Viewing comments posted by mellielong

Named to commemorate the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton.

This is a cultivar of Aechmea caudata. It's one of the first bromeliads I ever bought. I used velcro tape to hold it in the crotch of a large oak tree on the corner of the property and it attached itself within months. It's a reliable bloomer for me, blooming every spring. The only year it didn't bloom was last year when the invasive sword ferns you see in my picture were smothering it. I do what I can to keep it clear, but it's a constant battle. The bloom first appears as a dull orange, then gradually brightens before putting out the actual yellow flowers. Like most bromeliads, this one has grown bigger over time, creating new pups as the older plants die off. If you're looking for a low maintenance, reliable bloomer, I would highly recommend this bromeliad. It never gets any extra water than what nature provides, and I don't fertilize it, yet it has only failed to bloom once in about the last ten years.

According to the signage at Bok Tower Gardens, this is a dwarf variety that is good for growing in containers. So if you always wanted a Loquat, but just don't have the room, maybe this variety would work for you!

This plant came up as a volunteer in front of my house. I waited until it bloomed so I could be sure of an ID, and then I found it was a Category I invasive (the worst), in Florida. So I'm about to go rip it out before it goes to seed. I put up a bird feeder for the first time this year, and I suspect one of the birds brought me the seed. They've also carried other unwanted seeds like Brazilian Pepper into my yard, and you can't blame birds for being birds, but you can be pro-active and get rid of invasive plants in your garden! And so I'm off to do a little weeding!

FYI, as a butterfly gardener, I recognized this was something in the Fabaceae family and thought it might be a host plant I could use. That was a big reason I let it grow until it bloomed. I want to say that I never saw the first caterpillar on it. I was hoping their presence might help lead to an identification. Caterpillars tend to prefer native host plants over non-native, which is another good reason to go native.

Virginia Peppergrass is a pretty common "weed" around the Tampa area. I think it's rather attractive due to its fairly compact growth habit, as well as the seed pods that change color as they mature. This plant is commonly seen in the toughest of areas, thriving along the side of the interstate, in full Florida sun.

This isn't a weed I bother pulling for two reasons. The first is that, although it can take full sun, it dries up and disappears when things start getting hot - say around May. Then, it doesn't come back until winter. No point pulling something up when it goes away on its own. But the most important reason to keep it is that it is a host plant for the Checkered White butterfly. That means the butterflies lay their eggs on it and the caterpillars will eat the plant. You can often see masses of the butterflies along the side of roads, and in the medians, precisely because Virginia Peppergrass grows in those areas. So don't weed, and sit back and enjoy the butterflies.

This plant can be used as a host plant for some butterflies in the White family. We use it at the Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa, FL to feed Great Southern White and Checkered White caterpillars. Unfortunately, the plant doesn't take our heat too well so we only have it in the cooler months.

I found it pretty amazing that I added the first pictures of this plant to the site. That's because this plant is a Category I invasive in Florida and it can be found everywhere. It is the bane of my (gardening) existence. I've removed other invasives from my yard such as Brazilian Pepper and Camphor. Nothing compares to the insidious nature of skunk vine. I know that I will never be fully rid of it and so I try my best to simply keep it contained.

This plant will grow in the shade or sun. The vine is very elastic when you pull it and will often snap while you're trying to remove it. When you pull it, you will notice the foul odor that gives the plant its name. I think it smells like rotting cabbage. In my experience, it seems as though it most often spreads through underground runners. I have it in all parts of my half-acre yard. It is in the lawn, it grows up trees, shrubs, other vines, etc. There is nothing that is safe from it. I can't say that it has any redeeming qualities. It only flowers for a short time and I don't observe pollinators on it, although I suppose it gets pollinated somehow. I am a butterfly gardener, and I tend to notice what the butterflies use. This plant is not one I have ever seen them on.

