Problem areas in the landscape – everyone has them. Whether it’s the spot near a drain that stays wet or the back corner of a bed that sunshine never touches, these areas require specialized plants to avoid the constant frustration of installing unhealthy plants that slowly succumb and must be replaced. The problem area in my landscape was a long narrow bed, sited entirely under an eave with full sun exposure and framed by a concrete sidewalk and a south-facing wall. This bed stays hot, it stays dry, and is nigh as inhospitable to most plants as a desert. Enter a plant specialized to handle situations just like this – Yarrow ‘Moonshine’.
Yarrow (Achillea spp.) is a large genus of plants, occurring all over the globe. To illustrate, Common Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is native to three different continents (North America, Europe, and Asia), making it one of the most widely distributed plants in the world. And though it was commonly grown and used in antiquity for medical purposes (the genus name Achillea is a reference to Achilles, who supposedly used the plant as a wound treatment for himself and his fellow Greek soldiers), I and most of you are probably more interested in how it looks and performs in the landscape.
‘Moonshine’ Yarrow foliage.
All species of Yarrow share several ornamental traits. The most obvious are their showy flowers, which occur as large, flattened “corymbs” and come in shades of white, pink, red, and yellow. I selected the cultivar ‘Moonshine’ for my landscape as it has brilliant yellow flowers that popped against the brown wall of the house. Equally as pretty and unique is the foliage of Yarrow. Yarrow leaves are finely dissected, appearing fernlike, are strongly scented, and range in color from deep green to silver. Again, I chose ‘Moonshine’ for its silvery foliage, a trait that makes it even more drought resistant than green leaved varieties.
‘Moonshine’ Yarrow inflorescence.
If sited in the right place, most Yarrow species are easy to grow; simply site them in full sun (6+ hours a day) and very well drained soil. While all plants, Yarrow included, need regular water during the establishment phase, supplemental irrigation is not necessary and often leads to the decline and rot of Yarrow clumps, particularly the silver foliaged varieties like ‘Moonrise’ (these should be treated more like succulents and watered only sparingly). Once established, Yarrow plants will eventually grow to 2-3’ in height but can spread underground via rhizomes to form clumps. This spreading trait enables Yarrow to perform admirably as a groundcover in confined spaces like my sidewalk-bound bed.
If you have a dry, sunny problem spot in your landscape and don’t know what to do, installing a cultivar of Yarrow, like ‘Moonshine’, might be just the solution to turn a problem into a garden solution. This drought tolerant, deer tolerant, pollinator friendly species couldn’t be easier to grow and will reward you with summer color for years to come. Plant one today. For more information on Yarrow or any other horticultural question, contact your local UF/IFAS County Extension Office.
Fall is a season that is synonymous for two great joys in life…..football games and the changing leaf colors! However, in Florida we just don’t have the incredible burst of vivid fall leaf color as our northern neighbors enjoy each year, but we do have enough temperate region plants that can give us some seasonal change in foliage.
So what makes this brilliant display of autumn leaf color anyway? This seasonal change is brought on by a few variables, such as lower temperatures, shorter photo period/shorter days and chemical pigments found in leaf tissues. Some of the pigments that give autumn leaves their bright colors are actually present in the leaves as soon as they unfold as flush in early spring. But, during spring and summer, when the plants are growing vigorously, a green-colored material called chlorophyll dominates and shades out the other leaf pigments.
Chlorophyll plays on important role in a process called photosynthesis, which is the process by which plants capture energy from sunlight and manufacture food. Chlorophyll can also be found in water bodies and is an indicator of water quality. As plants get ready for cool season dormancy, the production on new chlorophyll decreases to almost being nonexistent. That’s when the before mentioned pigments, also called carotenoids, take over and make the leaves turn brilliant orange, red, purple and yellow.
There are some plants in the Florida’s landscape that do provide good fall color. Unlike most of the flowering shrubs, which hold their blossoms for only a brief period, the trees and shrubs that turn color in the fall will usually retain their varied hues for a month or more, depending on the weather.
Red Maple. Credit. UF/IFAS Extension
What are some examples of trees that will lend fall color in your Panhandle landscape?
Shumard Oak
Turkey Oak
Ginkgo
Hickory
Golden Rain Tree
Red Swamp Myrtle
Dogwood
Red Maple (see photo)
Sweet Gum
Black Gum
Crape Myrtle
Tulip Tree
Bradford Pear
Cypress
What about annuals that provide color in the fall? Petunias, pansies and snapdragons will be in full bloom over the next few months.
