Pineland Lobelia – Lobelia homophylla

Pineland lobelia is a an annual lobelia that is endemic to Florida and has been recorded in St. Johns County in north Florida from where it ranges south to Collier County on Florida's west coast and to St. Lucie County on Florida's east coast. In the spring of 2005, a single plant was established from a cutting given to me by a native plant acquaintance. The cutting was collected from plants growing in a ditch in Martin County and these plants constituted a new county record since the Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants does not list pineland lobelia as occurring in Martin County. I rooted the cutting and, in due course, it flowered and set seed. The seed was broadcast among several potted native plants and a colony of pineland lobelia has thrived at my home ever since.

Seedling pineland lobelias growing in cracks in my driveway.

Innumerable plants now come up every year in my potted plants, as well as in cracks in my driveway and in my wildflower beds. Pineland lobelia grows best in open, sunny, moist areas but it will also grow in light to medium shade. In drier spots, it behaves as a winter annual but, if there is sufficient moisture, it will grow year around. Seeds germinate vigorously with the arrival of cool autumn weather and seeds are the most effective way of propagating pineland lobelia. As I mentioned above, it can be grown from cuttings but plants produced from cuttings do not develop normally since they have a tendency to devote all of their energy to flowering and soon seed themselves to death.

Pineland lobelia has limited wildlife value but it is useful for adding a bit of blue color to wildflower gardens as well attracting native bees and honeybees to the garden. So far, it has not been bothered by pests and its only major fault is that it is an annual that dies after flowering. Thus, it is important to let it go to seed and to provide open, moist areas where it can grow without competition from taller and more aggressive plants. Pineland lobelia can be mistaken for bay lobelia (Lobelia feayana) but pineland lobelia grows from a loose rosette and has erect stems whereas bay lobelia has creeping vegetative stems that root wherever they touch the ground.

Images and text © 2013 Rufino Osorio

Symphyotrichum georgianum – Georgia Aster

This exceptionally deep violet-purple form of the Georgia aster is the cultivar 'N3 Purple Haze'.

Georgia aster (Symphyotrichum georgianum) is a colonial, rhizomatous perennial with flowering stems 1.5–3 feet (50–100 centimeters) tall. It is listed by the USDA as occurring in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina. In Florida, it is a rare plant that is listed as occurring only in Leon County by the Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants.

On March 17, 2006, I acquired a small plant of the deep violet-purple cultivar 'N3 Purple Haze' and planted it in a sunny site in well-drained sandy soil. It quickly spread by way of underground rhizomes to form a patch that covered about 1.5 square feet (0.4572 square meters). To my surprise, the colony has never grown beyond those 1.5 square feet even though there are no obstacles or larger plants preventing its spread. Thus far, it has not been attacked by the aphids, caterpillars, mealy bugs, scales, nematodes, grubs, or viruses that prove so troublesome in south Florida.

New stems of Georgia aster emerge in early spring.

Georgia aster flowers abundantly and spectacularly but it is among the last of the wildflowers to bloom in my garden and begins to flower at the end of October or the beginning of November. The only other wildflower in my garden that blooms later are my clones of Symphyotrichum concolor (eastern silver aster) from Miami-Dade County, which do not flower until the end of November or even December. After flowering, the stems dry up and I remove them. Unlike some asters, the stems of Georgia aster tend to recline, or even lie on the ground, with age. Gardeners who desire a more formal appearance can trim back the plant in mid-summer, a treatment that results in shorter, more erect flowering stems.

Like most rhizomatous perennials, Georgia aster is easily propagated by splitting off and potting up new growths in the spring. My single plant has never set viable seed, which indicates that Georgia aster is self-sterile. This year I've acquired a second clone and I'm hoping to obtain viable seed next year. The new clone has flowers of the typical color for the species, deep blue rather than purple-violet, and I'm hoping that, by crossing the two, I will get progeny whose flowers will come in a range of blue, violet, and purple colors. Craig Huegel has images of plants with the typical deep blue flowers at his blog, Native Florida Wildflowers.