Consider yourself lucky if you don't have to suffer with this plant. It is easily as bad as Kudzu or Air Potato. If not kept in check, it will cover and smother entire plants. Maybe one day we'll figure out a safe way to eradicate it, but until then I will do my best just to keep it from spreading. On that note, I would not risk adding this to a compost pile.

I have to admit that for a long time I thought this was Illicium floridanum and I kept wondering why it never bloomed for me. This year, I was searching my host plants for caterpillars and this plant finally caught my eye and I saw little flowers and seed pods on it. I posted pictures to the Florida Gardening Forum and thanks to @plantladylin for suggesting I had Illicium parviflorum instead! I forgot which one I bought, apparently.

But I'm so glad I did buy this one as it's endangered and I love growing endangered plants. And this one couldn't be easier to grow. I really wish I had somewhere I could grow it as a hedge because I think it would be great for that. Mine grows in the shade next to a tree and we keep the lower limbs cleared so we can mow around it. My Dad does the trimming and mowing and says it smells like root beer. That should have been an indication I had the Yellow Anise. The flowers are small but the seed pods are very interesting. I think it's a plant you would want to grow for the foliage. Mine also grew really fast so if you're looking to fill a spot or hide from the neighbors, this would be good. I also see small birds hanging out in it so the wildlife seem to appreciate it, too. I would highly recommend this plant as it is really easy to grow. Plus, you'd be helping an endangered native plant make a comeback!

My Dad is a woodturner and I can tell you they really prize the wood from this tree. He's always on the hunt for one being taken down and then cutting it up and distributing it to his woodturning club members.

I bought this at a Gesneriad and African Violet show and sale because I thought it was the coolest gesneriad of them all. I had it in a pot, but at some point it grew over the pot and now it grows in the ground. I think it layered itself or, like an African Violet, one leaf took root and it grew from there. The plant goes dormant every fall once the temperatures drop into the 50's at night. But once it warms up, the leaves start sprouting and I have to warn Dad not to hit it with the weedwhacker. I'd move it, but it seems so happy and comes back every year, so I don't want to mess with success. I never bring it inside or cover it up and it makes it through the winter just fine. Not sure if that would work much farther north than me (Tampa area). The plant flowers throughout the spring and summer.

The book "How to Know the Wildflowers" (1922) by Mrs. William Starr Dana says you are likely to run across this plant while hunting for the purple flowers of the pitcher plant in the bogs during the month of May. Found along the borders of ponds, she says the curious club shaped object indicates its relationship to the Jack-in-the-Pulpit as well as the Calla Lily. Unlike them, Golden Club's tiny flowers are not shielded by a spathe. The Indians reportedly called this plant "Taw-Kee" and used its dried seeds as food.

The book "How to Know the Wildflowers" (1922) by Mrs. William Starr Dana says you can find these plants in wet thickets. In April they appear as a leafless shrub with bunches of insignificant yellow flowers "and a bark so tough that we find it almost impossible to break off a branch." She says this is the Leatherwood used by Indians for thongs. She also gives it the common name of "Moose-wood." The leaves appear later and are followed by a reddish oval fruit.

The book "How to Know the Wildflowers" (1922) by Mrs. William Starr Dana says the bright flowers of Wood Betony are found in the May woods alongside Columbine and Yellow Violet. Near Philadelphia they are said to be among the earliest flowers, coming soon after the trailing arbutus. Later in the year, the plant attracts attention "by its uncouth spikes of brown seed-pods."

The book "How to Know the Wildflowers" (1922) by Mrs. William Starr Dana calls the plant an immigrant from Europe that is now thoroughly wild in the U.S. The author had trouble identifying this at first, having seen the lobed, heart-shaped leaves growing in moist ditches and along the banks or beds of streams. Then, one early May she discovered the plant in bloom on the banks of a stream in Berkshire. She describes the flower as bright yellow and looking something like a dandelion "with its heart plucked out, topping a leafless, scaly-bracted scape." The plant is also supposed to be a remedy for coughs.

