The oncoming of spring is heralded by several events. Wildflowers bloom, temperature rises, and insects awaken from their wintry slumber. The latter of these is the impetus for this article. I’m sure you have heard the buzzing of the bees already, but there is more to come. Florida is host to 315 species of native bees in addition to honey bees (Apis mellifera) which are a non-native species. Native bees in Florida are separated into six families, fulfilling several niches within our landscape. This article is only focused on a few of these.
The Sweat Bees
The sweat bees fall into the family Halictidae. These vary greatly in appearance and size with the majority being very small. Often metallic black, but may also be seen in shades of green, blue, or purple they are hard to miss in your landscape. Most sweat bees are ground nesting though some can be found above. Wildflowers, stone fruits, and sunflowers are the primary nectar sources for these bees particularly in early spring.
IFAS photo: James R. Weaver, Shiala M. Naranjo, Emily Noordyke, and Rachel E. Mallinger
Bumble Bees
Bumble bees (Bombus spp.) are in the family Apidae. Ground dwelling, the queen overwinters in the soil emerging in early spring to feast on wildflower nectar. Often mistaken as carpenter bees (Xylocopta spp.), they are distinguishable by the hairs covering their bodies which are lacking in carpenter bees. They are one of two bee species seen carrying pollen sacks, honey bees being the other. All but one of the five species in this genera may be found in the Panhandle where they are important pollinators for many native and ornamental plants.
Photo Credit: Tony Wills
Mason Bees
One of our more unique species, Mason bees of family Megachilidae live above ground lining their nests with mud. Solitary by nature, these are prominent pollinators of fruit trees and blueberries. A variety of color makes them difficult to even identify as a bee. They often come in dark blue, black, or white striped. Much like honeybees, some species of mason bees are purchased from online sources specifically for orchards.
IFAS photo: Credit: Tony Wills, en.wikipedia.org
Carpenter Bees
Carpenter bees are the final subject covered here and are split into two subfamilies. Large carpenter bees (Xylocopta spp.) chew their nests into solid wood. That the wood is sometimes fence posts, water tanks or your home means that this insect may be an economic pest. These are large and as mentioned above often mistaken for bumble bees. Small carpenter bees (Ceratina spp.) are differentiated mainly by size as they are much smaller than the large carpenter bee. They may be a variety of colors as well and nest by hollowing out the pith of broken or burnt plant stems. As they make their nests in already broken plant tissue, they are not considered of economic importance.
Large Carpenter Bee IFAS photo: Paul ChoateSmall Carpenter Bee Photo: USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab
Conclusion
Native bees are an important part of pollination in the Florida Panhandle. It is worthwhile to get to know which species are active in your landscape. Provide habitat and nectar to them, and they will help your plant life bloom. For more information on creating habitat for native pollinators, see this Ask IFAS document, or contact your local extension agent for additional information on this and any topic regarding your gardens and more.
Landscaping in the Panhandle of Florida comes with many opportunities and challenges in this diverse plant environment of coastal, flatwoods (aka pine woodland), sandhills, and clay soil areas running adjacent to the Alabama/Georgia lines. Sandy soil is the predominate soil of the panhandle area from coastal saltwater marshes and brackish bay waters to wetlands and drier well drained quartz sandy soils of the sandhills. Unique ecosystems can be found in all these areas. One of the areas with the largest plant diversity is the Longleaf Pine savannahs found in the sandhills. Now comes the question of landscaping decisions for your residential living.
Native landscape plants. Photo Credit: Stephen Greer, University of Florida/IFAS Extension – Santa Rosa County.
Understanding your soils and how to improve them where you live is critically important before putting the first plant in the ground. We live in an area of abundant rainfall and this will impact the chemistry of your soils. Make an appointment with your local horticulture agent at the University of Florida IFAS Extension office in your county to discuss your soil and landscape ideas. Taking soil samples will likely be needed. With instruction you can easily collect the samples needed to be sent and received to determine the best options.
With abundant rainfall, leaching of key nutrients will occur removing base cations that can include potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca) and others. This all leads to soils being more acidic in nature. Nutrient resources may need to be added and checked every 2-3 years, just be sure to follow the soil sample recommendations. Soils near wetland areas can leach differently than the deep quartz sandy soils of the sandhills. Adding organic amendments is a recommended practice. Just how much will depend on your soil setting; talk with your horticulture Extension agent. Often new homesites and commercial construction areas have soil brought in to raise or level construction locations. Understanding the movement of water through these newly added layers to the existing soil below will determine drainage and nutrient movement within this site. It can be confusing making decisions about adding soil nutrients, lime, and organic amendments.
