This week I have been noticing some of the beautiful perennials blooming at the Jackson County Extension office, and one struck me as especially beautiful. Indian Pink or Woodland Pinkroot (Spigelia marilandica), it turns out, is native to several counties in the Florida Panhandle.
Woodland Pinkroot, Indian Pink. Flower Closeup. Image Credit: Matthew Orwat, UF/IFAS Extension
Woodland Pinkroot is a long-lived perennial that has a very showy but short blooming cycle each spring. It thrives in part shade as a small shrublike forb between 2-3 feet tall. Zones 8a and 8b are its native range in Florida and it is often found in moist, sandy, and well-drained acidic soils. This is not a plant that will tolerate salty soils or salt spray, so planting on the coast is not recommended. Additionally, it dies to the ground in the winter, so care must be taken when weeding the garden to preserve this perennial from inadvertent destruction.
This showy native is easy to propagate from seed or root division but not from cuttings. What’s more, it attracts hummingbirds with its tubular-shaped yellow and red flowers. Old flowers may be removed before seed set to extend the blooming season. One advantage for the urban garden is that it is not an aggressive grower but will need some help if competing with other aggressive native plants such as blue mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum).
Spigelia marilandica or Indian Pink, in full flower. Image credit: Matthew Orwat IF/IFAS Extension
This is one plant that I was not aware of until recently as it seems to be not well known even to long-term Florida gardeners. I think that it is a worthy addition to the native or Florida Friendly landscape if one has the right climatic conditions for it to thrive, namely partial shade and well-drained, moist, and acidic soil.
For more information check out these popular native plant websites:
Due to several unique challenges home gardeners and nursery owners are often baffled when trying to incorporate roses into landscapes. Consequently, they ignore roses altogether or limit themselves to cultivars in the knockout or drift series. While knockout roses and drift roses are commonly planted throughout the lower south, and deservedly so, many other roses that will perform equally well should be considered for inclusion into landscapes and flower gardens.
‘Anna Jung’ Tea Rose. Image Credit: Matthew J. Orwat, UF / IFAS Extension
While there are several rose classes that will perform well throughout the Florida panhandle, the focus here will be on the Tea class. Roses in the Tea class originated in China over 1000 years ago. Many cultivars of ancient origin reached Europe through trade routes with Italy, England, and France. In the 1700s, the art and science of plant breeding was taking Europe by storm, so horticulturists were crossing the repeat-blooming Chinese roses with well-known European and Middle Eastern cultivars such as the Autumn Damask and Tuscany. Throughout the 1800s, many of these European and Chinese hybrid roses were created to grow around the Mediterranean. In the mid-1800s, Tea roses began to be bred with high centered form and long vase life, therefore aristocratic families throughout northern Europe began to grow them in greenhouses for rose exhibitions and competitions.
At the end of the 1700s and throughout the 1800s, a substantial quantity of Tea roses were brought to the southern USA where they were noted to be of easy culture outdoors. Thus, by the mid-1800s, they graced the gardens of both the humble and the aristocratic. These roses became popular foundation landscape plants from zone 7b to 10, all the way to Bermuda, where many “mystery roses” are found growing today.
Although the popularity of the Tea roses were eclipsed in the 1920s by the showier Hybrid Teas, they have regained popularity in mild-climate locales in the USA due to their ease of culture and prolific blooming habits. Most showy Hybrid Tea and Floribunda roses require fungicide sprays to thrive in the humid Florida Panhandle climate, but most of the Tea roses will thrive without the application of fungicide sprays of any kind. When established, most are drought and insect resistant, and flower well into November and December, unless an early hard freeze occurs. One small disadvantage to Tea roses is that they are more cold-tender than other classes of roses. Almost all these roses will survive well in zones 8a-10, with a few of the climbing types only suited for zones 9a and warmer. None of the Tea in the author’s garden were killed by the December hard freeze, and only a few showed damage.
