Native Plants

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Wednesday - May 27, 2009

From: St. Cloud, FL
Region: Southeast
Topic: Erosion Control, Groundcovers, Shade Tolerant, Wildflowers
Title: Wildflowers for high canal bank in Florida
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

My home is on a canal to a natural lake in Central Florida (Orlando area). I am wondering if there is a wildflower that I can grow on a 3' high canal bank that is mostly shady.

ANSWER:

The following plants should do well as groundcover plants in part shade (2 to 6 hours of sunlight per day) on your canal bank:

Arisaema dracontium (green dragon)

Conoclinium coelestinum (blue mistflower)

Dyschoriste oblongifolia (oblongleaf snakeherb)

Helenium amarum (yellowdicks)

Mitchella repens (partridgeberry)

Phyla nodiflora (turkey tangle fogfruit)

Ruellia caroliniensis (Carolina wild petunia)

Salvia lyrata (lyreleaf sage)

You can find more recommendations for shade tolerant plants for Florida by selecting your state from the map or the pulldown menu on our Recommended Species page. You can limit this list by using the NARROW YOUR SEARCH option and selecting the characteristics you are looking for (e.g., select 'Herb' from General Appearance and 'Part Shade' and 'Shade' from Light requirement). You can also find other recommendations for plants for Orange County, Florida from the Florida Native Plant Society. This site doesn't have information about light requirement, but you can check that in our Native Plant Database page by searching by the botanical name.