Sweet Potatoes - a Great Ground Cover

Saturday, January 9, 2021

A cold day today in Central Florida – in the 50’s today.  Stayed inside mostly.  Took a walk to the mailbox and noticed a butterfly that I hadn’t noticed in my yard before.  It is just hanging out on some branches of my blue curls (Trichostema dichotomum). I believe it is a Gulf Fritillary  Google Lens agrees with me.

Here are some of what’s blooming in my garden this month:

   

 Blue Plumbago:    Although non-native, it’s Florida Friendly, and a larval host plant to the Cassius Blue Butterfly. 

My Walter’s Viburnum (Viburnum obovatum) has a small branch of white flowers greeting me today.  I think it must have gotten confused with the warm weather we had the past few weeks.  It’s a bit early to be blooming!

          This Narrowleaf silk grass (Pityopsis graminifolia) has some delightful yellow flowers poking up above the stalks.  It also seems to be blooming out of season.

 

My rouge plant (Rivina humilis) wasn’t very happy in full sun, until I started treating it with compost tea and Microbe Brew last year, to provide sustenance to the soil/food web.  It has perked up considerably.  In the photo to the left, you can see some late bloom at the top, as well as the characteristic red berries.  The photo on the right of the same plant shows a different branch with a prettier droop of red berries.  The plant is now about 30 inches high.

I have several specimens of Elliott’s Aster growing in my yard.  They were all planted in the past several months, and have been blooming almost constantly since I planted them.  Covered in small flowers a little over an inch in diameter.  Light lavender with a yellow center.

 

 

 

I planted this Fetterbush (Lyonia lucida) just a week ago.  This is a keystone species supporting 16 species of butterflies and moths.  It was covered in flower buds at the time I bought it, and the flowers are looking quite pretty now. 

 

Scarlet Sage (Salvia coccinea) pops up all over my yard.  A pleasant surprise most places I find it.

Blue mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum) is a tiny flower on a plant that is struggling to stay alive in my yard.  I enjoy the tiny lavender flowers.

 

 

Spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis)

This is another “weed” that pops up in

many places throughout my yard. 

Makes me smile to get free flowers.

 

 

Seaside Goldenrod (Solidago sempervirens)

This is a primary keystone plant supporting 82 species of butterflies and moths in the Central Florida area.  

 

The beauty bush is not exactly in bloom

at the moment, but the berries continue to

look gorgeous!

 

The Scorpion’s Tail (Heliotropium angiospermum) flowers are tiny and delicate, but quite striking. (pun intended 😊)

 

 

 

 

 

One of my favorite ground covers:  Twinflower (Dyschoriste oblongifolia) .a delicate low grower with tiny blue flowers.  I like it for the look of the delicate foliage but the occasional tiny flowers make me smile as well.

 

 

Other ground covers that I like:

Dune Daisy (Helianthus debilis)

          Prostrate Porterweed    (Stachytarpheta jamaicensis)

 

 

Not exactly a ground cover, but I like this one to fill in spaces:

 Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)

 

Tampa Verbena

(Glandularia tampensis)

 

 

More Scarlet Sage  - more smiles.

 

 

Necklace pod (Sophora tomentosa var. truncata):

I have three of these in my back yard.  They were planted about three years ago.  All of them are between 4 and 6 feet tall, and almost as wide.  I am considering pruning them into the shape of small trees rather than bushy shrubs. 

 

 

NOTE:

I created this first blog post in January 2021, but couldn't figure out how to properly format it.  I got quite discouraged and set it aside for most of the year.  I am finally posting this first attempt in November 2021.  I am hoping the original "publish" date of January 2021 will still hold since that's when I took the photos and wrote the text.  Tibby