When Dr. Edwin Menninger bemoaned the “solid green” of Florida’s native flora, he must have forgotten about Salvia coccinea. If you want to add brilliant color to your home landscape, please consider this striking native shrub. Commonly known as Scarlet Sage, … Continue reading
Category Archives: Butterfly and Hummingbird Gardening
If you’re not already familiar with Duranta erecta, now is a good time to get acquainted with this very attractive New World flowering species. Like a lot of plants, it comes with its own little bag of mysteries: Its current … Continue reading
No less a publication than Southern Living magazine has long recommended our native Firebush, Hamelia patens, to its readership. And it’s no wonder. The species has many endearing qualities. First, if not foremost, it’s rather cold-tolerant. The Florida Native Plant … Continue reading
The mere mention of the word Bougainvillea conjures up nasty thorns before beautiful flowers. Many people love the flowers, but not the headache of trying to prune this vine without getting torn up by its vicious thorns. Now there is … Continue reading
Brazilian Red Cloak (Megaskepasma erythrochlamys) was included in a June 2015 article on this website about hedge material, but it merits special attention now that it is blooming spectacularly. This single-species genus is a New World native that occurs in … Continue reading