It’s always nice to find an easy-to-grow landscape plant that stuns with its beauty. The many varieties of Crinum lilies do just that and are a great addition to the north Florida landscape. Crinum lilies are not truly a lily, but a member of the Amaryllis family which also includes other familiar north Florida landscape plants such as onions (Allium), agapanthus (Agapanthus), daffodils (Narcissus), and other “lilies” such as spider lily (Hymenocallis) and hurricane lily (Lycoris). While there is one species of Crinum that is native (Crinum americanum), most of our cultivated species originate in Africa and/or Asia.
Crinums are considered to be among the largest of the true bulbs. Most should be treated with caution since they can be poisonous to children and pets, mostly through ingestion of plant tissue. Their leaves are typically long and strap-like with a glossy green color. The flowers are the real treat, appearing on the ends of bare stems, typically held above the plant’s foliage. The flowers can be used for cut flowers, too.
Below are some of the more common Crinums that can be successfully grown in north Florida:
Crinum asiaticum
Giant Crinum, or poison bulb, is the largest of the Crinums and one of the more common ones to see in the landscape. The bright white flowers with showy, purple-tinged stamens are impressive.
The giant Crinum’s stunning bloom. Credit: Mark Tancig
Crinum zeylanicum
This Crinum is often called the milk-and-wine crinum for the white and red striped flowers.
The milk-and-wine Crinum. Credit: The Trustees of the British Museum, Creative Commons.
Crinum x amabile
The Queen Emma Crinum is a hybrid of the first two – C. asiaticum and C. zeylanicum. It has the size and shape of giant Crinum with maroon-tinted flowers and leaves.
The Queen Emma Crinum. Credit: Krzysztof Ziarnek, Creative Commons.
Crinum moorei
This Crinum goes by the common name natal lily and is native to the southern horn of Africa. This species has wider leaves than most with the natural flower color being a light pink. There is a white-flowered cultivar named ‘Alba’.
Crinum moorei, variety ‘Alba’ used in a container. Credit: Erik Taanman, Creative Commons.
Crinum x powellii
This Crinum is a hybrid between C. moorei and C. bulbispermum. The most common cultivar is the ‘Cecil Houdyshel’ which has fragrant, rose-colored flowers.
In the landscape, these can be used as specimen plants, especially the giant Crinum or Queen Emma Crinum, or planted in mass. They all prefer full sun but wouldn’t mind afternoon shade, and can handle partial shade, though blooms may be less showy. Most prefer moderately-drained soil, but can handle sandy sites with irrigation, especially during dry times. These plants come from warm climates and may get zapped by our winter cold snaps. Fortunately, their bulbs, have stored energy to flush out new growth the following spring. Pests and diseases are few, with grasshoppers and leaf spots in the summer being the main concerns.
There are many hybrid Crinums available to experiment with but look for those that are hardy to Zone 8. You can read more about Crinums on the UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions website or contact your local county extension office.
Hopefully, you are enjoying No Mow March. With the extra time provided by not mowing, you can spend more time trying to observe the diverse array of flowering plants coming up in your lawn. Often these are considered weeds, but a weed is just a plant you don’t like growing where you don’t want it. However, if we can find some beauty in these plants and appreciation for their role in supporting wildlife, then maybe we can turn it around and start thinking of them as wildflowers. As a trained botanist, I’m interested in all the flowers and think of how they grow, what eats them, what pollinates them, how their seeds are dispersed, and what niche do they fill in the ecosystem, even if that ecosystem is my residential landscape. Below are a couple of my favorite plants that come up in my infrequently mowed and/or unmowed lawn during the early spring.
Early Violet (Viola palmata)
This is the one that got me started leaving areas of the yard unmowed or infrequently mowed. Those violet-colored flowers were just too pretty to mow over, and I began giving them a wide berth. Now, I have little meadows of these native violets that spring up every year and give me great pleasure to observe.
How could you mow these violets down? Credit: Mark Tancig, UF/IFAS.
