Palm Beach gardening: Plant it ... and they will come

Bright orange and red Milkweed plant — *Monarch Butterfly*

November 11, 2019

When we moved into our North End home last fall, the entryway garden consisted of four quadrants, each bordered with green island ficus and podocarpus surrounding large expanses of white impatiens and begonias. Elephant ears (Alocasias) and schefflera were placed around the bases of the Christmas palms, and the occasional agave was added as an accent plant.

It was very symmetrical and retail looking, but to my mind somewhat sterile and high-maintenance — and too much of a monoculture.

Our landscape service required that we employ an environmental agency — read: chemical contractor — to make sure everything stayed perfectly groomed and insect free. There were no butterflies, moths or birds, and aside from the bougainvillea, very little color.

Having grown up on a Pennsylvania farm, enveloped by birdsong and creatures of all shapes and sizes, I knew this could be improved. We were arriving after a very hot summer, so much of the initial plant material was scheduled to be replaced. These were “seasonal plantings,” which disrupt the soil and its essential bio-organisms while wasting plant material and costing the homeowner a small fortune.

I received my botanical training in New England, so I was not that familiar with Florida landscaping; but the Mounts Botanical Garden was having its fall plant sale, and this seemed like the place to start. So, armed with Haehle’s “Native Florida Plants” and Roger Hammer’s “Attracting Hummingbirds and Butterflies in Tropical Florida” as my guides, I went searching for more varied, interesting, and environmentally friendly plant material. I specifically wanted natives, as these would require the least maintenance and would attract the insects that would bring back birds and butterflies. I also told my landscaper to stop using any pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides.

Over the course of the next two days, I loaded my husband’s SUV with:

Bahamas senna (Cassia chapmanii)
Buttonsage (Lantana involucrata)
White indigoberry (Randia aculeata)
Necklacepod (Sophora tomentosa)
Coontie palms (Zamia pumila)
Firebush (Hamelia patens)
Summersweet (Clethra alnifolia)
Tickseed (Coreopsis leavenworthii)
Jamaican caper (Capparis cynophallophora)
Coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens)
Corky stemmed passionflower (Passiflora suberosa)

Then for perennials I added:

Spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis)
Blanket flower (Gaillardia pulchella)
Sunflowers (Helianthus debilis)
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)
and several salvias (Salvia coccinea) in a variety of pinks, whites and red.

I really wanted butterflies, so I bought several species of milkweed (Asclepias), in various colors. A. curassavica, or scarlet milkweed, while not native, is the most reliable for attracting monarch, queen and soldier butterflies and is their favored larval host plant. Hungry caterpillars will completely defoliate the plant and then crawl off to form their jewel-like pupae, from which they will emerge in about 10 days as beautiful butterflies. We watched a fat caterpillar spinning its pupa one morning and were fascinated and astonished to see the speed with which he transforms himself: from curled-up caterpillar to fully formed jade-colored chrysalis took less than five minutes!

Butterfly milkweed (A. tuberosa) is a native variety, and excellent for dry sunny locations. In addition to monarch and queen butterflies, the wonderful hairy reddish larvae of the echo moth will feed on this species.

For focal points, I centered pinwheel jasmine (Tabernaemontana divericata) in two of the quadrants — this airy, delicate, evergreen shrub isn’t native, but produces stunning white flowers year-round.

I filled the remaining space with the lantana, salvia, white indigoberry, necklacepod, milkweed, black-eyed Susans, coreopsis and blanketflower.

I moved the elephant ears, which had yellowed in the sun, to a shadier spot and planted the passionflower, coral honeysuckle, and firebush at the base of all the palms. I thinned the green island ficus and added the coonties in hopes of attracting the wonderful atela butterflies.

For groundcover and to fill in empty spots, the native evergreen frogfruit (Phya nodiflora) worked wonderfully.

For fragrance, I added sweet almond (Aloysia virgata) and lady of the night (Brunfelsia Americana) along the side walls, along with the Jamaican caper, as these get quite large. The cassia went to an open spot on the seawall where it has thrived in full sun and constant salt water spray.

The garden filled in immediately and smelled like heaven with the fragrant white blooms of the Brunfelsia. By last spring, butterflies and moths had appeared and the garden was thriving. Returning back this fall, the plants had almost doubled in size, the passionflower has grown up the sides of the palms and is home to wonderful white zebra heliconium caterpillars and butterflies; there are monarchs everywhere — as well as several birds and an occasional owl.

The bottom line is that each one of us can make a difference in our environment. With the loss of 3 billion birds in the last 50 years and the imminent loss of 1 million species worldwide, it is not just important that we strive to improve our ecosystems — it is truly urgent.

Let’s take a long hard look at what we’re applying to our landscapes. Many lawn services simply spray on a weekly or monthly basis, with no regard to what is actually needed. Chemicals can persist in the soil for months and years, and there’s no regulation on how much or how often they may be applied.

So it is up to each and every one of us to monitor our home environments. Let’s keep them safe for our children, grandchildren, and pets, and let’s bring birds and butterflies back to our island!