Chickasaw Plum

Chickasaw Plum

The Chickasaw plum is covered in beautiful small white flowers in the spring. Photo credit: UF IFAS

The native Chickasaw plum is a beautiful smaller tree (12-20 ft mature height) that is perfect for front yards, small areas, and streetscapes. True to its name, the Chickasaw plum was historically an important food source to Native American tribes in the southeast, who cultivated the trees in settlements well before the arrival of Europeans. They typically harvested and then dried the fruit to preserve it. Botanist-explorer William Bartram noted the species during his travels through the southeast in the 1700’s. He rarely saw it in the forests, and hypothesized that it was brought over from west of the Mississippi River.

Humans and wildlife find Chickasaw plums delicious. Photo credit: UF IFAS

One of the first trees to bloom each spring, the Chickasaw plum’s white, fragrant flowers and delicious red fruit make it charmingly aesthetic and appealing to humans and wildlife alike. The plums taste great eaten fresh from the tree but can be processed into jelly or wine. Chickasaw plums serve as host plants for the red spotted purple butterfly and their fruit make them popular with other wildlife. These trees are fast growers and typically multi-trunked.

Almost any landscape works for the Chickasaw plum, as it can grow in full sun, partial sun, or partial shade, and tolerates a wide variety of soil types. The species is very drought tolerant and performs well in sandy soils.

The plum is in the rose family and has thorns, so it is wise to be aware of these if young children might play near the tree.

Winter is ideal tree-planting time in Florida. While national Arbor Day is in spring, Florida’s Arbor Day is the 3rd Friday of January due to our milder winters.

For more information about tree selection in northwest Florida, contact your local county Extension office.

Choosing a Tree for Your Landscape

Choosing a Tree for Your Landscape

American fringetree Chionanthus virginicus), a native deciduous small tree with delicate blooms in spring. Photo credit: Mary Salinas, UF/IFAS Extension.

January and February are ideal months for adding a tree or two to your landscape in the Florida panhandle. In the cooler weather, the ground stays moist for a longer time, which helps prevent drought stress and the drying out of the rootball. Also, the winds are generally milder, and the tree will have a chance to get established and anchored in before the wilder winds of summer roll in.

Before investing time and money in a tree, take a few minutes and be sure that the species you choose is right for your particular landscape.

Here are some things to consider:

  • Whether the area can accommodate the ultimate size of the tree, both height and width, and not grow into overhead wires, streetlights, or your house.
  • Are there any underground utilities or septic? A call to 811 can check on where your utilities are.
  • The hardiness zone for the tree. Be aware that zone 8 or 9 in the western United States is a different climate with respect to moisture than the same zone 8 or 9 in Florida.
  • Whether the tree can thrive in your soil – sandy, loam or clay, loose or compacted, high and dry, or wet and low.
  • The amount of sun it requires.
  • Whether you want native species that provide food and habitat for native birds and animals.
  • Salt-tolerance if located on the coast.
  • Wind tolerance, especially if located on the coast. Many fast-growing trees are brittle and susceptible to breakage.
  • Whether you prefer an evergreen or deciduous tree. Evergreen trees, like hollies, provide a natural screen all year while some deciduous trees, like maple and bald cypress, provide fall color.
  • Is the tree messy, dropping large seed pods, fruit, or leaves?
  • The color and shape of leaves and flowers and other ornamental qualities.
  • Whether the tree species has known disease or pest issues.

Florida red anise (Illicium floridanum), a small tree/large shrub for shady locations. Photo credit: Mary Salinas UF/IFAS Extension.

Once you choose what species of tree you will add to your landscape, here’s information on Selecting Quality Trees from the Nursery.

Optimum tree health and vigor also depends on the correct methods of Planting and Establishing Trees.

And this site has even more comprehensive information on trees and shrubs: University of Florida/IFAS Landscape Plants.

Titi In Bloom This Spring

Titi In Bloom This Spring

 

 

Black Titi in bloom.  Flower clusters upright at tips of branches.  An excellent source of nectar and pollen for honey production.  Image: Alex Bolques

Black Titi in bloom. Flower clusters upright at tips of branches. An excellent source of nectar and pollen for honey production. Image: Alex Bolques

     Black Titi (also known as Spring Titi or Buckwheat Tree (Cliftonia monophylla (Lam.) Britton ex Sarg. is a native shrub or tree that can be found growing along streams and boggy areas of the Florida Panhandle.  It can tolerate acidic wetland soils and once established can also tolerate dry soils in the landscape.  Black Titi can reach 15 – 30 feet in height with 3 – 4 inches of trunk diameter. Its bloom period lasts February through March. 

 

Bee visits a Black Titi flower.  Image credit: Alex Bolques

Bee visits a Black Titi flower. Image credit: Alex Bolques

Beekeepers love it because it is a wonderful source of nectar and pollen for honey production.  Beginning beekeepers may confuse Black Titi with White Titi (also known as Summer Titi or Swamp Titi (Cyrilla racemiflora L.). It should not be grown as a honeybee pollinator plant.  The nectar and/or pollen of White Titi can promote a condition known as “Purple brood”, which can be detrimental to honeybee immature stages.The flower of the spring flowering Black Titi is a raceme, a cluster of flowers along a central stem, that appears as an upright cluster on the tip of branches.  The flower of the summer flowering White Titi is also a raceme, not as upright, more elongated. Visit the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service plant database website and click on the image tab to see Black Titi (Buckwheat Tree) or White Titi (Swamp Titi) to view differences in flower morphology.