Bees can get a bad reputation for their painful sting; however, their presence in your Southwest Florida landscape is extremely important to our eco-system. As Einstein once said, “If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live.” Well, bees…
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How many names can one plant have? Well, the Tropical Dogwood (Mussaenda erythrophylla) has many— from Red Velvet, Prophet’s Tears, Virgin Tree to Red Flag Bush and Ashanti Blood among others. A cousin to coffee, gardenia, pentas and ixora, Tropical Dogwoods have a vibrant and showy bract (like bougainvillea) that…
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Standing tall with a bearded trunk emerging straight from the ground, the Old Man palm is perfect for your seashore residence. Just a heads up, though: This particular Old Man has been known to dominate conversations based on his looks alone. Five-foot spiky flower sprays spring right out of his…
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Spring has sprung and Florida wildflowers are popping up along roadsides everywhere. Our state wildflower, coreopsis (or tickseed), boasts 15 drought-tolerant species, and one species (Coreopsis floridana) is only found here—nowhere else on the planet. Why the name tickseed? Because the hook-like seed tips can loosen and affix to animals,…
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