Earthsmoke (Fumaria officinalis)
Not only is this one pretty, but it has one of the coolest common names of a plant that I know of. This non-native relative of the poppy plant has delicate foliage, reminiscent of the native columbine, with flowers mostly a light purple, but with a touch of dark purple towards the tips. The flowers also have a strange little twist to them. Part of my fondness for this plant is also tied to a memory from college. I was learning how to use dichotomous keys at the time and was so proud to have successfully keyed this one out. My identification was confirmed by our taxonomy professor, who I greatly admired, and I think he was a little proud of me, too!
Earthsmoke is a delight to find mixed in with the lawn. Credit: Mark Tancig, UF/IFAS.
This one is related to earthsmoke, but in a different genus and just happens to be a native. It also has similar delicate foliage and a twist in the flowers, but these come in yellow.
Smallflower fumewort is a common early spring wildflower. Credit: Mark Tancig, UF/IFAS.
Mock Bishopsweed (Ptilimnium capillaceum)
This native carrot family relative, with small flower clusters and delicate, wispy leaves, is not one that jumps out at you as being super showy. However, being a carrot relative, it is a great larval host plant for the swallowtail butterflies.
This delicate carrot family member is a host to swallowtail caterpillars! Credit: Mark Tancig, UF/IFAS.
Horrid Thistle (Cirsium horridulum)
The common name says everything about how most people view thistles. Thistles definitely get a bad reputation due to those spiny leaves, but our six native species are a boon for pollinators. Being in the Aster family with many flowers grouped together, it provides lots of easily accessible pollen and nectar resources. This one is also a known host plant for the little metalmark and painted lady butterflies, which somehow find their way around all of those spines. I really enjoy the artistic symmetry of the leaves, and also the spines that surround the flower in bud, especially when the dew has collected on it and the light hits it just right.
Every thistle has it’s thorns! Credit: Mark Tancig, UF/IFAS.
Southern Dewberry (Rubus trivialis)
Probably another hard sell for leaving in the yard, but this prickly native plant rewards animals, including us, with delicious fruit. This one is best left in a low trafficked area where it won’t grab you.
A tasty wildflower. Credit: Mark Tancig, UF/IFAS.
Venus’ Looking Glass (Triodanis perfoliata)
This native beauty ties for second coolest common name, which is a reference to the shiny covering of the seed. Related to bellflowers and lobelias, Venus’ looking glass shoots up in the early spring and has beautiful purple blooms atop a wispy inflorescence (flower stalk). You’ll find several pollinators visiting this lovely little wildflower.
Venus’ looking glass. Credit: Sam Mwenda, Creative Commons.
No Mow March is a perfect opportunity to spend time learning more about the non-turf species living in your lawn. There’s a lot more than the list above and your local extension office can help you identify what you’re seeing. You can also use the iNaturalist app for help in identifying these little pretties. If you use iNaturalist during March, please add them to our No Mow March project. For more information on No Mow March, please visit https://sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/escambia/lawn-and-garden/no-mow-march/.
Being a gardener in Florida is exciting. We have many plants to choose from and the weather is mostly pleasant but always seeming to surprise us. One disadvantage of living in such a place, in addition to having so many growing zones, landscape nurseries, and major shipping ports, is that invasive species that land in Florida don’t like to leave. One newcomer in the lineup of invasive pests is the crape myrtle bark scale (Acanthococcuslagerstroemiae). This invasive insect pest made its way from Texas and, as of a few weeks ago, the only Florida sighting had been in Santa Rosa County. Unfortunately, this pest has now been confirmed in Leon County. Landscapers and gardeners in north Florida should learn how to identify this pest and what options are available for control.
The crape myrtle bark scale, as the name suggests, has a pretty specific host – the crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia spp.). However, in the United States, this scale has also been found feeding on our native beautyberry (Callicarpa americana). Due to the widespread planting of crape myrtles, these should be the gardeners primary focus when looking for this new pest. If present on the tree, it is hard to miss. These scales feed on the bark and are a snow-white color. Being a scale, they produce honeydew that is then covered in black sooty mold. So, if you see a crape myrtle with black branches, look closely and you may see the white scales. If you crush these scales and they leave a pink goo on your fingers, then you very likely have crape myrtle bark scale. Of course, you can send a picture or sample to your local county extension office for confirmation.