Images and text © 2012 Rufino Osorio

Zinnias etc.

Cosmos sulphureus, a short-lived annual native to the American tropics, is attractive to many insects.

UPDATE: The United States Department of Agriculture Plants Database lists the scientific name of the common garden zinnia as Zinnia violacea; however, the Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants uses the name Zinnia elegans and lists Zinnia violacea as a nomen rejiciendum (a rejected name) under the rules of the International Code of Nomenclature for Algae, Fungi, and Plants. As a result, the name Zinnia elegans is used in this blog post.

I visited the garden of Robert Hopper today and found that his cottage garden annuals were in full bloom. Further north, these annuals would be planted in the spring to flower in the summer. Here in south Florida, they are planted in the autumn to flower throughout the winter.

Some of the plants in flower included Cosmos bipinnatus, Cosmos sulphureus, Portulaca grandiflora, Salvia farinacea, Zinnia angustifolia, and Zinnia elegans. Except for Salvia farinacea, which is a perennial native to Texas and New Mexico, these plants are all annuals native to Central or South America. To date, none have exhibited invasive tendencies in the United States and all have showy flowers that are attractive to numerous native pollinating insects as well as to honeybees. The plants of Zinnia elegans apparently came from open-pollinated seeds Burpee's Cut & Come Again Mix and a wide variety of colors and forms, including singles, semi-doubles, and doubles, were present in the garden. Fully double zinnias have little or no wildlife value but zinnias with single and semi-double flowers are irresistible to honeybees, native bees, hover flies, skippers, butterflies, hawk moths, various flower-visiting wasps, and hummingbirds.

Zinnia elegans, the common garden zinnia, tends to be short-lived in south Florida and is subject to diseases and pests that disfigure the leaves such as viruses, downy mildew, and leaf miners. It was originally native to Mexico but can now be found in gardens nearly throughout the world. If allowed to go to seed, it can persist in garden settings from self-sown seedlings but it eventually reverts to its wild form and plants with double, pom-pom-like flowers are replaced by plants with single or semi-double flowers. It also tends to escape from cultivation, especially to roadsides and other areas kept free from competing vegetation by natural disturbances or human activity; however, it generally does not persist for long.

Below are images of a few of the plants in Rob's garden as well as a rather extensive gallery of some of the many variations of Zinnia elegans that sprung up in his garden.

Angelonia angusifolia soon dies in my garden but this attractive dark purple form has proven to be long-lived in Rob's garden. Originally native to Mexico and Guatemala, it is now widespread in the tropics as an escape from cultivation.

Landoltia punctata has formed a solid cover on the surface of a small aquatic garden in Rob's yard. It is frequently misidentified as a native duckweed; however, no North American records are known prior to its occurrence in 1930 in a goldfish pond in Kansas City, Missouri, and it is now known to be native to southeast Asia and Australia.

Zinnia angustifolia is a small annual that produces numerous brilliant white, yellow, or orange daisies. It does not last long in the garden since it tends to quickly flower and seed itself to death. Native to Mexico, it has been bred with Zinnia elegans to produce a hybrid zinnia that has the disease resistance and abundant flowers of the former with the large flower size and range of colors of the latter.

All subsequent images are of the various forms of Zinnia elegans that sprung up in Rob's garden.

Zinnia elegans with flowers of an unusual burnt orange color. In the upper right, one can see the attractive flower buds typically found in garden zinnias. These are globose and have green bracts with black-rimmed margins.

Plants of Zinnia elegans with single flowers, such as this one, have the most wildlife value since the yellow disc florets provide plenty of pollen and nectar.

A plant of Zinnia elegans with semi-double flowers.

Plants of Zinnia elegans with fully double flowers, such as this one, lack the pollen- and nectar-bearing disk florets and have little value to insect wildlife.

The discoloration of the leaf in the upper right hand corner of the photograph is the result of leaf miners.