Firespike. Credit. UF/IFAS Extension
What about blooming perennials for fall? Salvia, firespike (see photo), chrysanthemum, beautyberry and holly are great for color in the fall and attract wildlife to your landscape.
A mix of these plants will ensure fall color in your landscape. For more information contact your local county extension office.
Managing your soil is easily the most critical task in gardening. Well-managed soils retain water and nutrients, making them available to your plants, thus enabling them to thrive. It may seem daunting, but with a bit of knowledge, you’ll quickly discover that soil management is much simpler than you thought. Soil management can be broken down into two major topics. The first is the physical properties outlined in a previous article, which may be found here. The second, and arguably more complicated of the two, are those chemical properties that drive plant growth.
The What and Why of Soil pH
When considering chemical properties, you first need to look at soil pH. This is the measure of acidity or alkalinity within your soil profile. Innate soil pH is a product of the parent material from which your soil has formed, which tends to be slightly acidic on the Panhandle. Testing is the only accurate way to measure your soil’s pH level and buffering capacity. Your county extension office will be happy to facilitate that testing.
So, why is pH so important to plant growth? You’ll want to manage your soil’s pH for two reasons. The first is that soil acidity greatly influences the form that fertilizers and herbicides take in your landscape. Put into context, if you add fertilizers into the soil with an incorrect pH, that fertilizer may not dissolve in the water present. It will thus be unavailable to your plants. Here is another example of putting the right plant in the right place. Some, such as centipedegrass, thrive in a low-nutrition environment created by a low pH, whereas most vegetable plant species and many other landscape species only want a slightly acidic environment. Placing plants that will grow in the natural pH of your soil is a great way to ensure success in your gardens.
UF/IFAS photo
Ok, you’ve tested your soil and discovered it is not optimal for the plants you want to grow. Fear not, as you can take some actions to adjust your soil’s inherent acidity levels. Keep in mind that any changes will be very localized and are temporary. To raise soil pH, you must apply some version of calcium, colloquially called liming. Your calcium source should be based on soil testing, as different types may also add needed nutrients. Most notably, dolomitic lime will change soil pH while adding magnesium. Soil testing will also tell you to provide the buffering capacity of your soil, which will dictate the amount needed to adjust the soil properly. Soil pH may also be lowered through elemental sulfur additions, but this process is very difficult and may become detrimental to plant growth through repeated application. In this instance, it may be preferable to address via plant selection versus pH adjustment.
How Does Soil Hold Onto Water and Nutrition
The other main consideration for soil chemical properties is cation exchange capacity or CEC. Now, this can be a very complicated topic. Put very simply, it refers to your soil’s ability to retain both water and applied nutrients. It’s important to understand as it holds components critical to plant growth in the root zone of said plants. This happens as there are negative charges on the surfaces of clay particles in your soil that latch onto the positive ions of applied fertilizers.
Photo: University of Georgia Extension
So, what about soils low in clay, such as those in Florida? Organic matter will help in this arena. It mimics clay’s properties and will retain nutrients better than your native soil. However, this is not a pass to add endless amounts of compost, as they come with a nutritive load that must be considered in your garden management plan. Adding 1-3 inches worked into your plant root zone is more than enough when establishing new gardens.
Understanding your soil is critical when gardening anywhere. In Florida, where soils are less than optimal, understanding how water and nutrients are retained and used by your plants will help avoid much frustration. For more information on soil management refer to these IFAS documents, or contact your local extension agent for additional information on this and any topic regarding your gardens and more.
If you are out and about this time of year you may notice an interesting flowering shrub putting on a show of white flower heads. As time goes on the flower will develop into dark purple almost black fruit. You often find this shrub in forests, the edge of fields and pastures, and along roadsides. This attractive and very useful plant is the elderberry: Sambucus canadensis. It goes by the other common names of American or Common elderberry or simply elder or elder tree. It is native to North and South America from Canada to Brazil, and all over it’s range it is used by indigenous and local communities for a wide variety of uses. It has both food and beverage uses and medicinal uses. It grows in and tolerates a wide variety of conditions, and is quite easy to cultivate in the landscape or allow to thrive in wild areas. It also puts on a nice early summer flower show and is quite attractive. It can be weedy at times and is not always welcome in pastures as it can be toxic to livestock. Despite its medicinal applications and edible fruit, it bears caution as the leaves, twigs, roots, and unripe fruit are quite toxic to humans as well as bearing several toxic compounds not the least of which is glycosides which are in the cyanide family of chemicals. With care and knowledge though, the flowers and ripe fruits can be used and are frequently used to flavor beverages, dye food, make preserves and jellies, wine, and even many home remedies.
