One of the most reliable plants in southern and central Florida for creating a dense and uniform hedge is Eugenia uniflora, better known as Surinam Cherry. Few other plants stay full from bottom to top as they increase in size and age. This species comes with an interesting story that says something about the nature of plant exploration…
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Agaves comprise just over 200 species of succulent plants native to the New World, from the southwestern U.S. to northern South America. They are characterized by a rosette of fleshy, stiff leaves capable of withstanding severe heat and drought. Over time, the common name Century Plant has been attached to the genus on the claim that flowering occurs just…
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Despite its name, the ming fern is a flowering plant and not a fern at all. It produces white flowers in the spring to early summer. It is in the same genus as the edible cultivated perennial vegetable, Asparagus officinalis. Ming Ferns do well in full sun as well as shaded locations. A native to…
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If you are only passingly familiar with cycads, you’re missing out on one of the most ancient and interesting representatives of the plant kingdom. The first cycads arose somewhere around 280 million years ago, but came into their own in the Jurassic Period, the same time dinosaurs began to dominate, roughly 200 to 145 million years ago. But you can’t say that’s when cycads really flowered, because they’re…
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The Fukien Tea Plant is named for the Fukien or Fujien Province of S. China where it is native. Its botanical name which most people are familiar with is Carmona microphylla. However, recently it has been renamed Ehretia buxifolia. It is a member of the Boraginaceae family, or Borage Family. In the Philippines, the leaves…
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