The flower heads in this photograph and the following two photographs are displaying symptoms caused by the Bidens mottle virus, which causes deformities of the leaves as well as color breaks in the flowers.

Color breaks, such as those shown in this photograph, are a symptom of the Bidens mottle virus. The virus is spread by aphids and is hard to avoid since Bidens alba, a common and abundant weed of south Florida, serves as a reservoir by which the virus can readily infect garden plants.

The effects of Bidens mottle virus are sometimes dramatic and colorful as in the above example; however, if such plants are not destroyed they will act as a reservoir for the virus and allow the virus to spread to other plants.

A honey bee, Apis mellifera, on Zinnia elegans. The foliage in the background, as well as in the flower buds in the lower left hand corner, belong to Cosmos sulphureus.

The spiny branches visible in the photograph belong to Acacia pinetorum, a small, shrubby, native acacia that becomes a mass of fragrant, yellow, globose flower heads in the spring.

Images and text © 2012 Rufino Osorio

Symphyotrichum oblongifolium 'Raydon's Favorite'

Symphyotrichum oblongifolium 'Raydon's Favorite' is a big bang bloomer that covers itself in flowers in the autumn.

Every year since 1996, Symphyotrichum oblongifolium 'Raydon's Favorite' reliably flowers in my garden towards the end of the year in late October and November. The common name is "aromatic aster" and it is based not on the fragrance of the flowers but rather on the aromatic glandular hairs of the bracts below the flowers.

The flowers are a clear amethyst-lavender color that never fails to attract the attention of butterflies and native bees.

So far, after 16 years of cultivation in south Florida, it has weathered droughts, intense heat and humidity, tropical storms, and hurricanes. And it has done so without ever having been afflicted by a single pest—not even aphids. What is puzzling is that it is a species of the eastern and central United States from where it extends west to Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. The closest that its natural range gets to Florida is North Carolina with reports from Alabama and Mississippi. Yet, it thrives in subtropical south Florida. I have tried growing other cultivars as well as wild forms of Symphyotrichum oblongifolium but all languish and die out after a year or two. But 'Raydon's Favorite' lives on to flower every year and no doubt becomes the favorite of every gardener who makes room for it in his or her yard.

Its cultivation is essentially effortless so long as it is provided with well drained soil and plenty of sunshine, although it appreciates a little water during extended droughts. It spreads vigorously and rapidly from underground suckers and propagation is easily effected by digging up and potting up the young suckers in the spring. Viable seed has never been set in my garden and, like many ecologically conservative perennial members of the daisy family, aromatic aster appears to be self-sterile.

Images and text © 2012 Rufino Osorio

Hibiscus aculeatus – Pineland Hibiscus

Hibiscus aculeatus is a perennial hibiscus native to the southeastern United States coastal plain in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, as well as in Hardin County, Texas. In late winter or spring, it produces thick, somewhat woody, ascending to erect stems with alternate, deeply lobed, roughly hairy leaves. It begins to flower soon thereafter and can continue flowering so long as moist to wet conditions prevail. The flowers are comparatively large—note that they are larger than the leaves—and are very showy as a result of their pale yellow to creamy white color with a contrasting maroon-red eye. If pollinated by bees, butterflies, or hummingbirds, they are soon followed by rather large capsules that are covered with coarse, sharp hairs.

As is apparent from its common name, pineland hibiscus frequently occurs in wet pine flatwoods, but it is also found in bogs, savannas, and roadside ditches. Unlike many other southeastern United States hibiscus, it often occurs where there is no permanent standing water and perhaps this is the reason that it is the easiest of southeastern native hibiscus to grow under ordinary garden conditions in a perennial border. Hibiscus aculeatus is extremely drought tolerant and, under adverse conditions, will produce only one or two short stems; however, under ideal conditions, it will form a large, bushy mass with many stems up to 3 feet (0.9 meters) tall and about as wide or wider. Self-sown seedlings have been few and welcomed in my dryish garden but I would imagine that it would spread from seed far more aggressively if provided with continually moist soil in sunny, open areas free from taller competing plants. In autumn or early winter, the deceptively woody stems die back to the ground and, in formal garden situations, will need to be cut down, otherwise, it requires no other maintenance. It is not particularly bothered by pests except the occasional aphid or scale, but rarely to any serious extent. Due to its ease of cultivation and value in attracting bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, it is a welcome addition to the garden and is recommended wherever one can provide a moist, sunny spot for this attractive and easily grown hibiscus.

