Spraying Pesticides on Bougainvillea harms Nature ad People
Bougainvillea blooms profusely with the help of birds eating the caterpillars. The Birds nest in the vines, which provide them with shelter and habitat. Bird droppings provide fertilizer for the roots of the vines.
March 15, 2025
This is a story about bougainvillea, one of the more beautiful, but perhaps least understood plants here in Palm Beach.
When I moved here from the Northeast, I knew a great deal about northern plants, but virtually nothing about tropical species. So when my landscaper told me I needed to spray my bougainvillea because caterpillars were eating all the blossoms, I figured I should do as he said. The same thing has probably happened to you.
But this is the worst thing you can do for your bougainvillea.
All those caterpillars on the bougainvillea are actually bird food, and they are here now to provide necessary protein for nesting chicks. Adult birds need 300-500 caterpillars per day to support their nestlings, and they will forage in a radius of only 500 yards. If the caterpillars aren’t available, the nest will likely fail. In Via Flagler, which is adjacent to Henry’s Restaurant and Main Street Café, bougainvillea grows over all the walls; toxic pesticides here would be dangerous to the many visitors who sit outside to eat or sip their coffee.
With this in mind, the Breakers stopped spraying the plants in the via, including the bougainvillea. Almost immediately, birds started arriving and began nesting in the vines, which provide wonderful shelter and habitat. They devoured the caterpillars and their guano provided fertilizer for the roots of the vines.
Since the birds’ arrival, the blossoms on the bougainvillea have been twice as dense and colorful, and the added benefit of constant birdsong is a huge bonus. Additionally, most of the plantings in Via Flagler are native species, and are proving to be exceptionally hardy and beautiful in large planters, on trellises, and cascading over walls.
Beach creeper (Ernodia Littoralis) spills over a wall, and after it fills in, its tiny flowers attract hummingbirds. This is a great native substitute for green island ficus, which provides nothing for pollinators.
Ernodia littoralis, or beach creeper, is used extensively in the via as a wonderful replacement for green island ficus; its arching stems cascade over the sides of the central planter creating dense mats of shiny green foliage with tiny tubular flowers that attract hummingbirds. This low-growing plant thrives on neglect — it is drought- and heat-tolerant, loves full sun or part shade, and can be left alone or trimmed to any desired shape. It does well on coastal dunes, in manicured gardens, rock gardens, or atop a sunny wall. This beautiful but threatened species deserves to be far more widely planted.
An atala butterfly emerges from its chrysalis in a Coontie frond.
Coontie (Zamia integrifolia) is a terrific native species you’ll find in the planting beds at Via Flagler. This tough evergreen cycad grows to about 2 feet with lovely arching fern-like fronds. It’s happy in sun or shade, and is extremely drought-tolerant. This is very slow growing so don’t give up on it if it doesn’t appear to be thriving — and right now it may be looking a little tired at the end of winter. But be patient: it is about to flush out with beautiful new spring growth that will attract the stunning blue atala butterflies. This is one of our most important native species and the only endemic cycad in North America. Make sure to add several to your gardens!
Red-tripped cocoplum makes an excellent thick hedge (low or high) and is a beautiful specimen plant.
Cocoplum (Chrysobalanus icaco) is another fabulous plant in the via that is often sadly mistreated. This is a valuable shrub for screens or hedges, with beautiful dense glossy green foliage. The red-tipped variety is especially lovely, thriving in full sun with spikes of tiny fragrant white flowers that bloom all year. Perhaps because this plant is so tough, it is often improperly sheared, leaving unsightly, exposed stems. This seems so unfair to this stunning specimen, which, left alone, will mature into an elegant, pest-free shrub with graceful upright to arching branches.
A house sparrow sadly surveys the mangled shearing of a formerly beautiful cocoplum.
When the cocoplum's pink fruits ripen to a deep purple, they can be eaten as is or made into delicious jams or jellies. The fruits are rich in vitamin C and other antioxidants; they are an excellent source of nutrients supporting eye and heart health and are said to prevent cancer. They are also loved by birds. If you must prune them, do so by hand, not with hedge shearers, and they will retain their lovely form.
We have had several forums on “Where have all the songbirds gone?” here in Palm Beach over the past few years. The bird population in the United States and Canada has declined by more than 3 billion birds in the last 50 years, so it’s gratifying to at least see their bustling activity in the bougainvillea in Via Flagler, and in my adjacent garden off Sunset, where they nest in the live oaks, Simpson's stoppers, wild coffee, wooly teabush, cinnamon bark, and wild lime.
Beach creeper used along a pathway provides airy but lush interest, and hummingbirds will visit the flowers.
I have some doves nesting in the sabal palm outside my window and it’s fun to have them always peeking in at me. I’m assuming that bats are living in the crowns of the trees as we have very few mosquitoes and a single bat will eat 3,000 to 4,000 of the little devils every night. I love going into the garden in the morning to listen to the music of the song sparrows, cardinals, doves, and mockingbirds — and they continue to perform in the late afternoons 'til dusk.
If we all planted just a few native species and stopped using chemicals in our gardens for even a month, we would enjoy a dramatic increase in birds, butterflies and pollinators that will come to visit! With the right plants in the right places, you’ll find that you don’t need any pesticides at all — and you’ll save a ton of money!
A zebra heliconian butterfly on a maypop vine.
I recently attended a meeting on the Florida Wildlife Corridor, our most at-risk resource. This 18 million-acre corridor of land stretches from the Everglades headwaters near Orlando, to Gulf Islands National Seashore near Pensacola, and down to Florida Bay, connecting conserved farmlands, ranches, forests and watersheds essential to the survival of Florida’s endemic and endangered wildlife. It is imperative that we find solutions to balancing Florida’s increasing population growth with the permanent connection, restoration, and protection of this land.
The significance of the corridor and the many species of wildlife it preserves, including the iconic Florida panther and black bear, cannot be understated. It will also provide wonderful recreational options for hiking, kayaking, biking, horseback riding, and exploring the rivers and trails of Florida’s unique and exquisite heartland. Maintaining and protecting functioning ecosystems for all the creatures of our state and our world will also strengthen resilience to intensifying storms and will protect water quality, and preserving these spaces of connected ecosystems will instill a love of the environment for our children and future generations. For more information on this important foundation, visit floridawildlifecorridor.org.
Maypop is another wonderfully fragrant native vine that is blooming right now. It is host for the zebra heliconian butterfly.
Just as land must be open and connected for our wildlife to survive, so must our landscapes and gardens here in Palm Beach. We need more than just a few pockets of native plants and pesticide-free areas — there must be contiguous habitat and sustenance if our pollinators and birds are to survive. No one needs to remove all or even any exotic species from their landscapes, unless they are known invasives.
But if all of us planted just a few natives and stopped applying chemicals, we would go a long way toward cleaning up the very unhealthy environment that currently exists on our island.
-Kim Frisbie
Original article on the Palm Beach Daily News is HERE.