Challenges in new soils in landscape. Photo Credit: Stephen Greer, University of Florida/IFAS Extension – Santa Rosa County.
Once all this is settled you can start thinking about how to enjoy this wonderful Panhandle outdoor living opportunity. Creating living spaces comes in many ways from building patios, porches, decks, outdoor kitchens, and strategically places chairs and benches. Talk with your family and others who may enjoy these places with you. Gazebos or barbeque grill areas may be in the plans. Placing these into the landscape takes planning. Draft designs and think of creative solutions for the site. Look at the site elevation changes from high areas to low wetland areas. Will you need “No See Um” screen for the porch to keep out the small insects or install ceiling fans to keep the breeze moving?
There are many questions to be asked. Create a list to be addressed before beginning a project and then determine the cost. Enjoy the adventure!
There are many considerations to make when landscaping with small trees (under 20 feet) in the landscape that are not suitable for large trees. Some of the trees discussed can at times be considered large shrubs depending on definitions and opinions. For the purpose of this article, if it reaches 15 to 20 feet consider it a tree.
Choosing small trees for the right setting involves a number of reasons that could include the need for more privacy from other homes, use as a sound barrier from busy roads, hiding your utility area of the landscape or something unattractive nearby and making sure power lines are not obstructed. Other considerations might include soil types, drainage and holding capacity of the soils, irrigation needs, rate of plant growth and maturity height at 20 feet. Below are a few to consider for the Panhandle of Florida.
Little Gem Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora ‘Little Gem’) and Teddy Bear Magnolia (M. grandiflora ‘Teddy Bear’) are strong hardy plants once established (within the first 6 months to a year). Both are evergreen with dark green foliage. The ‘Little Gem’ will grow to 20 feet tall by 15 to 18 feet wide. As it matures it tends to become more open and less dense which adds a nice character to show parts of the lower limbs. The ‘Teddy Bear’ will grow to 18 to 20 feet tall but at an even slower rate of maturity to 12 to 15 feet wide while maintaining its density of foliage from bottom to top. It may take a little work to locate the ‘Teddy Bear’ Magnolia.
Photo courtesy: Stephen Greer Teddy Bear Magnolia (Small compact grower)
Several hollies to consider would include the Cassine Holly ‘Tensaw’ (Ilex cassine ‘Tensaw’) and American Holly (Ilex opaca). Both are evergreen and produce red berries during the fall that are bird favorites. They have similar heights of 15 to 20 feet and widths of 10 to 12 feet. Pruning can assist in shaping and slowing these measurements, but keep in mind this will change the look of the tree and create a more formal plant presentation.
Photo courtesy: Stephen Greer Cassine Holly ‘Tensaw’
The Fringe Tree (Chionanthus virginica) has been a popular tree southeast U.S. for many years. It brings a bright spot to the landscape with white flower panicles that cover the tree in mid to late spring depending on location. For a full color effect, plant it with an evergreen hedge behind it. This oval deciduous tree will grow to 12 to 20 by 10 to 15 wide. The dark blue fruit appears in the fall and serves as good bird food source. This fruit is usually hidden behind the foliage. There might even be a nice yellow leaf change in the fall if temperatures and weather allow.
Summer weeds are here. What should we do? As we are officially into summer you are probably noticing many of those summer weeds poking through your lawn by now, or perhaps they have taken over completely. Do not give up, there is still hope for a beautiful lawn with less weeds.
The first thing is to be able to identify the weed and identify the type of grass. Now you may be thinking that is impossible and maybe you are thinking why it is important to identify those? The answer to that question is simply that not all chemicals are the same and understanding what you have and the best time of year to spray for that will save you both time and money. Weeds fall into three categories: Broadleaf, Grass, and Sedge. Remember, a weed could be any plant that is out of place. Weeds will compete with desirable plants for nutrients, water, light, and space.
