Palm Beach Gardening: Our Island Hedges, Long May they Grow

Simpson’s Stopper Hedge

November 28, 2019

Palm Beach is an island of hedges — and for good reason. Aside from their inherent elegance, hedges provide valuable security and privacy, also acting as windbreaks and noise mufflers, while separating distinct elements within a landscape. But the infestation of whitefly on our Ficus benjamina has led to overzealous pesticide use, which has depleted the important native insects necessary for our birds and other wildlife.

The drenches most often prescribed for ficus hedges contain Clothienadin, Imidacloprid, and Dinotefuran — all broad spectrum, systemic neonicotinoids that kill every insect they contact, before leaching into our soils and aquifers where they are highly toxic to fish and essential microbacteria. They are also thought to be responsible for colony collapse disorder, which has led to the dangerous decline in our honeybee populations.

Additionally, the strains of whitefly now being treated have grown largely resistant to these chemicals. F. benjamina may no longer be planted in Palm Beach and the removal of numerous ficus hedges is encouraging in the war against whitefly and pesticides.

But we now need to carefully consider the plants being used as replacements. F. benjamina was so overplanted it created a monoculture, which allowed pests to invade unchecked. One of the replacement plants of choice has become Clusia guttifera, an attractive, fast-growing hedge with thick tear-drop-shaped, leathery leaves. This is a fine plant, but Clusia is not native and we must be careful not to plant so much that we create the same potential for another outbreak of disease.

There are many wonderful native plants that make fabulous hedges. Natives adapt to their surrounding growing conditions so need little attention once established. They do not require fertilizer or pesticides, and will literally bring life back to your landscapes. And consider mixing several species of plants for a variegated, semi formal look that is becoming increasingly desirable.

Cocoplum (Chrysobalanus icaco) is one of my favorite choices for a beautiful pest-free hedge or screen in full sun to part shade. The red tip variety is most often seen in nurseries, with reddish new growth making a striking contrast against the shiny, rounded, evergreen leaves.

Tiny fragrant white flowers produced year-round are sought after by many pollinators. These are followed by cream-colored to dark purple edible fruits, which are loved by birds and wildlife and may be made into jam. This is a fast grower to 15 feet, but is easily pruned into a lower height. Drought and cold tolerant, it is adaptable to numerous soils. It also looks lovely in conjunction with other natives.

Wild coffee (Pychotria nervosa) makes an excellent native hedge for shady situations or as an under-story plant. The shiny, deeply veined evergreen foliage is stunning when reflecting sunlight, and the small clusters of white flowers attract butterflies (especially the ruddy daggerwing and zebra heliconian), bees and other pollinators. The flowers are followed by clusters of bright red fruit in fall and winter, which is sought after by mockingbirds and gray catbirds. In South Florida, wild coffee grows to 6 feet or more, and is versatile in the landscape, planted en masse or in small groups beneath taller trees. It is a common under-story plant in tropical woodlands.

Buttonwood (Conocarpus erectus), either silver or green, makes a great hedge that is wonderfully resilient to salt spray, drought and poor soils. Happiest in full sun, these plants also will perform well in partly shaded areas, and are important host trees for epiphytes. The flowers, leaves and rough bark attract insects and spiders, providing food as well as cover and habitat for birds and wildlife. These are larval host plants for the martial hairstreak butterfly and tantalus sphinx moth, while providing nectar for the amethyst hairstreak and other butterflies.

Buttonwood’s shrubby character makes it a useful background or screen plant and it responds well to shearing. It is especially useful in coastal plantings due to its high salt tolerance.

Our native saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) is a tough, versatile landscape plant that makes another terrific slow-growing hedge. This sprawling, low-growing palm (5 to 10 feet) with stiff green or silvery-blue fan shaped leaves creates a dense ground cover that needs virtually no attention. Salt and drought tolerant, it will grow in full sun to part shade and thrives in sandy, nutrient poor soil. The tiny fragrant white flowers are nectar sources for bees and butterflies, including the rare and highly prized atala, and it is the larval host plant for monk skipper and palmetto skipper butterflies. The small olive-shaped fruits ripen from green to black and are such an important nutrient-rich food source for over 200 species of birds and mammals that a permit is required to collect any in the wild.

Planted beneath taller palms or other native trees, this makes a wonderful multi-textured semi-formal hedge or screen. As if this weren’t enough, extracts from the fruits are used medicinally to treat prostate and bladder disorders. If you are clearing any land with saw palmettos already existing, preserve the larger specimens if possible as they grow slowly. Large palms in the wild have been found to be centuries old.

Marlberry (Ardisia escallonioides), is a lovely evergreen shrub with dark green, semi-glossy leaves that can grow 12 to 20 feet. This is one of the best landscape choices for shady areas; it occurs in nature as an under-story beneath sabal palms and often with native stoppers. If planted with these companions in the landscape, it makes a glorious mixed hedge. Beautiful clusters of fragrant white flowers appear at various times of the year attracting a wide variety of pollinators and butterflies. The purple marble-like fruit that follows attracts birds and other wildlife. Salt tolerant and undemanding, this is best planted in clusters as part of a mixed under-story; individually, the wide spaced branches are somewhat weak. As part of a group planting, it creates excellent cover for songbirds.

A companion plant, Simpson’s stopper (Myrcianthes fragrans) is considered one of Florida’s best small native trees. Performing well in full sun or light shade, its fragrant white flowers and edible bright red berries attract birds, bees, butterflies and other wildlife. It will tend to be shorter and fuller in sunnier locations, while in the shade, the beautiful coppery exfoliating bark will be more apparent. Growing to 20 feet, salt- and drought-tolerant, this makes another excellent hedge or specimen tree, and is especially valuable in coastal areas where it requires little maintenance.

Dahoon holly (Ilex cassine) is another highly adaptable native evergreen that will work in a myriad of landscape settings, including hot, dry sunny locations, even tolerating salt spray. Female plants sport clusters of bright red berries that last well into the winter months and are loved by songbirds. Growing to 25 feet, it is another excellent wildlife plant that has wonderful ornamental value in a mixed evergreen hedge or screen.

— Kim Frisbie

Original article on the Palm Beach Daily News is HERE.