Native Plants
Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?
A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.
Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
rate this answer
Tuesday - March 05, 2013
From: Belleair, FL
Region: Select Region
Topic: Plant Lists, Container Gardens, Shrubs
Title: Hot Sunny Planter Suggestions for Florida
Answered by: Anne Van Nest
QUESTION:
We have a large, raised, concrete planter (about 15' L x 2' W) separating us from our condo neighbor in Clearwater, FL. We would like suggestions for shrubs that tolerate full sun and hot conditions!ANSWER:
Think of the space as two layers – the taller shrub layer and a groundcover or trailing plant layer that will cascade over the edge of the planter. Your planter can include excellent native plants for both these layers. You can also have several different plants in the planter that have attractive flowering, foliage, or fruiting features during different times of the year.
The first place to go to find a list of potential plants is our Native Plant Database. Use the Combination Search feature instead of Recommended Species. This will provide a bigger selection with much more choice to narrow down. The volunteers and staff at the Wildflower Center who maintain the database have partners in different regions to help with these recommended species lists based on what is easy to access in local nurseries.
Under Combination Search, select the following categories: Florida, Habit (shrub), and Duration – Perennial. You can narrow down this search further by indicating light requirement (sun), blooming time, soil moisture (dry) and height specifics (0-1 ft or 1-3 ft).
Follow each plant link to our webpage for that plant to learn its growing conditions, bloom time, etc. At the bottom of each plant webpage, under Additional Resources, there is a link to the USDA webpage for that plant. Take a look there for more specific details about suitability before you put them on your final planting list. Think about including plants that have interest during a variety of seasons and that have more than one attractive feature (flower, fruit, foliage, bark, etc.) so you can get more benefits out of fewer plants.
The full sun and dry list of native shrubs that are 1-3 ft tall include Zamia pumila (Florida arrowroot), Verbena halei (slender verbena), Rosa carolina (Carolina rose), Lantana involucrata (button sage), Clinopodium coccineum (red savory), and Acacia angustissima (prairie acacia).
The same search (full sun, 1-3 ft tall shrubs) but with moist soil conditions resulted in three suggestions: Batis maritima (seaside saltwort), Desmanthus illinoensis (bundleflower), and Rosa carolinia (Carolina rose).
Best wishes with your planter planning.
From the Image Gallery
More Plant Lists Questions
Flower sucession for Washington DC
June 18, 2012 - Interplanting to cover up spring ephemerals.
When bulbs/spring ephemerals (camassia, bluebells, etc.) are dying back, their wilting leaves don't look so great. What can I plant to minimize the me...
view the full question and answer
How to solve a search problem on the Native Plant Database!
July 01, 2014 - When I use the LBJ Wildflower Center's Plant Identification Guide, it ALWAYS comes up with no results. It also ALWAYS comes up with Family: Acanthaceae. Could this be why NO question EVERY produces A...
view the full question and answer
Native Perennials for Bees and Butterflies in VA
April 15, 2015 - What native perennial plants and trees can we plant to help honey bees and butterfly larvae in Harrisonburg, VA?
view the full question and answer
Native Plants for Year Round Interest
February 16, 2015 - I'm involved in a paradigm shift from traditional bedding plants (petunias, zinnias, begonias, etc.) to native plants. I realize that native plants have natural life cycles where they look pretty bad...
view the full question and answer
Full list of grasses for Connecticut from New York City
January 28, 2012 - Sorry, this is a followup to the native Connecticut grass query I sent half an hour ago. I see that it was asking for 'recommended species' that I ended up with such a short list of grasses (3). Th...
view the full question and answer
Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today. |