Black sooty mold and white scales along the trunk and branches are a tell-tale sign of crape myrtle bark scale. Credit: Mark Tancig, UF/IFAS.
If you do happen to find crape myrtle bark scale in your own landscape, or one that you manage, proper control is important to prevent it from moving along any further. Since scales suck on sap and are protected by an outer shell, systemic insecticides are the preferred product for effective control. These include the neonicotinoids, such as imidacloprid (Merit) and dinotefuran (Safari). The larval stage can be controlled with a horticultural oil, sometimes mixed with another insecticide like bifenthrin (Talstar), however, this will not control the adults. Another option is to completely remove the tree and burn all of the plant material.
Excessive sooty mold has turned these branches black. Be on the lookout for crape myrtles looking like this to help identify crape myrtle bark scale. Credit: Jim Robbins, Univ. of Ark. CES. Retrieved from bugwood.
The crape myrtle bark scale can significantly reduce the aesthetic value of crape myrtles due to the black sooty mold that covers the bark. It is also known to reduce flowering and can lead to thinning of leaves. Since crape myrtles make up a big part of our managed landscapes, let’s all work together to scout for this pest and control it when found. If you have questions, please contact your local county extension office.
Difference in flowering due to crape myrtle bark scale damage. Credit: Jim Robbins, Univ. of Ark. CES. Retrieved from bugwood.
The Florida Forest Service implements the tree champion program in Florida. Credit: Florida Forest Service.
Humans love to measure and rank things. Whether it’s the tallest, the widest, or the most of something, we want to know about it, rank it, and, of course, brag about it if it’s ours. The biggest pumpkin, cheeseburger, truck tires, and so on. Gardeners and plant people are no exception. Actually, when you combine the pride of something you’ve grown with some type of measurement or rank of grandeur, it drives even more competition. Hence, fairs! So, it’s no surprise that there is an official rank of largest tree for each state. These large specimens are known as “Champion Trees” and every landowner I know of would love to have one on their property.
The idea of recognizing Champion Trees goes back nearly a century when the American Forestry Association, now known simply as American Forests, launched a campaign to engage the public in forestry activities. To tap into our desire to rank things and compete, the campaign encouraged a competition to find the largest specimens of selected trees. American Forests still maintains a registry of the national Champion Trees and their current goal of the program is to help people identify tree biodiversity and foster a desire to preserve and protect trees.
The Senator – no longer with us – was the state champion cypress. Credit: Creative Commons.
In Florida, the Division of Forestry (DOF), part of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS), maintains a statewide registry of these Champion Trees. According to FDACS’s Florida Champion Trees website, the largest native tree in the state is a bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) with a trunk measuring 537 inches in circumference (nearly 15 feet wide), stands 101 feet tall, and has a crown spread of 49 feet. That’s a big ol’ cypress tree! Just in case you were wondering, the smallest Champion Tree is a corkwood (Leitneria floridana) with a trunk measuring nine inches in circumference (almost three feet in diameter), 17 feet tall, and a crown spread of eight feet. That is a big ol’ corkwood!
Corkwood (Leitneria floridana), a native wetland tree, is the smallest state champion. Credit: Creative Commons.
Now comes the exciting part. The Florida Champion Trees website (https://www.fdacs.gov/Forest-Wildfire/Our-Forests/Florida-Champion-Trees) has the entire list of trees for you to peruse and includes a list of trees that are yet to have a champion specimen designated. There is a nomination form that, when submitted, will prompt a visit by a County Forester with DOF who will confirm the tree’s measurements. If all checks out, your tree could be a champion!
Math isn’t always fun! Here is Euclid explaining math in Raphael’s The School of Athens. Credit: Creative Commons.
There are a lot of things gardeners need to know to cultivate a beautiful landscape. Between plant zones, scientific names, soil chemistry, and pest identification, being a gardener takes curiosity and willingness to learn new things. Unfortunately, one topic that needs to be well understood, especially when it comes to applying pesticides and fertilizers, is a subject that many cringe when they hear it – mathematics!
Some of the most common mathematical concepts to have a good grasp on for gardening include area, converting decimals to percentages and vice versa, estimating volume and converting units, and determining how much fertilizer to be applied based on your fertilizer grade.
