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.

Planning for Wildlife Habitat

Planning for Wildlife Habitat

A hummingbird gathering nectar from a firespike (Odontonema strictum) flower. Photo Credit: Knolllandscapindesign.com

Do you enjoy watching a variety of birds and butterflies in your landscape?  Have you ever watched squirrels get into the birdfeeder?  Children may learn about wildlife by watching through a window.  Food, water, cover, and space are four essential elements that will create the best habitat for wildlife.  Food could be as simple as adding feeders to attract birds to your yard but having a habitat that sustains them is important.  Florida wildlife and Florida native plants evolved together and are often interdependent.  It is a must to understand what sustains the species you are wanting to attract to your area.  Different species prefer different food/plants.  Insects also provide birds a food source for their young.

Water can be bird baths, man-made ponds, and natural bodies of water such as streams, lakes, ponds on your property.  When relying on a bird bath for your water supply make sure the water is fresh and clean.  Shallow water (1-1.5 inches) is better than deep (over 3 inches).  Birds like sloping sides and a textured surface; they prefer to walk into water rather than dive in headfirst.  Place the bath 5 to 10 feet from a protective cover like shrubs or trees.  This needs to be close enough for the birds to be able to reach safety if there is danger from predators.  A small outpost for birds to land on near the bath can help them check for predators before heading to the bath.

Cover will provide a place to raise young and should have vertical layers for animals to use for safety, shelter, and nests.  Examples of cover that could be added to the landscape are snags that give food for woodpeckers and nesting perches.  Or build your own nesting boxes that are species specific for owls, bees, and bats.  All bats eat insects and substantially reduce the number of nocturnal insects in a neighborhood.

The permanently wet detention pond lined with cypress trees and sawgrass also provides habitat for fish, birds, and reptiles. Photo Credit: Carrie Stevenson, University of Florida/IFAS Extension – Escambia County

Lastly it is important to think of your space.  Create large patches of good habitat that span several landscapes or consider working with your neighbors to link the backyard habitats and create a larger area.  It is all about the “Right Plant, Right Place” concept and understanding the area you are working with and the possibilities.  When you go into the last step of planting and attracting wildlife have a plan and know what you would like to attract.  Do your research on what you will need for that wildlife and use your resources, ask your local extension agent for ideas and suggestions!

Many plants in our native landscape provide much of what attracts wildlife and provides them with at least one of the four essential elements.  The article “Planting for Wildlife Habitat!” will give you some ideas of plants and trees that do well in the North Florida area and will help to attract the wildlife you desire!

Chickasaw Plum

Planting for Wildlife Habitat!

Humans and wildlife find Chickasaw plums delicious. Photo credit: University of Florida/IFAS

There are many trees that can be a great addition to your space that will provide one of the four essential elements food, water, cover, and space.  Persimmon thrives in a wide variety of conditions from wet or sandy soil to lowlands or uplands.  Deer actively seek out persimmon trees, eating every fruit that is within reach as well as leaves and twigs in the fall and winter.  Other wildlife that enjoys the persimmon trees are squirrel, fox, bear, coyote, raccoon, opossum, and various birds including wild turkey.  The nectar from flowers provides a significant food resource for pollinator species like bees.  These trees are either male or female and at least 3 should be planted together to ensure pollination.  Live Oak is a solid tree that many people in this area said survived Hurricane Michael.  It provides acorns for food and deep shade.  Black Cherry is a host plant for Red-Spotted purple and Eastern Tiger Swallowtail.  Bitter fruit matures during the summer to fall and is used for jams, jellies, or liqueurs.  Fruits are highly prized by birds and other wildlife.  Wild cherry cough syrup is made from the reddish-brown, fragrant and bitter inner bark.  Yaupon Holly is another tree that birds and wildlife feed on the berries throughout the winter when food is scarce.  Leaves have the highest caffeine content of any other plant native to North America.  Some other trees to consider are Basswood, Red Cedar, Florida Hop tree, Elderberry, Slippery Elm, Sassafras, Chickasaw Plums, and the Toothache Tree.

While yard work is important to maintain an attractive lawn, if done successfully, the resident can spend quality time in other pursuits like watching the wildlife from the front porch.

There are many plants that for the longest time I thought were only a nuisance to the everyday gardener, but I truly learned the phrase “Right Plant, Right Place” with these next few plants that I am going to mention.  Smilax is a vine with thorns that is nearly impossible to get rid of and gets into our shrubs and landscape.  But in the right place smilax provides shelter and food for wildlife.  It has a blue-black berry in the spring and provides medicine, food, and dyes for humans.  There are 2 species of smilax that are only found in the panhandle.  Dog Fennel is native to fields, woodland edges, and roadsides and can be used as an insecticide and antifungal.  It has feather like leaves that are very aromatic.  Blackberry can grow wild and it is an all-around amazing plant for vitamins.  It’s fruit can help fight cancer and decrease cardiovascular disease.  Leaves and bark are useful medicinally and leaves can be used as a tea.  The last plant I must mention is the Beauty Berry.  It is known for its late fall bright purple fruits called drupes, not berries.  This plant attracts birds for food in the fall time in North Florida.  The drupes can also be used for jams and jellies.  Other plants that are great for attracting wildlife are Spiderwort, Dewberry, and Spanish Needle.

S.H.A.R.E. During National Pollinator Week – June 15-21, 2015

S.H.A.R.E. During National Pollinator Week – June 15-21, 2015

Green-headed Coneflower with American Copper and Bumble BeeEveryone with a landscape can make a difference for pollinators.  Simply Having Areas Reserved for the Environment enables homeowners, land managers, farmers, individuals, corporations, schools, roadside managers, and golf courses to increase the number of pollinators in the area by making conscious choices to include plants that provide essential habitat for bees, bats, birds, butterflies, moths, beetles, and hummingbirds.  What better time than during National Pollinator Week, June 15-21, 2015.

Initiated and managed by the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign, National Pollinator Week was unanimously approved and designated by the U.S. Senate in 2007.  Each year since, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture has signed the proclamation in an effort to address the urgent issue of declining pollinator populations.

Worldwide there is evidence that pollinating animals have suffered from loss of habitat, pesticide misuse, competition from invasive species, disease, and parasites.  Many pollinators are federally “listed species”, meaning that there is documented information confirming the disappearance and/or significant population reduction in natural areas.  The United States has lost over 50% of its managed honeybee colonies over the past ten years.  The European Union has been so concerned that they invested over $20 million investigating the status of pollinators in Europe.redbudbee5

Pollinator health affects everyone.  Worldwide, roughly 1,000 plants grown for food, beverages, fibers, spices, and medicines need to be pollinated by animals in order to produce the goods on which we depend.  Food and beverages produced with the help of pollinators include: apples, blueberries, chocolate, coffee, melons, peaches, potatoes, pumpkins, vanilla, almonds, and tequila.  In the U.S., pollination by honey bees, native bees, and other insects produces $40 billion worth of products annually.

Passion-FlowerThe native plants that can be identified and preserved or introduced include trees, shrubs, vines and perennials.  Some of them include:  Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis), Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium spp.), Passionflower (Passiflora spp.), Coreopsis (Coreopsis spp.), Goldenrod (Solidago spp.), Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta), and Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa).  Simply identifying and avoiding damaging many of the existing native plants will allow anyone to provide important homes and food for many different pollinating animals.  During National Pollinator Week S.H.A.R.E. your space.

 

For additional information:

UF Native Buzz

Gardening for Pollinators

Minimizing Honey Bee Exposure to Pesticides

The Xerces Society