“Perfect” is hard to define for most of us; however, the Jamaican caper has earned the reputation of a being the perfect hedge for Southwest Florida landscapes. From its glossy evergreen- and bronze-colored leaves to showy, two-inch orchid-like flowers, Jamaican caper delights its owners year round. Jamaican caper is only found in Florida or other tropical areas outside the US. The thick pyramidal shape of this salt- and drought-tolerant plant makes it a perfect tall hedge choice (up to 30 Continue Reading
Dwarf Jatropha: Star of South Florida Landscapes
If you’re looking for a glamorous little tree that can belt out scarlet flowers 365 days a year, consider a Jatropha integerrima ‘Compacta,’ or dwarf jatropha. This show-stealer is actually a shrub, but when trained to grow in multiple trunks, it earns star status as one of the best-dressed ornamentals you’ll ever see. A drought-tolerant evergreen, dwarf jatrophas reach only six to eight feet high, auditioning well as a single accent choice or as part of a 12-tree chorus. Tiny red flowers pop Continue Reading
Add a Ballet of Bulbine to Your Florida Landscape
You can see the ebullient little flowers dancing high above the grass-like leaves -- fluid and in unison, a ballet of tiny orange petals bending and bobbing like there’s no tomorrow. It’s almost as if they have to overcompensate for their industrial-sounding name. After all, they have soft succulent leaves. A graceful air. Peachy-orange petals But their name is bulbine. But there’s a reason for that. Named for the bulb-shaped tuber of plants in the family Asphodelaceae, bulbine Continue Reading
Coontie Adds a Prehistoric Touch to Florida Landscape
We could start with how much sun this hardy cycad requires and where you should plant it, but let’s skip to the fascinating part about Indians, cyanide-like toxin and dinosaurs. Meet the coontie plant. Well before Florida was “discovered” in 1513, the native Calusa and Timucuan people were using the roots of this then-abundant native plant to make flour. Writings from the sixteenth century detailed how they would remove the cyanide-like toxin from its roots by smashing and washing them before Continue Reading