The Olustee Longleaf Pine: a native flatwoods garden

Richard T. Bowers Historic Tree Grove at MOSI, Tampa
The Historic Tree Grove at MOSI offers a unique timeline of America's history as it was viewed by silent witnesses, trees. Our 17 trees planted in the grove in 1996 are all seedlings of trees that witnessed amazing historic events or were associated with famous historical people. Imagine the sycamore that grew from seeds that went to the moon, a pine that watched a battle of the American Civil War, the sweet gum that saw the flight of the first airplane. What wonders those trees witnessed and those same trees still live long after the events of history have passed. We can still lay our hands on their bark, sit beneath their boughs and take a few minutes out to learn and converse about great deeds and fantastic people which shaped our world.

The Civil War in Florida

One of the trees in the frontage of the tree grove is the Olustee Longleaf Pine. The Battle of Olustee, also known as the Battle of Ocean Pond, was the largest of the few battles of the American Civil War fought in Florida. On February 20, 1864 Union forces on an expedition into Florida to secure Union enclaves, sever Confederate supply routes, and recruit black soldiers met with a force of 5000 Confederate troops.

The battle was a rout for Union forces with nearly 2,000 casualties after the four hours of battle. Many combatants involved in the battle were veterans of larger battles of the Civil War but many of those soldiers reported this battle to be particularly fierce fighting and inhospitable terrain. Fleeing Union troops were mostly unpressed in their retreat and returned to Jacksonville which remained a Union stronghold in Florida until the end of the war.

The Battle of Olustee was fought upon an open pine barren with swampland as a border for the Union battle lines. Many stands of pine remain at the site of this battlefield which is now a Florida state park which hosts a battle reenactment each year in February.

For more information on events leading up to the battle, commands for both armies, the accounts of the battle and the aftermath of nearly 3,000 people left dead in North Florida after the battle please check out the award winning Battle of Olustee website. There is a great compilation of letters, wills and firsthand accounts on that site that speak to the state of Florida in that period of American History.

Olustee Lithograph pictured above: From Wikipedia- The lithograph ... was printed by the firm of Kurz and Allison in 1894. It depicts soldiers of the 8th U.S. Colored Troops advancing against Confederate entrenchments. While frequently used in media about the Battle of Olustee, it is inaccurate as the artist knew little about the battle. The Confederates troops during the battle were well in advance of their prepared positions, and neither side fought from behind fortifications as the battle took place in a pine forest (see map). Plus, there were very few large cleared areas (as also shown incorrectly in the lithograph). The annual reenactment begins in a pine forest so that re-enactors can experience fighting as the soldiers did in 1864. However, it then moves into a large cleared area so that spectators also can view the battle.

The Longleaf Pine

Our Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) is a seedling from the venerable old pines at the site of the Olustee Battlefield. With a lifespan up to 300 years, these pines take 100 to 150 years to fully mature. Longleaf pines are very fire tolerant and their habitats are regular home to brush fires that quickly burn up fallen pine needles and other crowding tree species.

Longleaf pines once covered some 30 to 60 million acres of the Coastal Southeast United States, several hundred years of heavy logging have taken their toll on a tree that was once a dominant species in Florida. The tall, straight trunks of these trees were often used as masts for sailing vessels. You can learn more about the longleaf pine at the Conifers.org Longleaf Pine page.

A Flatwoods Garden

The garden we chose to create for the Olustee Longleaf Pine is a garden of plants native to the flatwoods ecosystems of Florida. These are plants that occur in the same uplands habitats as longleaf pines and are likely some of the plants that would have been found in the flatwoods habitat where the Battle of Olustee was fought.

As a few of the volunteers for the planting were Civil War re-enactors, there was a special buzz about planting this particular thematic garden and volunteer Marjorie gave the rest of the volunteers a history lesson about the Battle of Olustee as the planting progressed.

First, our intrepid Fiskars Project Orange Thumb volunteers set about removing a great deal of non-native Fountain grasses and overgrown beach sunflower that had taken over the area under the longleaf pine. Afterwards we moved in a great deal of compost so that we would have awesome soil for our fine selection of native flatwoods plants.

Our orange-clad group planted a beautiful variety of species in the huge area under the longleaf pine. Here is what we put in the ground.

• Blanket Flower (Gallardia)
  
• Beach sunflower (Helianthus debilis)


• Sensitive plant (Mimosa strillagosa)
  
• Lantana (Lantana depressa)
  
• Blazing Star (Liatris spicata)
  
• Dwarf Blueberry (Vaccinium myrsinites)


• Sparkelberry (Vaccinium arborium)


• Climbing aster (Symphotrichum carolinianum)


• Tickseed (Coreopsis leavenworthii)


• Silver Lovegrass (Eragrostis elliotts)


• Purple Lovegrass (Eragrostis spectabilis)


• Muhley Grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris)


• Rosinweed (Silphium compositum)


• Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana)