How does your garden grow when left alone for months?
The blue curl has gorgeous flowers but is a very aggressive grower. It is best to place this member of the mint family as a background plant in your garden.
October 29, 2020
Lots of us are returning to the island after a summer away. If your landscape has been left unattended, there’s usually a lot of work to be done.
I planted a small butterfly garden a few days before leaving and came back four months later to find something akin to an overgrown jungle — which was wonderful in that the plants were thriving, but not so great from an aesthetic standpoint. If this has happened to you, don’t worry: Most everything can be pruned back or moved somewhere else if they turned out larger than you expected.
Here are a few of the miscalculations I made that might help you if you’re adding natives to your gardens.
I thought I would try blue curls, Trichostema dichotomum, a charming native with beautiful delicate blue flowers. The plants were quite small when I put them in, so on my return, I was surprised to be confronted with two enormous mounds of lovely green foliage dwarfing the other plants in the front of the garden.
This member of the mint family is supposed to be an annual, but it shows no signs of slowing down and I’m hesitant to move it as I’m not sure it’s finished blooming yet. The foliage is lush and full and the remaining flowers are truly lovely, with distinctive spots on the lower petals beneath long arched stamens of the most intense blue.
Next time I’ll plant this as a background plant where the flowers can be appreciated when in bloom but the plant won’t overshadow the smaller plants in the front. There are some of these still blooming in Pan’s Garden at the Preservation Foundation if you want to have a closer look.
A big success was blue porterweed, Stachytarpheta jamaicensis, the only native porterweed in Florida. This spreads, forming a dense low ground cover, with spikes of deep blue flowers reaching a height of 10 inches. These bright flowers attract legions of butterflies, and hummingbirds love them as well. The leaves serve as the larval food for the stunning buckeye butterfly.
Blue porterweed forms a dense low ground cover, with spikes of deep blue flowers reaching a height of 10 inches
The porterweed I planted last June has tripled in size and is cascading over the edge of the bed. It likes a good deal of sun but is otherwise undemanding.
The porterweeds are so called throughout the Caribbean because of the porter-like brew, similar to beer, made from them to treat fevers and skin irritations. Purple porterweed, Stachytarpheta frantzii, though non-native, is a nice upright species, growing 4 to 5 feet, with an equal spread, and bearing darker flowers on thick stems.
The Panama rose, Arachnothryx leucophylla, also doubled in size, although it doesn’t receive as much sun as it would probably like. This beautiful shrub sports clusters of bright pink flowers that attract numerous butterflies; ruby-throated hummingbirds are big fans as well from fall through spring. Once established, this requires little care and can be pruned if you want to keep it smaller. Left alone, it will reach 8 feet, and would make a terrific hedge with year-round color.
I properly planted giant milkweed, Calotropis gigantea, and butterfly milkweed, Asclepias tuberosa in the back of the bed. The giant milkweed looks terrific and is the larval host for queen butterflies and occasionally monarchs. Cut stems root easily, so once you have a mature plant, you can easily propagate more.
The large leaves of this plant are advantageous from an aesthetic viewpoint as a single caterpillar will only eat a portion of one before growing enough to pupate. Anyone who has grown other species of Asclepias knows that a few monarch larvae can strip the leaves, flowers and stems of an entire plant before curling up into their chrysalis. This was the fate of my other milkweeds — they were stripped bare before I left, but happily they have regrown and are now in full flower awaiting the next batch of hungry caterpillars. This also is why you don’t want them front and center in your garden.
I planted the native wild sage, Lantana involucrata, too close to the front of the border. It was so small when I put it in that I thought I’d get at least a season or two of the delicate flowers up close. No such luck — it’s way too big for its space and will have to be moved to the back of the bed. This is a wonderful rounded upright shrub with small clusters of white flowers tinged with pink at the edges of the petals. Butterflies and hummingbirds both seek out the nectar. Once established, this plant is as tough as nails — drought tolerant and happy in any soil, sun or part shade.
Wild sage is another flowering plant loved by the butterflies and pollinators that grows quite big
Gardens are a work in progress — like children, they all require attention in specific areas. Don’t get discouraged if your plants aren’t doing exactly what you expected. Enjoy them for their individual traits and know that if you’re planting natives, you’re helping support the birds, butterflies and pollinators that so desperately need these host plants to survive.
The use by landscapers of spiked boots to climb palm trees is very damaging, leaving deep holes that can cause insect attacks and trunk rot
I want to mention another important issue confronting returning Floridians: pruning your palms. Many landscapers use spiked boots to climb to the tops of palms to prune the fronds. When they reach the top, they circle the crown in these boots leaving numerous holes everywhere they go. These unsightly wounds damage the trunk and provide access holes for invasive insects. Additionally, lawn mowers and weed eaters used at the base of palms nick the trunks and can girdle the trees, which is irreversible and fatal.
Harsh or severe pruning is very damaging to palms, as green fronds are the source of nutrients and removing them stunts growth, invites disease and reduces the palms’ natural resilience to high winds. Harsh pruning also removes valuable food and shelter needed by native wildlife, songbirds and butterflies. Our native sabal palms are actually self pruning, shedding their dead fronds in high winds.
Weed whackers often cut into the base of palm trees, ultimately weakening the tree and leading to an early death
And please don’t remove the beautiful flowers and berries that adorn the palms in spring and winter. These are vital for the survival of migratory birds and Florida’s indigenous wildlife species. A friend of mine likens the berries on her thatch palm to beads of pearls: When the berries are out in full force, she says it looks as though the palms were dressed by Coco Channel, an apt analogy for Palm Beach. The berries on sabal and buccaneer palms are glorious as well.
A buccaneer palm at Pan’s Garden if full of berries that are loved by birds
Christmas palms, Adonida merrillii, although not native, are stunning in late fall through winter with their glorious clusters of glossy, bright red fruits. These, like the sabals, are also self pruning.
Christmas palms have bright, red fruits through late fall
The town prohibits its contractors from using spikes when pruning palms on public lands, but sadly there is no ordinance prohibiting homeowners from allowing their landscapers to use this practice. It is up to each of us to monitor the pruning methods our landscapers are using and ensure that they are not damaging our beautiful and valuable trees.
-Kim Frisbie
Original article on the Palm Beach Daily News is HERE.
