Florida Native Plant Society Blog

 By Devon Higginbotham They were driving me nuts!  I have a couple dead Pecan trees in my yard and periodically they drop large dead limbs with gobs of moss.  It’s been a long time since I have seen a green leaf on either of them.  The wood is decayed and crumbly so it’s not difficult to collect the fallen limbs (there are no branches left) but I was dying to chop them down. Last month, as I lugged another fallen limb to the trash, I looked at one trunk that had slowly dwindled down to 20 ft in height. There is a hole at the base of the tree large enough for a family of hobbits to pass through.  The interior is dark and mysterious and I envisioned a raccoon charging out, obviously very inconvenienced by my snooping into his home, but all I saw was darkness.  No one seemed home.   I suppose it’s time to get rid of them.  My neighbors had been quietly asking the same question.  “Why is she keeping those behemoths?  What an eyeso...

Pileated woodpeckers work a red bay ( (Persea borbonia ) before it was killed by the laurel wilt disease. Trees are so important! And to receive the maximum benefits with the least amount of effort, plant a tree native to your region and one that's been bred from local stock.  Here is a post to help with this: Natives for your landscape: an FNPS tool for you . In addition to being beautiful and supporting local wildlife, here are a few of the more quantifiable benefits.   Trees: - clean the air. In 1991, Chicago's 51 million trees “removed an estimated 17 tons of carbon monoxide, 93 tons of sulfur dioxide, 98 tons of nitrogen dioxide, 210 tons of ozone, and 234 tons of particulate matter. They [also] sequestered about 155,000 tons of carbon. ... where trees were large and lush, they could improve air quality by as much as 15 percent during the hottest hours of midday. More trees and bigger trees meant cleaner air." ( What Is a Tree Worth ) - absorb wat...

The Mayan Calendar for sale in a Mexican shop. On the Winter Solstice, 12/21/12 at 6:12am EST, the Mayan calendar stops. I can't decipher the calendar, so I personally don't have any way to verify that this assessment is true, but this impending date has engendered many interesting responses. As an example, see the dire weather forecast for this week, which has gone viral on the Internet. So..., we'll see what happens tomorrow. An interesting weather forecast! But if you believe in the future, you'll plant a tree before the day ends because… When you plant a tree, you believe in the future. If we all plant at least one tree today, maybe our collective efforts will prevent the world from ending. Of course, I'd highly recommend a native tree from local stock. So go to the FANN (Florida Association of Native Nurseries) consumer website, to find the nearest FANN member with the trees you'd like to plant. www.PlantRealFlorida.org . Plant some m...

 Arbor Day Foundation website presents important educational material. The Arbor Day Foundation has played a big part to help people, cities and towns plant more trees since 1865 when J. Sterling Morton started this foundation. In Florida alone there are 165 Tree Cities . We've discussed this organization in these previous posts: Florida's Arbor Day: Third Friday in January  and our followup post on our members' favorite trees: Your Favorite Trees .  So yes, The Arbor Day Foundation has done a lot to increase awareness of the importance of trees even in urban and suburban environments and presents a lot of good educational material. BUT... With their membership packages, they make it almost irresistable to acquire trees from their Nebraska-based nursery. Where I live in northern Florida, the 10 free trees offered are 3 redbuds, 4 dogwoods and 3 goldenraintrees, plus I could qualify for 2 crape myrtles.  Arbor Day Foundation offers  ...

Properly pruned sabal palm. THE TREE OF LIFE It's not a well-known fact, but this most regal name for the Sabal palm (pronounced Sāʼbăl) ( Sabal palmetto ) originated with Native Americans, perhaps on seeing their first palm trees. With that being the case, it bodes for us to pay closer attention to the heritage of our state symbol. LIFE HISTORY These nobles began life in the Unite States in our southeastern region after having wandered north from the Caribbean area where they can thrive here today—with the proper care. They are also commonly called Cabbage, Palmetto or Hat palms, with 16 species spread across northeastern Mexico to Florida. They find a comfortable habitat in open areas, where the dunes flow and flats tidal, savannas breeze, occasionally swamp shades and even—salt marshes! How many of us know that the State of Florida has honored this tree by designating it as the official state tree—that happened in 1953—more than likely because it's all over the...

This redbay tree that has been killed by the terrible laurel wilt disease. All the leaves turn brown without warning. If you have ever gone camping, you probably have moved firewood. It is a pretty natural thing to do. However, today, Florida is rapidly loosing an important member of its forest tree and shrub diversity: members of the Lauraceae plant family are being killed by a new pathogen. The following trees and shrubs are susceptible to the laurel wilt disease: swampbay ( Persea palustris ), redbay ( Persea borbonia ), silkbay ( Persea humilis ), sassafras ( Sassafras albidium ), pondspice ( Litsea aestivalis ) and pondberry (Lindera melissaefolia ), the last two are endangered species. Another concern is that avocado is a member of this family and it is also susceptible to the disease. The disease is called laurel wilt and it is spread by a very small, 2 millimeter, beetle that carries a fungal pathogen. When the redbay ambrosia beetle bores into a tree of the Lauraceae...