In Florida, Hibiscus aculeatus occurs throughout the panhandle as well as much of northern Florida, from which it extends south to Lake County. In spite of its northern distribution, it is remarkably adaptable and my original plant, first placed in the ground in February 1996, is still with me, more than 16 years later, in my southern Florida garden. Another common name for Hibiscus aculeatus is comfort root, this being an allusion to the soothing, comforting qualities of its mucilage-containing roots.

Images and text © 2012 Rufino Osorio

Scutellaria arenicola

Scutellaria arenicola was named by John Kunkel Small in the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club in 1898. Over 100 years have elapsed since then and it is still essentially unknown in cultivation in spite of being nearly pest-free, easily grown, and bearing masses of large, colorful flowers. In nature, it occurs in sandhills and scrub and this might account for its rarity in home gardens. Plants from these habitats are often difficult for home gardeners to maintain unless the garden has very deep, sandy soil; however, that is not the case with Scutellaria arenicola and it readily adapts to a wide variety of garden conditions so long as it is provided with full sun and is not shaded by taller plants.

Plants die down to basal rosettes in the autumn and spend the winter in a more or less dormant state. With the arrival of warm weather in the spring, the rosettes take on a striking and distinctive deep burgundy color. Even if it never flowered, it would be worth growing for this beautiful foliage display. With spring rains, the stems rapidly elongate to 1—1.5 feet (30—45 centimeters) tall and produce sparsely branched spikes of large, dark lavender-blue flowers accented with a contrasting white throat. In the wild, stressful conditions usually result in plants that consist of a single rosette bearing a solitary spike of flowers. But with richer soil and more consistent watering, garden plants form many rosettes that bear large masses of flowers. Its horticultural uses are varied but it is perhaps best suited as a groundcover in sunny areas and as an accent plant in perennial flower borders, wildflower gardens, and cottage gardens. It may also be profitably used to provide color in herb gardens since it combines well with traditional herb garden plants. And, of course, it may be grown as a potted plant.

Fortunately, propagation is as easy as its cultivation and Scutellaria arenicola may be readily propagated by dividing the clumps of rosettes, by rooting cuttings, or by seeds. Every flower seems to produce seeds and, if allowed to do so, a single plant will form large colonies that become a carpet of lavender-blue in the spring. Although it is a long-lived perennial, plants will flower in a few months from seeds.

As is the case with all plants, Scutellaria arenicola does have a few drawbacks. Although it will tolerate surprisingly wet soil, the soil must be very well drained and it will not do well in an area where there is standing water after heavy rains. As mentioned above, it demands full sun and, although it will survive in the shade, it will bear few or no flowers. Although Scutellaria arenicola flowers throughout the summer and autumn, another drawback is that the flower buds produced during hot summer and autumn weather usually go directly to seed and do not produce the large, showy flowers.

To my surprise, Scutellaria arenicola has relatively few wildlife benefits and, although the flowers show all the hallmarks of being adapted for pollination by bees, I have not observed an insect visiting the flowers in over 15 years of growing the plant. Likewise, nothing seems to eat the foliage although occasionally plants stressed by extended drought will be attacked by non-native scale insects. However, cultivated plants can form rather large colonies that can cover many square feet of ground and as such they provide shelter for insects, spiders, lizards, and other small animals.

Scutellaria arenicola is native only to parts of Georgia and to Florida, where it occurs from Columbia County in north Florida to Highlands County in central Florida. Additional records, separate from its principal range in central Florida, have been reported from Lee and Collier counties in southwestern Florida.

 

© 2011 Rufino Osorio.