Open Greenhouse & Plant Swap, Saturday, June 1, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., 602 Ronele Drive, Brandon, FL 33511
IMPORTANT: We changed the time from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. so we’re all back inside before the worst of the heat. We’re still having fun, but it’s more fun early 😊 If you’ve never been, it’s a great way to see what’s happening in my Florida-friendly yarden and meet other gardeners. The plant swaps are great fun – you never know who is going to bring what. (They’re not a tit-for-tat swap so you don’t need to bring anything if you don’t have plants you can share.)
Updated to add more native plants! The native porterweed has been growing here, but not really spreading until this spring. We have tons of seeds or cuttings and a limited number of you-dig plants. Same for scorpion tail, a charming little plant that tolerates either sun or shade and attracts an amazing number of butterlies. And we have one Chickasaw plum sprout, plus lots of cuttings. The porterweed and scorpion tail also root very easily; I’m told the plum does too.
This month’s highlighted plant is a dark purple salvia that was gifted to us in a plant swap two years ago. It’s spectacular – we get hummingbirds all winter, bumblebees and butterflies for the rest of the year. It roots if you ask it nicely and handles cold without any problem. The only downside is that it needs regular water during droughts, but it’s more than worth it for the beauty it shares. It needs a serious trim so we’ll have lots of cuttings to share.
On the other hand, one of our favorite super-drought tolerant plants is the crinium lily. They’re really swamp plants but they’re often seen blooming away in those little islands that dot hot parking lots. I personally can’t imagine a worse place to grow but they do and mostly look great. Ours are spreading (in the semi-shady locations they prefer) and we have lots to share!
And this is the time of year when we start to grow salsa! We’ll have Everglade tomato volunteers, and this amazing little plant called a papalo that tastes just like cilantro but grows like a weed all summer long.
And we’re still sharing a bounty of native plants that Mother Nature has gifted to us.
- I found a couple of flats of native red salvias that need new homes. They’ll bloom all summer long, particularly if you dead-head them.
- We have baby firebush popping up all over (plus a very limited number larger plants that need to be dug up). Firebush is my all-time favorite plant, it attracts bees, including the bumblebees I really love, butterflies, particularly zebra longwings, hummingbirds and regular birds like cardinals, bluejays and titmouses.
- Wild coffee is one of the most spectacular shade plants in a native garden. It gets pretty white flowers that attract bees and butterflies, then spectacular red berries that birds love. It’s an amazing plant that really wants to grow in a shady location.
- Simpson stoppers – volunteering from a mama that was gifted to me more than 10 years ago – also are popping up in spots where they’ll need to be transplanted.
- There are a few beautyberries popping up in a shady spot at the back of the farm, but we’ll probably start mowing back there soon, so they’re looking for happy new homes.
- The elderberry is blooming early this year, and we’ll have lots of cuttings on this native plant that’s been used medicinally for centuries.
- A couple of native cannas are popping up in my ditch. They’d be happier in a spot where they could get cut back after they finish blooming so you get another big flush of beautiful golden flowers.
- I still haven’t found a good spot for my coral honeysuckle to show off, but we’ll have cuttings available.
- Blanket flowers are starting to put on a show; we have plenty of seeds, and they’ll bloom all summer long.
- And a little bit of you-dig spiderwort, which is one of my favorite wildflowers in spite of its name.
Before I move on to the rest of the plants we share every month, I’d like to remind you that the mulch fairies gifted us with two giant piles of the prettiest oak mulch we’ve seen in years. Bring your own containers and help yourself. We also have one rain barrel and a limited number of wooden pallets and bamboo that can be cut to stake plants. Bring heavy-duty clippers if you want bamboo though!
This is the time of year to start cuttings and most of the pollinator/hummingbird plants we grow are pretty easy. (We’ll give you directions if you ask for them on Saturday.)
- Brazilian red cloak blooms all winter long in full sun or deep shade. It’s also an awesome cut flower if you don’t mind stealing food from the hummingbirds.
- Pink and red powderpuff plants need a good trimming now that they’re pretty much finished blooming.
- Dombeya is a totally amazing plant that was gifted to us two years ago. It’s now eight feet tall and six feet wide and really needs trimming too.
- Firespike, in either purple or red, is another plant that blooms in either sun or shade and attracts butterflies and hummingbirds.
- I’m always careful about promoting pagoda plants and bleeding hearts (both Clerodendrum species) because they spread by underground runners, but they’re spectacular all year long if you have the space and the time to keep them under control.
Also on the free plant list for April:
- Lady palms, a slow-growing hedge that’s tough as can be once it’s started – and it actually prefers shade.
- Ever-bearing mulberries that are super-easy to root and set fruit nearly year-round.
- Coral Porterweed gets butterflies all year long and hummingbirds when they’re here in the winter. It’s also very attractive and very easy to root, plus we have a few you-digs. (They’re nowhere near as aggressive as the purple porterweed so we just get a few volunteers every year.)
- Jacob’s ladder is one of the few things we grow that doesn’t benefit wildlife, but it’s an attractive plant that works beautifully in a pot or as an inside house plant that doesn’t need much light or love.
Seeds
- The golden cosmos are a new favorite, they attract lots of bees and butterflies even though they bounce when a critter lands.
- Bachelor buttons are super-cute plants that attract all kinds of bees and butterflies.
- Yellow dwarf poinciana, a spectacular summer bloomer
- Candlestick senna isn’t the native variety but it attracts sulfur butterflies and then grows fast enough to stay alive through hordes of hungry caterpillars.