The book "How to Know the Wildflowers" (1922) by Mrs. William Starr Dana tells us that this plant can be found in April blooming in "one of those hollows in the wood which is watered by such a clear gurgling brook as must appeal to every country-loving heart." Each lily nods "guarded by a pair of mottled, erect, sentinel-like leaves."

The book gives two common names for this plant: Yellow Adder's Tongue and Dog's Tooth Violet. However, the author finds these highly unsatisfactory. Why call a lily a violet? Why indeed. She also asks if the markings of the leaves resemble the skin of an adder, why name it after its tongue? Mr. Burroughs, she says, has proposed two better names. The first, "Fawn Lily" because a fawn is also mottled and because the leaves stand up in a similar fashion to the alert, startled look of a fawn's ears. The second, "Trout Lily" because of its speckled foliage and flowering season has "a spring-like flavor not without charm." Let's be glad that nearly a century later the author got her wish! She also mentions the early settlers of Pennsylvania called the flower "Yellow Snowdrop".

The book "How to Know the Wildflowers" (1922) by Mrs. William Starr Dana says this is one of the very earliest flowers to be seen in the moist wood of spring. She says during the Revolution the powdered berries were used as a substitute for allspice, while the leaves served as a substitute for tea. She also gives the alternate common names of "Benjamin Bush" and "Fever Bush".

I can say that if you want to attract Spicebush Swallowtails to your butterfly garden, this plant is a must-have. I have only ever found the Spicebush on it despite claims that it is also used by the Tiger Swallowtail and Palamedes Swallowtail. That might be a regional thing, though. Even here in central Florida, the plants lose their leaves in the winter and leaf back out in spring. Also, as a person who raises caterpillars, I will say that this plant smells a lot better than some of the other host plants I have to pick!

The book "How to Know the Wildflowers" (1922) by Mrs. William Starr Dana has some interesting information regarding this plant. Apparently, the marsh marigold is so abundant along certain English rivers that the ground looks as though it is paved in gold during the seasons when they overflow their banks. In the U.S. the author states the flowers are peddled on the streets every spring under the name "cowslip" but attributes this to confusion regarding English names. (That's why real gardeners use Latin!) She claims the plant is a favorite "pot-herb" among country people, supposedly far superior to spinach. The young buds are also quite palatable, she says. (Note: Do not eat things if you don't know that they're safe.)

As for the name, this plant has many. She speaks of the plant being called "Mary Growles" in the 16th century, and by early English poets as simply "gold". She hypothesizes the first part of the word may derive from the Anglo-Saxon "mere", meaning a marsh. The author suggests "Marsh-Gold" to be a far superior name for this "shining flower of the marshes."

The book "How to Know the Wildflowers" (1922) by Mrs. William Starr Dana gives us some useful information on how to tell the difference between the poison variety and the more "innocent" sumacs. The poison variety can be distinguished by the "slender flower clusters which grow from the axils of the leaves, those of the innocent sumacs being borne in pyramidal, terminal clusters." Later in the year, you can tell the difference by the color of the fruit. The poison sumac has white or dun-colored fruits, while the other is crimson.

The book "How to Know the Wildflowers" (1922) by Mrs. William Starr Dana says this is a common sumac which "illuminates our hills-sides every autumn with masses of flame-like color." She notes that this species has crimson fruit plumes whereas the poison sumac has white fruits. She supposes most people assume the common name of Staghorn Sumac refers to the shape of the pryamidal fruit clusters. However, the author believes the name is based upon the forked branches that appear after the leaves fall off.

In "How to Know the Wildflowers" (1922) by Mrs. William Starr Dana, the author quotes Thoreau as likening its odor to that of "a dead rat in the wall". The author notes that it is unfortunate that such a handsome plant is so handicapped by the foul odor of its flowers which appear in June. However, the plant really shines in autumn when the dark berries and deeply tinted leaves can be seen along roadsides and in woods and meadows. The plant is a near relation to common green-brier (S. rotundifolia) which can be distinguished by its prickly stem.