If you’re not already familiar with Duranta erecta, now is a good time to get acquainted with this very attractive New World flowering species. Like a lot of plants, it comes with its own little bag of mysteries: Its current specific epithet, erecta, means upright. Yet an older epithet, repens, means creeping. That sounds like…
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No less a publication than Southern Living magazine has long recommended our native Firebush, Hamelia patens, to its readership. And it’s no wonder. The species has many endearing qualities. First, if not foremost, it’s rather cold-tolerant. The Florida Native Plant Society regards it as suitable for planting through Zone 9a, whose northern limit is along…
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Here’s another in the series of interesting newsletters that Richard Lyons’ Nursery receives from Brooks Tropicals. What’s written about paleo diets often emphasizes eating meat, but the diet is more about enjoying food that isn’t highly processed. Slice and enjoy – dragonfruit Tropical fruits need little or no preparation to be enjoyed and to…
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This week we take a look at a very interesting group of Florida native plants known collectively as stoppers. All stoppers are members of the Myrtaceae, an enormous family that also includes the genus Eucalyptus. Some grow as shrubs and some as trees. Each of the five described below not only has ornamental value, but also has proven…
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In our part of the world, the genus Ficus has gotten a rather mixed reputation, primarily because some of its species have aggressive root systems than can raise sidewalks, crack foundations and clog underground pipes. Fortunately, not all of the 800 or so Ficus species pose such risks. One that is especially useful in the landscape…
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