The first yard tour of the 2025 “season” took place at the home of Phillip and Carolyn Kline on April 17. A couple of dozen enthusiastic voyeurs enjoyed perfect weather conditions and the company of other native plant lovers.
The acre property with a heavy oak canopy is bordered on the west side by an undeveloped pine flatwoods parcel of land, such a perfect backdrop for the Kline’s native plant “project”. These photos are a sample representation of the plants represented. See how many you can recognize before looking at the key below.
If you weren’t able to attend the yard tour, you not only missed out on some good auction specimens, you also didn’t get a piece of the delicious key lime pie Carolyn made for the event. Talk about the “hostess with the most-est”!!
- Partridge pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata): prolific self seeder, fixes nitrogen to enrich soil
- Simpson’s stopper (Myrcianthes fragrans): fragrant flowers, shiny red-orange fruit
- Gopher apple (Geobalanus oblongifolius): hardy, low-growing ground cover for dry, sunny areas; tiny white flowers
- Tea Bush, (Melochia tomentosa): one of the best pollinator attractors
- Starrush whitetop (Rhynchospora colorata): perennial beaksedge for damp areas
- Marlberry (Ardisia escallonioides): fragrant flowers. fruit enjoyed by many birds and mammals
- Yellow necklacepod (Sophora tomentosa var. truncata): hairy leaves, podded seed strands resemble a necklace strand
- Saw palmetto (Serenoa repens): valuable source of food and cover for birds, mammals, insects
- Buttonsage (Lantana involucrata): aromatic leaves, purplish-black fruit
- Tropical sage (Salvia coccinea): flower colors range from deep red to white, great for hummingbirds and large butterflies
- Gulf fritillary and zebra longwing larvae: passion vines are their favorite; note how caterpillar colors are also seen in adults
- Myrsine (Myrsine cubana): good, hardy hedge/screening plant for all light conditions
ircnativeplants.org 