Naturally growing Elderberry in the Florida Panhandle. Photo Credit: Ian Stone
I have looked for and used this plant my whole life. My grandmother grew up on a very rural farm in Louisiana and passed on a whole host of information on useful plants and how to make a variety of home remedies. I was lucky to grow up with someone of a generation where they retained and passed on this knowledge. We never planted or grew elderberry as there was plenty growing wild all over my home area of Louisiana’s Florida Parishes. The same is true all across the Gulf Coast, and June is a good time to spot patches as it is putting on its show of white flowerheads. I always knew about its benefits and uses, and also it’s toxicity and learned much more about elderberry in forestry school. As time went on, I learned people were collecting this wild and also starting to cultivate and grow it as a crop. A family acquaintance in Livingston Parish, LA started a business growing elder and selling syrups, tinctures, and other products. I have even seen their products locally in the Panhandle now at herbal remedy and other stores. Now I go in even chain pharmacies and big box stores and see elderberry products produced on a large commercial scale. I’m glad to see a native plant develop into such a market. For the home landscape and garden, it can make an attractive edition that can then be added to the landscape and cultivated. You can enjoy the flowers and fruits yourself and make your own homemade products from them, or you can leave them for local wildlife that also benefit from them.
If you have a farm or property in the Panhandle it is likely elderberry is growing somewhere. If it is not on your property, you can easily plant and grow it in your garden, homestead, or home landscape. Be aware though it can be aggressive and spready in good growing conditions. It is also fast growing so you have to stay on top of it in cultivated settings. If you are looking to see if you have wild elderberry growing; look for the showy white flower heads on a small shrub to low tree. It has distinctive corky dots on its bark which are called lenticels. The leaves are pinnately compound with serrated margins. The fruit is bright green when unripe turning purple-black when ripe. Only fully ripe fruit are edible and safe, with a ripening period of mid to late summer. There now exists several cultivars of elderberry in the horticultural trade which are available at nurseries that stock native plants.
If you are interested in learning more about elderberry, check out this publication in the IFAS Gardening Solutions page https://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/plants/edibles/fruits/elderberry/. There is also a good EDIS publication available at this link https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/ST578. If you are planning on foraging wildflowers or berries and using them use caution, get a good knowledge of how to identify the plants, avoid poisonous parts and unripe berries. As with all wild foraging, only forage if you are well-informed on what you are looking for, dangerous look-a-likes, and how to avoid toxicity issues due to unripe fruit or toxic plant parts. With elderberry there are several severely toxic look-a-like plants, particularly the water hemlock one of the most toxic plants in North America. Use a good field guide and properly vetted resources and if in doubt do not gather or consume.
If you are planning on cultivating elderberry, consider selecting cultivars and varieties specifically for cultivation and fruit production. You will get better results over wild varieties, and fruit ripening will be more uniform making harvesting easier. In cultivated settings it will require care and monitoring for some pest and disease issues as well. It is well suited for marginal conditions where some other fruit options are limited and difficult to cultivate. It’s tolerance of a wide variety of growing conditions means there is likely a place in your garden or landscape that it can fit. An added benefit is that it requires less fertilization and intensive management compared to some other options. For more detailed information on cultivation see this EDIS article https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/HS1390.
Whether you have it growing naturally or are going to cultivate it, elderberry is a very attractive native plant with some beneficial and tasty uses. Elderberry wine, syrups, and preserves are quite tasty and provide many health benefits. Some people use the flower as a flavoring and to make tonics, but this requires caution to avoid poisonous parts contaminating batches. Elderberries are high in vitamin C and contain antioxidants and other medicinal compounds and are often used as cold and flu remedies as well as other ailments. If you do not have experience with making elder products at home; work with someone that is knowledgeable and experienced before making your own, especially with this plant. You can also buy certified products for sale in health stores and even at your local pharmacies now that are tested and known to be safe. Enjoy the attractiveness and usefulness of our native American Elderberry, it is a fascinatingly useful plant.
