A Woodland Wildflower Garden (Part Two)

In the butterfly garden, we have a small patch of garden for which we have been struggling to find a theme. We finally decided to turn this little corner into a bed for wildflowers gathered from MOSI’s grounds and backwoods. Often overlooked and sometimes considered weeds even when they’re native, these tiny flowers are easy to miss. Up close, they each have their own special charms, and butterflies often agree. This three-part series looks at the wildflowers we’ve added to this woodland bed; for more details on individual wildflowers, click the links. 

Oakleaf Fleabane (Erigeron quericifolius), also known as Southern Fleabane, is an often overlooked native Florida wildflower. It grows in great numbers along roadsides and medians, especially in wetter areas, and is a member of the aster family. The leaves, as suggested by the name, have an oak leaf-like appearance and are soft and furry. In spring and summer it produces white to pale purple daisy-like flowers. You may occasionally find this plant for sale at native plant nurseries.

Wild Gaura (Gaura angustifolia), also known as Southern Beeblossom, grows in dry sandy soils. It’s a tall, somewhat weedy-looking plant at first glance. Up close, though, the flowers are delicate and lovely, and when a large area like a roadside median strip fills with hundreds of these plants, the effect can be breathtaking. You generally won’t find it for sale anywhere, but you will find its Texas-native cousin, Gaura lindheimeri, which has been hybridized and cultivated to produce compact and beautiful garden plants.

Snow Squarestem (Melanthera nivea) is another tall and fairly weedy-looking plant, but the tiny clusters of white blooms are quite lovely. It is also known as Salt-and-Pepper because of the black anthers that appear among the white tubular flower blooms. It has great nectar value in a butterfly garden, but may need occasional pruning to look its best. This is a new wildflower for us; it was the generous gift of a fellow butterfly enthusiast in Gainesville, who tells us it grows well from cuttings. You’ll find it for sale at a few native plant nurseries.

Wild Plumbago (Plumbago scandens) was also given to us by our Gainesville friend, and we’re excited to have it in our woodland garden. Not as showy as the cultivated and readily- available Blue Plumbago (Plumbago auriculata), which is native to South Africa, Wild Plumbago has tiny white tubular flowers sprinkled among deep-green foliage. It’s very valuable in the butterfly garden as a host plant to Cassius Blue (Leptotes cassius) butterflies. Look for it at native plant nurseries. (Photo courtesy wildflower.org.)

Corky-Stem Passionvine (Passiflora suberosa) is another non-showy native wildflower that really deserves more love, especially for butterfly gardeners. The dime-sized delicate blooms may not be flashy like other Passiflora blooms, but they have a delicate beauty all their own. Like Passiflora incarnata, it is a host plant for Gulf Fritillaries, Zebra Longwings (who especially seem to favor it), and Julia Longwings. It grows easily from cuttings, and you’ll find it for sale at many native plant nurseries.

Virgina Snakeroot (Aristolochia serpentaria) is a fairly frustrating native wildflower to grow, at least here in Florida, where it grows so slowly that it seems nearly impossible it could ever produce enough foliage to serve as a host plant for the Pipevine Swallowtail butterflies who love it. We’re at the extreme southern edge of its range here in Central Florida, and we mainly grow ours as specimen plants, using instead other Aristolochia species to feed our Pipevine and Polydamas Swallowtail caterpillars. You can find this species for sale at some native plant nurseries in Florida, and if you feel like a challenge, go ahead and give it a try!

Cranesbill (Geranium carolinianum) is a wild member of the Geranium family that produces tiny pale pink or white flowers. An annual herb, Cranesbill forms low mounds of greenery  and can be one of the first plants to return after a frost kills most plants to the ground in the winter. Once it flowers in early spring, it dies back for the year, but it will return happily the following year when the time is right. Bees like the tiny flowers, and the green foliage is very attractive, especially when everything else is brown and lifeless in mid-winter. It is considered by some to be very weedy, and is seldom found for sale to our knowledge.