While there are over 100 worthy Tea cultivars to recommend, this article will focus on five Tea roses:
Anna Jung: Bred in 1903 by Nabonnand, Anna Jung is a showy cream and pink tea in the tradition of other large Tea roses Marie van Houtte and Safrano. It makes a six-by-five-foot shrub clothed in large apple-green leaves. Flower color is variable but ranges from cream and light pink to fuchsia in warm weather conditions. The scent is pungent, like freshly dried green tea leaves. This rose is highly vigorous and free flowering and tough, the author’s plant survived being partially uprooted by Hurricane Michael and is thriving again. Anna Jung was lost to commerce for decades in the United States, imported once again from France, where it has been available in the nursery trade continuously since its introduction. It is now sold by a few specialty rose nurseries in the southern USA.
Single flower of the Tea Rose Anna Jung. Image Credit: Matthew J. Orwat, UF / IFAS Extension
Le Pactole: This Tea rose was bred in 1834 and has been grown in the United States for many years. Some time in the 1930s-1950s it was no longer available commercially and was thought extinct but was found by rose hunters in California and re-introduced to the public in the 1990s. It has light yellow flowers, fading to white, with a lemon-tea scent that floats in the air. This prolifically blooming rose is rather thorny and makes a handsome plant 5 feet tall by 4 feet wide in zone 8a. This rose experiences some dieback under prolonged freezing conditions below 20 degrees F. It recovers well from setbacks and is relatively easy to grow.
Fragrant Tea Rose Le Pactole. Image Credit: Matthew J. Orwat, UF / IFAS Extension
Rosette Delizy: In 1922, the Tea roses were on their way out, but Paul Nabonnand had one last trick up his sleeve with the introduction of Rosette Delizy. This rose was meant to make a splash in European greenhouse rose production with its perfectly formed yellow and pink flowers, but it made an unlikely hit in the Gulf South due to its disease resistance and vibrant colors. Although Rosette Delizy struggles with cold hardiness north of USDA zone 8a, it is perfectly suited to the Florida panhandle.
Especially brightly colored example of Rosette Delizy, a Tea Rose introduced in 1922. Image Credit: Matthew J. Orwat, IF / IFAS Extension
Safrano: Peachy and cream blooms adorn this 4–5-foot plant with an eight-foot-wide, spreading habit. The new growth is deep red, and the foliage is dark green. Safrano can produce the most beautiful flowers in the garden during spring and fall, but summer blooms are small and few-petaled. This rose is ideal for a foundational landscape planting because of its wide stature and nearly evergreen foliage in zone 8b and warmer. Safrano is also one of the oldest available Tea roses, being introduced in 1839.
Spice:Often thought to be one of the original tea roses, ‘Hume’s Blush Tea Scented China’ or the 1830s rose ‘Caroline’, the cultivar we now refer to as “Spice” or “Bermuda Spice” was re-introduced to the horticultural world in the 1970s from the island of Bermuda. Spice thrives in the sub-tropical climate of the Florida panhandle, staying evergreen and producing flowers almost year-round. Blooms are light pink, fragrant, and often borne in clusters. This is one of the most disease-resistant roses of all, rarely showing any incidence of blackspot or powdery mildew. Mature plants are drought and heat tolerant and sit at about 5 feet tall and 4 feet wide.
“Spice”, the Bermuda Mystery Rose, might actually be the original ‘Hume’s Blush’, or the old Tea Rose ‘Caroline’ . Image Credit: Matthew J. Orwat, UF / IFAS Extension
A few notes about Tea rose culture:
They do not like to be pruned back hard, during the first 5 years of growth, only remove dead or diseased wood. Since they are usually sold own root, they need 3-4 years in the garden to become well established. Lastly, Tea roses do not bloom much during the hottest part of the summer but make up for it during late winter and late fall.
Here is a list of mail-order nurseries in the Southern USA that carry tea roses. This list is not exhaustive and does not contain nurseries on the west coast. If any nurseries were left off this list, it is not the author’s intention. No endorsement is made or implied.
As an avid herb gardener, I have often wondered why my oregano is often flavorless when incorporated into meals but still smells strong when handled in the garden. Thankfully our herb demonstration garden at UF/IFAS Extension Washington County Office was a site of a gigantic but flavorless oregano plant, so I was determined to solve the mystery as to why.
