Oh I've got the Butterflies, Bees and the plants, and then some!

I am now motivated to grow a butterfly garden! We have a garden bed that will soon be empty. We are fixing our collapsing seawall, and right in front, there's a garden with palms. The palms are going bye-bye, so it's a blank slate.

I need plants that are salt-tolerant, obviously....it's right on the water....and it's probably 3 feet wide by 30 feet long, with a white fence on the end separating us from the neighbor yard.

I'm thinking:

Passionflower up the white fence
Blanketflower
Beach sunflower

...and, I'm stumped.

Plumeria is salt tolerant....

How about some ginger?

What about some 'never say die' mexican petunias. I have finally have embraced them. Hummers love them too.

It sort of depends on whether you want something tall, something short, or in between.

Well, I dont know if anyone else got caught in this yesterday. Very sad, altho at the time you didnt know what happened. Sat in this for 4 hours yesterday, finally made it over to 441, but so was everyone else. That was lone long trip back from Melbourne.
http://www.gainesville.com/art... :crying:

I happened about 2:30, and by 8, northbound traffic was a parking lot from south of ocala, to well past lake city. I still cant calm down

The tall Mex petunias are on the invasives list here, Pam. Even though they still sell them in the box stores, we are not encouraged to plant them. And they absolutely are invasive, popping up everywhere if you don't contain them with a deep concrete edging.

Kate, if you venture out to Florida Native Plants, you will get lots of ideas. Just be sure to tell them you are out on a barrier island. The butterfly area at Selby is another good source of inspiration, and they are right on the bay there.

Have you seen this? http://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/...

The fifth entry down is a fantastic resource for Florida Friendly plants and lists salt tolerance for each plant. It's a 110 page download though, so if you can get a hard copy, that is more handy I've found. Our Extension office used to give them out. Check with Manatee (or click "Add to Cart").

What a terrible accident, there. But . . who lets their child ride in a car without a seat belt?

Pam, very sad indeed. Why on earth was the little girl not wearing a seatbelt though. I have to shake my head... in a way it makes it sadder, because her death could have been avoided.

I have never bought one, used to hate them, now I find they just bloom bloom bloom. I do see them for sale at HD.
Of course, I am the only person left alive that actually like the brazilian peppers. Its a childhood thing I guess. I know they are a no no too, so I just look them along I 95 / 192, swampy places like that.

Mexican Petunia (Ruellia simplex) is listed as a Category I Invasive in Florida and not a good choice to consider. Instead you might like to try the native Carolina Wild Petunia (Ruellia caroliniensis)

More salt tolerant plants for Florida gardens; trees, shrubs, ground covers etc.:
http://floridafriendlyplants.c...
http://floridafriendlyplants.c...
http://hos.ufl.edu/sites/defau...

This nursery is on the east coast but many of the plants listed should work well on the gulf coast too:
http://www.rockledgegardens.co...

This nursery listing is on the SW coast and has listings of good plants to try:
http://www.riverlandnursery.co...

Pam, that was such a sad accident on I-75 yesterday. I can't understand why that little girl was not buckled up. I know there are some people who despise seat belts and feel it is their right not to wear them but I sure don't understand their mind set regarding that issue. The adults in that vehicle were apparently buckled, and should have seen to it that the 10 year old had her safety belt buckled as well.

So glad to see lots of you guys embracing the butterflies and the necessary caterpillars that result. I've had so many people at MOSI over the years ask me what's eating their parsley, dill, fennel, etc. And when I point out the Black Swallowtail flying in the flight cage they usually freak out on me and feel terrible they were killing butterflies. A friend of my dad's is a retired five-star chef and he grows his own herbs, naturally. He asked me about the caterpillars last year and I told him and his wife and he felt so awful. But at least I've managed to convert a lot of people and I just encourage them to plant some extra and move the caterpillars over to a plant or two to sacrifice. Or bring your extras to MOSI where we will give them a happy home!

Glad to see there are others on here preaching against the invasives. I hate seeing them for sale at the big box stores. I'm not sure why we can't get a law passed banning them for sale. I know other states are really restrictive about what you can or can't ship into the state (just check any gardening catalog). As far as I know, Florida only seems to care about Dogwoods and Citrus.

I'm off to start a new butterfly thread for March where I will show my fabulous pictures from today!

I don't like the look of the mexican petunias...plus they sorta take over....but I remember someone on here recommending a dwarf variety that's more compact. I love the compact look. Plumerias are a great idea, too. Can gingers tolerate full sun most of the day?

UF developed some dwarf varieties that are sterile. Im not sure if those are on the market or not.

My gingers like about half a day's sun at the most, Kate. They also need a lot of water, so if you're planting a butterfly garden, they're probably not all that well suited. Most of the other butterfly plants I've had are pretty drought tolerant.

I have a full yard/landscape irrigation system. Watering is no problem. Yes, gingers, particularly the 'White Butterfly Ginger' that I grow does take a lot of water and if you want it to bloom well and bloom long, regular fertilizing is helpful. But I have found that this ginger is adaptive as well. It can go through dry periods and can even grow in almost swampy areas. For best blooming it should get a minimum of 6 hrs. of direct sun, the more the better.

Beautiful day, sunny and 78, blue skies, FULL of sand hill cranes. The are heading north in mass. Havent gotten a thing done watching them all morning. Good thing is, it should herald spring to those a bit north of us. They would never be going back to cold.

I grow mainly pine cone ginger. I do have some of the white butterfly, just to smell it once or twice a year. YUM Same with my common orange ginger.

When I went out this morning, I was sure I would get so much done, wow does the body need to get some kinks out for some of the heavy lifting

I can assure you those sand hill cranes are a week early! It is going to be awfully cold by the end of the week for y'all in northern FL.

Hi folks! I have a conundrum. Lin was nice enough to help me out a few weeks ago and identify a fern that is a thorn in my side (gardening pun, intended). She said it was a Southern Sword Fern (Nephrolepis cordifolia) which is a Category I invasive. And I HATE invasives. The skunk vine is hard enough to keep up with! I have these things growing in several places in my yard. Pulling them out of the ground didn't used to be too difficult, but they've interspersed themselves with my bromeliads which has become a problem. Harder to root out (another pun, there) are the ones in the oak tree.

Now, you guys know I'm a butterfly gardener, but I think it may be time for some chemical warfare. I don't think they make anything special just to kill ferns and I don't really want to carpet bomb my yard. Does anyone have experience eradicating these things and how did you do it? Do I just have to keep pulling and digging because that only seems to work short term. Is there anything I can just maybe "paint" on the leaves that will kill it so I don't have to worry about accidentally spraying other plants? If I spray the ones in the tree, will the tree be okay? Any advice is appreciated! Here are some photos to give you an idea of what's going on. I really want to add some more bromeliads to my oak but I kind of have to get rid of the ferns first.