Category: Butterfly and Hummingbird Gardening

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

White Alder (Turnera subulata)

Meet Turnera subulata, also known as Yellow Alder, White Alder, Yellow Buttercup, Politician’s Flower and Sage Rose.  By whatever name you prefer, you’ll find a reliable, easy-to-grow plant that will provide lots of color in your garden.  T. subulata is a perennial herb that reaches about 2 ft. high and can be grown as a nice low…
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March 30, 2013 0

Mandarin Hat Plant (Holmskioldia sanguinea)

The management and staff of Richard Lyons’ Nursery always make a sincere effort to urge customers to use both scientific and common names of plants. But considering how hard it is to say Holmskioldia sanguinea, we’ll forgive you if you favor the common names, Mandarin Hat Plant (the name preferred in southern Florida), Chinese Hat…
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March 9, 2013 0

Firespike (Odontonema strictum)

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 Carolina to southern Washington.  And it’s beautiful to boot! This evergreen shrub, known botanically as Odontonema…
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March 9, 2013 0

Native Florida Coffee Species (Psychotria ligustrifolia, P. nervosa, P. sulzneri)

Since 1958, grower Juan Valdez and his mule, Conchita, have been employed to put us in mind of some of the best coffee in the world.  These fictional characters have left an indelible impression on generations of consumers.  And right now you might be thinking how nice it would be to stroll through lush fields of coffee in Colombia. …
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February 9, 2013 0

Bauhinia blakeana (Hong Kong Orchid Tree)

Many botanists believe this tree is a hybrid between Bauhinia variegata and B. purpurea, and not a true species as its botanical name implies. The tree is sterile, so it does not produce seedpods and seeds.  This makes it an ideal Bauhinia, unlike many other Bauhinias which are invasive.   An individual tree was discovered in 1880 growing at a monastery in…
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December 15, 2012 0