Healthy green oregano, although this selection is flavorless, is very pretty (Image Credit: Matthew Orwat)
Although most herb gardeners expect oregano to be pungent and flavorful, some selections don’t measure up. These plants usually possess the usual pleasant oregano odor but lack the intensity of flavor expected from the herb.
Common oregano, scientific name Origanum vulgare, is an open pollinated species and is grown from seed and sometimes cuttings. As such, it offers some level of genetic variation in the pungency of a given plant. Thus, when shopping for common oregano at a garden center one is likely to get stuck with a less than potent plant.
The good news is that there are quite a few named selections available of Origanum vulgare. The hybrid of Origanum vulgare, known as Italian oregano(Origanum x majoricum), is much more flavorful, as are some of the other cultivated varieties such as Greek oregano (Origanum vulgare var. hirtum). Although all of these may also be easily reproduced from seed, propagation from division or cuttings will ensure that the plant you have is a clone of the desired selection instead of a seedling with variable genetic traits.
In summation, the best strategy to employ when selecting flavorful oregano for the herb garden is to look for named varieties of oregano or subspecies such as Italian oregano. Also, it never hurts to sample the herb you are about to purchase to determine its potency!
The Q&A on Native Pollinators and their Favorite Flowers offered valuable information on many types of flowers that feed our many species of pollinators in Northwest FL. Below are the reference materials related to specific questions that were asked along with notes from the panel discussions.
Stephen Greer was asked which garden perennials are best for pollinators, he mentioned that Blanketflower, Cardinal Flower, Black Eyed Susan were his top three.
Julie McConnell was asked, what are some shrubs to benefit birds and pollinators? She stated that insects forage off lawn grasses, but good shrubs are Wax Myrtle, Saw Palmetto, American Beautyberry, Vibernum and Holly Species. Sandy Soil Pollinators: Firebush, Holly, Saw Palmetto, all drought tolerant and good for pollinators.
Julie says she also recommends Firespike, Goldenrod, Cardinal Flower, Saltbush,
What about Winter Pollinator Plants?
Winter: Mahonia, Fatsia, both good plants for pollinators in shady areas, also Beth added that winter vegetables help pollinators in the winter, such as carrot, wild radish, provide forage for bees, bumblebees and plasterer bees, carpenter bees. Matt Lollar said daikon radish is another good pollinator plant for fall and winter.
Question from Facebook: Are Loquat trees good for pollinators. How large do they get and when do they bloom? Do they need shade or full sun?
Typical Hollow Heart condition as seen on this Red Lasoda potato. Image Credit: Matthew Orwat, UF/IFAS
One of the most frustrating things about gardening is finding something wrong with a crop that cannot be fixed. I witnessed this last week when checking on a problem with some recently harvested potatoes.
Sometimes potatoes that look perfect on the outside might not be perfect on the inside. Unfortunately, this is the case when potatoes are afflicted by the physiological disorder “hollow heart” or “brown center”.
The disorder that causes hollow heart or brown center in the potato tuber manifests when cells die inside while potatoes are growing too quickly or unevenly, such as when recovering from environmental stress or over fertilization.
Weather extremes during tuber development cause plant stress. Weather conditions that may cause brown center are early season cool nights, which cause soil temperatures to be below the mid-50s for around a week or longer. Soil moisture at 80% or greater may also cause the same brown center symptoms.
Typical Brown Center condition as seen on this Red Lasoda potato. Image Credit: Matthew Orwat, UF/IFAS
Hollow heart is typically caused by swings from low to high soil moisture and overapplication of nitrogen. To mitigate this condition, consistent irrigation practices and spit fertilizer applications have been shown to be effective.
Additionally, if hollow heart or brown center is a typical problem for a given growing area, selection of cultivars that are less susceptible to this condition is beneficial, since there is quite a bit of variation among cultivars / varieties.
The final message is one of good news, if brown center or hollow heart is noticed at potato harvest this year, there are steps that can be taken to mitigate this issue for future growing seasons.