Here’s a couple tips to help you gardeners out with math.
Area
Most often, we need to know the square footage of our gardens. Rectangles are straightforward, you multiply length (in feet) by width (in feet) to get feet squared. Since most yards are not rectangles, we sometimes need to use other shapes to best calculate the area, such as circles and/or triangles. The area (A) of a circle is , where “π” is 3.14 and “r” is the radius (half of the diameter or the distance from the center to the edge). Remember that the little raised 2 means you multiply the radius by itself twice, not by two.
Most of the time, square feet is the best area unit to use. But just in case you need to know, one acre equals 43,560 square feet. So, if you find your lawn is 10,000 square feet, that means you have 0.23 of an acre (10,000/43,560).
Get your calculator’s out! Credit: iStockphoto.
Percent Conversions
This one may be better understood by most, but this becomes important later when we determine fertilizer needed or doing volume conversions. Basically, any percent can be divided by 100 to convert it to a decimal that can be used easily in other calculations. For example, 15% is the same as 0.15 (15/100). The easy way to remember is that 100% is the same as one, and 50% is the same as 0.5.
Volume Estimation and Conversions
Determining volume is required when figuring out how much mulch is needed for a garden bed or soil required for a raised bed. Converting one unit to another is especially important when determining how much pesticide product is needed to prepare a mixture.
For mulch and soil, the cubic feet (cf) or cubic yards (cy) are needed to figure out how many bags or truckloads will be needed. Most bulk products are sold by the cubic yard. Since we are dealing with volume, we need three measurements, the length, width, and depth. If we want to add three inches of mulch to a 500 square foot garden, we multiply the 500 by 0.25 feet (3”/12” equals 0.25 inches) to get 125 cubic feet. That is about 62 bags of mulch from the hardware store, which are often sold in 2 cubic foot bags. If we divide 125 cubic feet by 27 (three feet in a yard so 3’ x 3’ x 3’ = 27) we now have the answer in cubic yards and find that we need about 4.5 cubic yards of mulch. One cubic yard is roughly a half of a full-size pickup truck bed.
When it comes to converting liquid volume units to help with pesticide mixtures, fortunately we have the internet to help. However, it is a good idea to at least be familiar with converting ounces to gallons and vice versa. Since 128 ounces equals 1 gallon, to go from gallons to ounces you multiply by 128. For example, 0.5 gallons equals 64 ounces (0.5 x 128). To go from ounces to gallons, we just divide by 128. For example, 192 ounces equals 1.5 gallons (192/128).
Applying the proper amount of fertilizer keeps your landscape healthier and protects local waterbodies. Credit: UF/IFAS.
Calculating Fertilizer Needed
Okay, bear with me, as we are about to do some hard math and piece together several of the above concepts. First of all, most fertilizer rates are provided by extension resources and given in terms of pounds of a particular nutrient for a set area, usually 1,000 square feet. For example, when using slow-release fertilizer a homeowner should apply no more than one pound of nitrogen for every 1,000 square feet of lawn. To figure out how much actual fertilizer to apply to meet the recommendation, we will need 1) the recommended rate, 2) the size of the lawn, and 3) the fertilizer grade on the product (the three numbers that represent the percent N, P, and K). Our rate is one pound nitrogen per 1,000 square feet. The size of our lawn is 50 feet by 30 feet, so 1,500 square feet. We are going to use a 16-0-8 fertilizer. Now, here is the hard part! To figure out how much of our 16% nitrogen fertilizer will provide one pound of nitrogen, we need to convert 16% to a decimal (16/100 = 0.16) and then divide the amount of fertilizer we need by that number – 1 pound/0.16 – to find that 6.25 pounds of our fertilizer product are required for each 1,000 square feet. Since we have 1,500 square feet, we need to multiply our answer by 1.5, which gives us a total of 9.4 pounds.
Math is hard and there are usually many methods to get the same solution. When using pesticides and fertilizers in the home landscape, it’s important to make sure we’re using the right amount of materials to minimize the chance of harming ourself, our plants, and the local environment. If you need help, or would like someone to check your work, contact your local extension office.