"The native Paradise tree is more useful than Google, and easy to grow." And how could any blogger resist leading off with this intriguing quote from the Key West Garden Club? I am a Master Gardener and a Master Naturalist, but I only know so much; so I always check out  statistics from experts before posting information about plants. I have a beautiful Paradise tree in my yard, it came from the raffle table at my chapter's program night about six years ago.   Paradise tree                Simarouba glauca For the first six years the little tree had a perfect, closed, cone shape; but just this summer I was astounded one morning to walk out and notice that my tree had changed. The canopy had begun to open up, there were open spaces between the layers of branches. It seemed to happen overnight. Proving again that a garden is constantly in motion, which is one of the fascinating things about o...

The tart edible fruits of Prunus angustifolia and Prunus umbellata are ripe and ready for wild foraging. P. angustifolia , commonly called “Chickasaw” plum after the native people that favored their use (Austin), and P. umbellata , known as “flatwoods plum” are members of the Rosaceae family. Most people are familiar with the spring bloom of white flowers that form before the leaves, offering one of the earliest floral displays after the winter frosts in north Florida. The prolific trees and shrubs of the Prunus genus were widely used by native people for everything from medicines and food to wood products and ceremonial objects. More than 400 species can be found throughout the United States, Europe, and China; there are two native species in Africa. The genus includes plums, cherries, peaches, apricots, and almonds. The Prunus species native to north central Florida grow in woodlands, flatwoods, along roadsides and fence rows, and in open pine areas. Both species are small de...

The lgnum vitae ( Gualacum sanctum ). This must be a special tree with two Latin names. Actually, this IS a special tree for many reasons. It grows slowly--about an inch per year. The wood is so dense that it sinks in water. Its wood was highly prized for propellers and judges' gavels. Because it's resinous, the wood was also good for ball bearings and hinges--they are self lubricating. The resin has medicinal properties: it reduces inflammation, suppresses coughs, and was used to treat syphilis. Because of all its uses, it was widely harvested and because of its extremely slow growth, the tree is rare in most of the Florida Keys, its native habitat. Here's more information and photos of the tree on Floridata.com . It has amazingly blue flowers. But on Lignumvitae Key most of the population was spared from the harvest because it was privately held and accessible only by boat. This key is now a state park. It's open on Thursday through Sunday and tours of the h...

Last August I ended up with a mistreated winged elm ( Ulmus alata ). This interesting tree, native from north central Florida northward, has corky extensions on its branches, which is why it's called a "winged" elm. The branches make it a good addition to your landscape for its year-round interest. It had been headed back at least twice and branches were coming from everywhere. This is why you rinse away all the soil from a potted tree. The first thing I did was water it in its pot, but when I was ready to plant it I rinsed ALL the soil from the roots. (Who knew that they'd be so red?) There are several reasons for this: 1) If the tree has been sitting in that pot for a year or more, there are virtually no nutrients left in the soil. 2) Many times trees that have been potted and repotted are too deep in the soil. Rinsing the soil away will reveal the root flare and this should be at or slightly above ground level when planted. ...

In recognition of Florida’s Arbor Day, we posed a question on Facebook asking for your favorite native tree. We received 43 answers and some folks had a hard time choosing just one tree. Gail Sloane posted this: “South Florida favorite: Chrysophyllum oliviforme - Satin leaf. Here up north (Tallahassee), Husband says live oak, I say silverbell, no, wait - fringe tree, no...” Others had good reasons for their choices. Elizabeth Neily said, “Sabal Plam because it symbolizes Florida. The native people used it for a mulitude of products from making twine to building homes. Critters hang out in its branches and birds like its berries.” While Annette Nielsen added this: “Has to be the sabal (cabbage) palm, none other is as tenacious or as ubiquitous or as nourishing to so many!”  Live oaks can get really big. Make sure you have room in your landscape. This giant is in Lake Griffin State Park south of Ocala.   Thanks for all your responses. They were fun to read, but the most ch...

Up in Wakulla County, Arbor Day 2011 was a big success due to the efforts of two groups who joined forces so that they could make a substantial contribution to the goals of the event. The Sarracenia Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society and the Iris Garden Club of Wakulla County gave away over 500 trees in one-gallon pots this year, despite the really cold weather. Their collaboration began four years ago when they realized that the little bareroot twigs given away as part of their community's Arbor Day celebration were too small to stand a good chance of even surviving the car trip home, let alone a chance of being planted and growing into a beautiful tree. So the two groups made a commitment to collaborate that worked so well they have never looked back. The Garden Club put up the funds to buy 900 bareroot native trees from the local AFNN member nursery, Superior Trees . They bought enough potting soil to fill 900 gallon-sized pots. A local nursery operation, Just Fruit...

The first Arbor Day was actually declared back in 1865, when we had a lot more trees.  J. Sterling Morton lived in Nebraska when he founded the Arbor Day Foundation . His son founded the Morton salt company in Chicago, and then the Morton Arboretum which is a vibrant, beautiful place and home to a superlative outdoor children's learning area. Don't miss it if you're ever out there. The Mortons have done a lot to help trees, and now it's our turn. Taking time out to celebrate the planting of trees is more important than ever. The Arbor Day Foundation sponsors many activities and programs including Tree City USA certifications. Florida has 153 Tree Cities. Orlando has been a Tree City the longest—for 33 years.  See www.arborday.org/states/?state=FL for other information and Arbor Day opportunities in Florida. Most of the country celebrates Arbor Day in April, but here in Florida, it’s much better to plant a tree now. So both Florida and Louisiana celebrate Arbor Day ...