You’ll find a nice but limited availability of shrubs native to the Apalachicola area available in nurseries, but the delightful landscape possibilities far exceed what’s in the market. Below are photos and a bit of information on plants I believe have great potential for Forgotten Coast gardens.
1. Our Native Marsh Rose
“Truth and Roses have thorns about them. ” Thoreau
Marsh Rose, Rosa palustris, shows up along wet edges where borrow ditches have been carved out to build roadways. It’s native from our area eastward to Jacksonville, and into the northern third of the Peninsula. It’s rhizomatous, which means you’ll want to give the plant a bit of space along which to send up its canes, which reach 3-4 feet in height and branch to a soft fullness. And yes, the stems bear annoying but very small prickles. But the foliage is beautiful (small leaves with 5-7 leaflets), and the flowers are perfection, small (about 2″ across) 5-petalled roses in a clear soft but absolute pink. Check out the photos below.
As a member of the Rose family in good standing, this is one of a few Roses native to Florida, but not limited to our state. It can be seen growing in much of the Eastern US. Plants are available from a few nurseries, but they can be grown from seed, if you enjoy this kind of challenge. And they are rhizomatous, so cuttings that include a bit of underground stem should stand a good chance of success. The Everwide Farms site tells us: “To soften the hard coating on these seeds, rub them lightly with sandpaper or soak them in 180 degrees F water overnight. Mix the seeds with moist sand and store in the refrigerator for 4 months before planting. Sow the seed in early spring, planting 1/2” deep. Keep the soil lightly moist until germination, which is notoriously slow and irregular. Some seeds may not sprout until the next year. “
The specific epithet, “palustris,”t ells us the plant grows in wet or swampy sites, making it a good option for Coastal gardens close to ditches, shallow ponds, and moist drainage slopes.
2. A Bush for Pushing Buttons
“A hidden spark of the dream sleeps In the forest and waits In the celestial spheres of the brain.” Stojanovic
Very common along wet edges throughout the Panhandle, Button Willow, Cephalanthus occidentalis, is under-appreciated as a landscape plant. Most specimens are just 3-5 feet tall, but given time and the right habitat, they can reach tree size. Specimens in Tate’s Hell State Forest exceed 30 feet in height. The shrub will form small thickets in full sun, or partial shade, and in moist to boggy soils. Briefly deciduous, branches leaf out in spring, producing short stems with moderate-sized, paired (opposite on the stem) leaves, each stem terminating with a display of orb-like (I mean perfectly spherical) clusters of tiny white flowers. This is an enchanting plant to encounter, one that any homeowner would enjoy growing.
Many other plants in the Rubiaceae show up as shrubs in tropical landscapes, which means Floridians can enjoy Ixora, Hamelia, and Psychotria, but Cephalanthus (which translates as a head , cephalum, of flowers, anthos) is one of the few woody temperate natives. Plants are available from nurseries, including some selected clones. They can be successfully rooted from cuttings.
3. Erythrina, a banner for the Ruby-throated
Red Banners along the Wayside
Driving along US 98, east of the intersection with SR 65, it’s common to spot short towers of bright red flowers seeming to emerge right from ground. If you stop to investigate, you’ll find these long inflorescences belong to Erythrina herbacea, a prickly, soft-stemmed, sprawling shrub with trifoliate leaves, reminiscent of those on bean vines and kudzu. That similarity should be no surprise, since these plants are all members of the large and varied bean family, along with peanuts, sweet peas, mimosas, clover, soybean, and redbud.
Commonly called Coral Bean because the seed are bright coral red, this is our native representative of a large pantropical genus of showy trees. Its specific epithet “herbacea” reminds us this plant makes lax stems that die back each fall, sometimes to the ground. Given structure to lean against, you’ll sometimes find plants that leave a vegetative impression. But you’ll want to cultivate this curious bean for its lengthy and long-lasting flowering stalks that bear a succession of bright red tubular flowers, a display that seems timed to greet arrival of migrant Ruby-throated Hummers. Plants are readily available through growers, but you can also save and plant seed that are produced in the contorted pods; they germinate well and are easy to grow.
4. Apalachee Tea – a Holly Ritual
An incredibly fine, small-leaved evergreen shrub, used in landscapes around the South, is the native Yaupon, Ilex vomitoria. Like English holly, around Christmas the plant is of great cheer, with shiny green leaves and brilliant red fruit, at least some of the plants are. As with other hollies, Yaupon is dioecious, the male (pollen bearing) flowers produced on a separate plant from the one that will produce berries. Both plants, however, have beautiful foliage, and you’ll need both to score a bountiful crop of the crystalline red fruit.
5. Bayberry
6. Beautyberry
7. Styrax
8. Sambucus
9. Cliftonia
Link to this Page: https://botanyincontext.com/nine-fine-native-shrubs/