Richard Lyons Nursery, Inc.

Rare & Unusual Tropical Trees & Plants, Flowering, Fruit, Native, Palm, Bamboo, Heliconia, Hummingbird, Butterfly

The palm from . . . where?

To say that Dypsis cabadae has taken a long, tortuous path to discovery would be a major understatement. Superficially, it appeared that the species was first found in the early 1950s in the garden of a Dr. Cabada near Cienfuegos, Cuba, but it could not be identified. After Cabada’s death, the director of Harvard University’s nearby Atkins Garden…
Read more


April 18, 2015 0

Another Role for Stoppers

We last dealt with the trees known as stoppers in an article published on the Richard Lyons’ Nursery website on March 2, 2013. Legend has it that these species got that common name because their constituents were used in concoctions to stop, er, uh, intestinal problems. An alternate, more pleasant explanation is that these plants could be used to create a thicket capable…
Read more


April 10, 2015 0

Spring Makes a Big-Time Entrance

Today may be the official first day of spring, but, in truth, the season popped out early this year, and in no small way. Plants that have lain dormant during the winter months have begun to push new leaves. We’ve even seeing new weeds which weren’t here during the winter. (Who says there’s no winter…
Read more


March 20, 2015 0

Plants in Bloom Around The Nursery

The last couple of weeks have brought more normal daytime and nighttime temperatures back to South Florida, along with some substantial rainfall.  This has brought spring to the region, and with it, many plants have started to come out of their winter dormancy.  Looking around the nursery, the Cochlospermum vitifolium(Buttercup Tree), Petrea volubilis var. albiflora…
Read more


March 8, 2015 0

Ready for Mangos?, Part VI

This installment concludes our survey of mango cultivars available at Richard Lyons’ Nursery. This year’s mango crop in southern Florida continues to show great potential. There has been no cold outbreak serious enough to damage either flowers or pollinators, and we are well beyond the statistical ‘dead of winter.’ March winds have started a little early, but…
Read more


February 27, 2015 0