the Desert Cassia could talk, it would almost certainly wail, “Woe is me!” And who could blame it? After all, botanists have been tinkering with its name seemingly for years. It was moved from the genus Senna to the … Continue reading
One of the most striking of winter-flowering trees found in southern Florida is the African Tulip Tree, Spathodea campanulata. This fast-grower is monotypic, i.e., the sole species in its genus. It is native to tropical areas of western and central … Continue reading