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Sweet Potatoes - a Great Ground Cover

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There is an empty lot next to our house that I'm trying to beautify.  My Native Landscape contractor solarized the 75'x10' strip (left it covered with black tarp for about 8 weeks) on the south edge of the property, then took out the dead grass, lined the area with coquina rock, and filled it with about 5 inches of pine bark mulch. Because the soil test came back showing the area was quite alkaline, I had him add some elemental sulfur as well. In May 2025, I planted some trees along the edge of the empty lot next to our house.  I wanted to have a ground cover to protect the mulch  and soil while the trees got established.   The first photo (taken on May 11, 2025) below shows how it looked soon after I planted most of the trees in the ground.   (I often forget to take "before" photos;  the location previously had Bahia grass and St. Augustine grass up to the hedge you can see on the right side of the strip.) I was concerned about leaving the small ...
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 Brazilian Red Cloak - propagation from cuttings A friend gave some cuttings ftom her yard yesterday. I cut off several stems just belkw a leaf node, then dipped in rooting hormone and  Placed into potting mix.  I put three cuttings in each pot. It should take about 4 to 8 weeks to develop roots. I plan to set these outside near my potting bench where they will get watered once a day. I will update this in a month or two.
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Wild Lime

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 Wild Lime bushes - I didn't realize how pretty their small flowers are.  And they smell a little like lime.  But these flowers were mostly gone in two days.   (These photos were taken on June 1, 2022)  Zanthoxylum fagara This bush/small tree is a host plant for the giant swallowtail butterfly. (Mine is still just a bush.) I had never seen one of these butterflies until about three weeks after I planted these bushes last year.   Figure 1.  Adult giant swallowtail,  Papilio cresphontes  Cramer, dorsal view. Photograph by  Donald Hall , Entomology and Nematology Department, University of Florida This photo is an image of the giant swallowtail butterfly copied from this website: https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/citrus/giantswallowtail.htm  
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What's blooming in my garden in June 2022? PART 1

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Rouge Plant   (Rivina humilis)  This one is a volunteer that came up next to the front porch.  The plants that come up as volunteers seem to thrive better than the ones that I planted in the first place!                  Lantana  Involucrata  These lantana are native to Florida  - and both of these are volunteers as well.  I didn't realize that the white flowers fall away and become purple berries - I hadn't really noticed that before.  the small plant shown on the right has small purple berries, that I didn't recognize.  I had to use the google lens app to tell me it was a Lantana Involucrata. Bush Allamanda - very pretty yellow flowers;  non-native;   although currently "not a problem species", it is considered a "high invasive risk".  I transplanted this from a previous house  because I loved the beautiful flowers.  I may decide to take it out, given the focus ...
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Joyweed, Yellow Joyweed

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 I had never heard of this cute little plant so had not considered it for purchase or acquisition until I was shopping for other plants at Native Butterfly Flowers last year.  Tim had just gotten back with a truck load of plants and was very excited about this plant, and infected me with his enthusiasm and "Joyweed".  So I added it to my purchases that day and put it in my butterfly garden.   Of course, I immediately did some research on it and found very little information.  It was not listed in my native plant books, and I had trouble finding it on the internet until I discovered that it is actually named "Yellow Joyweed".   My search under "Joyweed" came up with Purple Joyweed, Brasilian Joyweed, and other  Alternanthera plants.  Once I found the yellow joyweed that was a Florida Native plant, I was satisfied that I had found the right plant. Here is the link where it is listed as a native Florida plant:  https://www.regionalcons...
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Salt & Pepper; Snow Squarestem

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I first became interested in this plant while perusing one of my favorite native plant books, "A Gardener's Guide to Florida's Native Plants", by Rufino Osorio.  The flowers looked very striking in the photo, and I was intrigued by the name.  One of it's common names is "Nonpareil" which is the name of one of my favorite chocolate candies.  How could I resist? It was hard to find a supplier, but I was finally able to obtain my plant from Native Butterfly Flowers in early 2021.  I eagerly planted it in the area of my yard that I have designated as my butterfly garden, as this plant is said to be a great nectar source for butterflies. Melanthera nivea   When purchased, the plant was in a one gallon pot and was probably only one foot tall.  As you see below, just over a year later, it is well over three feet tall.  It was quite out of control late last year, and had started looking very weeding and overgrown, so I cut it back to about two feet tall a...
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Buttonwood

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I have both native buttonwood trees in my yard:  the Green Buttonwood is shown first.  I planted three of these in late 2020 about fifteen feet from the shoreline of the Indian River Lagoon.  They have grown about a foot or more this year.                                                                  Conocarpus erectus I also planted three Silver Buttonwood trees to the north of the Green Buttonwood trees, at around the same time.  These have not grown much and don't seem as healthy as the Green Buttonwood trees.                                                       ...
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