What is a titi? Google it. Wiktionary says it is “a New World monkey of the genus Callicebus, native to South America, distinguished by their long soft fur”. But deeper into the definitions you will find “a shrub or small tree of the southern Unites States, having glossy leaves and elongated clusters of flowers, occurring in wet soil conditions”.
Titi is just a common name for two species that grow in the wetlands. Black titi (Cliftonia monophyla), also referred to as buckwheat tree, is the first to bloom in the spring. Native seedlings produce clusters of small white flowers at the tip of the branches. The sweet-smelling blooms provide a nectar source for bees in February and March. Following pollination, golden-brown seed pods will form, resembling buckwheat grains; hence, the other common name. The seed persists through the fall, providing added aesthetics and a food source for native and migratory birds. Pink-flowering sports of the Black titi have been propagated for the native plant nursery trade. ‘Chipolo Pink’ is one of the most popular (pictured).
The other species is Red titi (Cyrilla racemiflora), also called Swamp titi. It will send out multiple drooping white flowers in a finger-like cluster from the previous year’s wood. Blooming begins in the late spring and continues into the summer. Unfortunately, the nectar has shown to be a source for purple brood disease in bees, a terminal condition for the baby bees.
So, when deciding on native plants for your wetlands edge or rain garden, look for the Black titi and the new cultivars on the market. Then research other summer-flowering nectar sources like Clethra alnifolia, Sweet pepperbush, and their many new cultivars.
In the ever growing urbanization of our world today, green spaces are hard to come by but are so essential to biodiversity conservation. Pollinators, such as bees, butterflies, and birds, play a crucial role in our ecosystem by facilitating plant reproduction. Unfortunately, pollinator populations are declining due to habitat loss, pesticide use, and climate change. However, by making simple changes to your garden, you can create an environment that supports and protects your pollinators. In this article, we will discuss ways to turn your garden into a pollinator paradise.
Gulf Fritillary butterfly on flower. Photo taken 09-26-22. UF/IFAS Photo by Cat Wofford.
Choosing Native Plants
Native plants are adapted to the local climate and soil conditions, making them ideal for supporting native pollinators. Research native species that thrive in your region and incorporate them into your landscape. Aim for a diverse selection of flowers that bloom at different times throughout the year to provide a continuous food source for pollinators.
Flowers and insects at the student gardens on the University of Florida campus. Pollinating bee. UF/IFAS Photo by Tyler Jones.
Providing Shelter and Nesting Sites
Pollinators need more than just nectar-rich flowers; they also require sheltered spaces for nesting or overwintering. By incorporating features such as brush piles, dead trees, and nesting boxes you are creating habitat diversity for the pollinators. Leaving some areas of bare soil for ground-nesting bees and providing water sources like shallow dishes or birdbaths can further enhance your garden’s appeal to pollinators as well.
Avoid Chemical Pesticides
Chemical pesticides not only can harm pollinators, but they can also directly disrupt ecosystems. Instead of reaching for a spray on the shelf to deter pests, consider using a natural pest control method such as companion planting, handpicking pests, and encouraging natural predators like ladybugs and birds. Certain organic gardening practices not only protect pollinators, but can also promote your garden’s overall health.
Embrace Imperfection
A manicured garden may look appealing, but it can be sometimes inhospitable to our pollinator friends. Create a more naturalistic approach by allowing certain areas of your garden to grow wild. Letting plants go to seed, leaving some leaf litter, and allowing flowers to fade and form seed heads provide valuable resources for pollinators throughout their life cycle.
A butterfly garden at a Florida-Friendly Landscape. UF/IFAS Photo taken by Cat Wofford 9-29-23
Educate and Inspire Others
Because pollinator numbers have rapidly declined in recent years, awareness and education of their importance to our ecosystem is crucial. Spreading the word of their importance and how you can contribute to conservation efforts truly helps the cause. UF/IFAS Extension has made great efforts in hosting workshops, giving presentations, and sharing information through newsletters and social media about the importance of creating pollinator habitats. We encourage you, your neighbors, friends, and community members to join in the movement of creating pollinator-friendly gardens and landscapes.
By transforming your garden into a pollinator paradise, you not only enhance its beauty, but also play a vital role in conserving biodiversity. Every flower you plant and every habitat you create contributes to the well-being of bees, butterflies, birds, and other pollinators. Together, we can make a difference and ensure a thriving ecosystem for generations to come.
