Florida Native Plant Society Blog

Figure 1. Eastern redbud  roots can be used to make red colored dye. Photo credit: S.B. Johnny en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cercis_canadensis This post is one of a series from Botany professor Nisse Goldberg's students at Jacksonville University. Student authors: Alexis Crouch, Ashley Bridell, and Christina Adams Cercis canadensis , the eastern redbud, can be found along the eastern coast of the United States, from Florida to New Jersey, and as far west as Texas. It can handle a variety of growing conditions, and temperatures ranging from -18° F in the winter to the 90°+ F Florida summers. Redbud grows best in direct sun in the northern parts of its range, but grows happily as an understory tree in the south. It prefers moist soils and does not do particularly well in salty conditions. The eastern redbud is an aesthetically pleasing plant, with gorgeous purple red flowers that bloom in March (Figure 1). The tree depends on bees for pollination. The fruit pod will stay on the tr...

Tillandsia fasciculata, or Cardinal Airplant, a native epiphyte   Spring is here, at least in South Florida, and it will be coming your way soon even if you are in the northernmost regions of the state. That means the cypress needles are stretching upward, with the beautiful luminescent green of their new growth. The pink fetterbush, red tillandsias and firebush are all showing cheerful color. Spring is traditionally a time when people begin to be serious about deciding for sure which plants will be going into their landscapes, so it's  a good time to remind gardeners about the need to plan for cold hardy plants. We had plenty of cold this winter, and the results were obvious in landscapes that had not been well-planned. In February I was trying to sell, for a relative, a house that had been planted with a row of areca palms to provide screening. The cold weather turned these palms completely brown. They weren't dead; but they might as well have been dead, because they l...