Once you understand what category your weed falls into the next step is to know the life cycle. For example, winter annuals will die out naturally as the temperatures increase and a chemical may not be needed. There are weeds that complete their cycle in one year (winter and summer weeds) and there are weeds that complete their cycle in two years (biennials). A biennial has vegetative growth the first year and will flower and die the second year, examples are Carolina false dandelion, Oldfield toadflax, and cudweed.
Next you will want to identify the indicator species. What does this mean? It means that there are some weeds that grow well in compacted soils like goosegrass and annual bluegrass. Others like it very wet (poor drainage) such as dollar weed, sedges and torpedo grass. While there are weeds such as sandbur and rustweed that like it very dry and sandy. Knowing this can help you do preventative weed control. Grow a healthy turf starting with the right selection, proper cultural practices, pest control, traffic control, and sanitation.
When you are faced with the decision to use chemicals to combat your lawn weeds there are a few things to know. There are selective herbicides that control certain species without hurting others (your lawn) and there are nonselective herbicides that control green plants regardless of species. Also, there are contact herbicides, which are exactly how their name implies. They affect only the portion of the plant that the herbicide touches. There are also systemic herbicides which are translocated through plant’s vascular system.
The best time to spray herbicides is when the weeds are actively growing, young and not drought stressed or producing seed heads. A table below shows the active ingredients best for the three categories of weeds.
The key is to identify the type of turf you have and the type of weeds you have in the lawn. Further, look into if there are any factors that can be adjusted that might be causing the excess of weeds. And lastly, make sure you are using the right method, chemical, and timing for control. For more information on summer weeds and lawns, please contact your local county extension office.
The Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett, once said “Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree long ago.” While that’s all fine and good and I’m happy that the next generation gets to enjoy the things we grew, most of us would like to enjoy shade in our lifetimes too! If you too want to plant your own shade, one of the best rapidly growing shade tree choices for the Panhandle is the majestic Florida native Green Ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica).
Green ash trees have a vase shape form. Photo Credit: University of Florida/IFAS
Green Ash is a large (50-100’ tall), oval-shaped, deciduous shade tree native to the entire eastern half of North America, but best of all for those of us craving shade, it grows to its mature height in a relative hurry. While most trees that grow extremely fast tend to be inherently weak and short-lived, this is not the case with Green Ash. Capable of growing 6-10’ in a single year if irrigated and fertilized appropriately and often living well over 100 years, there aren’t many plants in the Panhandle that grow quicker or live longer.
There’s much more to Green Ash than growth rate and life span, however. The tree is also one of the prettiest around. Come on, you didn’t think I’d recommend an ugly plant, did you? A look up into the canopy at different times of the year and one can see the tree’s deep, dark green foliage, good-for-Florida yellowish fall color, and slightly showy light green seed pods. Below, the straight trunk is laced with distinctive diamond-shaped bark that hints at the extremely high-quality wood underneath. Fun fact, Ash is historically the most popular wood used to make baseball bats due to its hardness at a relatively light weight – more MLB home runs have been hit with Ash than any other species!
The compound leaf of a green ash tree. Photo Credit: University of Florida/IFAS
As a Florida-Friendly plant, Green Ash is fairly low-maintenance and provides many environmental services. The species, like any other plant, requires supplemental water and fertilizer during the establishment period, generally the first year or so after planting, but doesn’t demand much else from gardeners after that. Green Ash specimens in Florida also don’t have much in the way of pest problems (the invasive Emerald Ash Borer has devastated ash populations in northern states but thankfully has not yet been found in Florida). However, as a host plant for several native pollinators, including the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Mourning Cloak, Orange Sulphur, and Viceroy Butterflies, you may occasionally find caterpillars munching away on the tree’s foliage. If you can handle a little leaf damage, try to leave any caterpillars alone and enjoy the stunning butterflies they later morph into!
Green Ash is a beautiful, ultra-adaptable shade tree. Though the species prefers moist areas, there aren’t many sites the tree can’t thrive in. Do you have a low-lying area near a swamp or stream that stands in water from time to time? Great! Green Ash will thrive. Do you need a street tree to survive in a harsh environment with a cramped root zone surrounded by concrete? Green Ash will be right at home there as well. Green Ash is simply a classic shade tree with many interesting attributes that improves the look of any landscape it occupies. Plant one today!
For more information about Green Ash, other shade tree species, or any other horticultural/agricultural topic, contact us at the UF/IFAS Calhoun County Extension office.
