Green gardening: A backyard bursting with color
In these unsettled times, there is one certainty beyond death, taxes, and coronovirus — and that would be gardening.
We may be quarantined, but if you can get outside and get your hands in the dirt, there are some wonderful flowering specimens you can add to your landscapes. So much is in bloom right now, and color in the garden is great way to cheer the spirit — besides bringing in pollinators, butterflies and hummingbirds.
Here are some options depending on the size of your landscape.
If you have room to plant a tree, consider the lovely native orange geiger, Cordia sebestena. This is a wonderful low-maintenance evergreen tree, highly salt and drought tolerant, growing to a height of 15-20 feet. It also comes in an assortment of colors: the orange is most common, but the yellow variety (Cordia lutea) is stunning as is the glorious white (C. boissieri). The white variety is slightly smaller, only reaching 10-15 feet. Although multi-trunked specimens are available, the single trunk trees are considered stronger and these may be pruned back in March or April to keep to a desired height. Trimming the branches in spring will promote a bushier crown.
The tree was named in the 1830s by the renowned ornithologist John James Audubon for John Geiger, a harbor pilot who salvaged sunken treasure off the coast of Key West. Geiger’s Key West home later became the Audubon House and Tropical Gardens. There is also a small island, Geiger Key, named for this tree.
Peregrina, Jatropha integerrima, is another terrific low-maintenance small tree producing an abundance of vivid coral red blossoms. This reaches a height of about 10 feet, but can be pruned back to a multi-stemmed shrub if you are lacking space. The bright red blossoms attract a multitude of butterflies and pollinators, notably zebra longwings. Drought tolerant, this will thrive in full sun to part shade with little additional attention on your part. It is important to know that the fruits are poisonous if ingested, so keep this in mind when planting. Otherwise, this is one of the very best reds you will find.
If you’re looking for something smaller, but equally colorful, try the Bahama senna, Senna mexicana var Chapmanii. These charming bushes reach a height of about 4 feet, with the same width, and thrive in full sun, with total salt, wind and drought tolerance. Once established, they don’t require any additional attention, so you’ll have nothing to do but enjoy their constant display of bright yellow blossoms. This is the preferred larval host of the orange-barred sulphur, the cloudless sulphur, and sleepy orange butterflies. Other pollinators and butterflies visit the flowers for nectar. This is a fast grower and a prolific bloomer and is perfect on a sunny patio or even in a large planter.
We’ve covered yellow, orange, red, and white; now you need some blue flowers, and there are plenty from which to choose.
If you want to stick to natives, try blue porterweed, Stachytarpheta jamaicensis, a bushy, mounding perennial producing lovely small blue flowers on thick green stems year round. This can be used as a ground cover in sunny, dry locations, and requires little maintenance once established. The flowers attract tons of butterflies and hummingbirds also seek out their nectar.
Blue sage, Eranthemum pulchellum, is not a native but the striking lavender blue flowers on this small shrub are so lovely and attract so many butterflies and hummingbirds that it makes a wonderful addition to any garden. Reaching a height of about 5 feet with a slightly greater width, this does best in full sun to part shade. The species name, pulchellum is from the Latin for beautiful, and this plant will not disappoint in that department!
Beach verbena, Glandularia maritima, is another terrific native with beautiful violet blue blossoms year-round on mounds of dark evergreen foliage. Although endangered, this is an extremely tough plant, thriving in low nutrient sandy soil in full sun and tolerant of salt spray and drought; its natural habitat is coastal dunes and pinelands. This is a fast-spreading perennial, growing 3-12” high, and makes a wonderful ground cover in the right space. It is also a butterfly magnet, so try to find a place for it in your landscape!
Finally, I want to mention our native Stokes’ aster, Stokesia laevis, for its stunning deep blue pincushion-like flowers. Unlike beach verbena, this prefers moist soils, growing naturally in wet bogs and flatlands, and along marshy roadsides. It will do well in a pot if you keep it watered. The stunning lilac-blue flower heads are 2-3 inches wide and make wonderful cut specimens for arrangements. And they are loved by a great assortment of butterflies and pollinators. Stokesia requires little maintenance once established, but prefers well drained, acidic soil. It was named for the English physician and botanist Jonathan Stokes, renowned for his work treating heart failure with digitalis (foxglove).
I hope you have access to some gardening during these trying times — I know many nurseries have remained open and I think it’s OK to get within 6 feet of the plants you may want to purchase. It’s certainly OK to get up close and personal with the plants in your own garden! Stay well!
