Gary, I am growing sweet acacia, simpson stopper and swamp magnolia. And a fiddlewood I got from you. :o)

Great thread Gary, it will help give me more ideas on things to plant on our little quarter acre (not that my DH wants me to have any more ideas!).

We have fiddlewood, silver buttonwood, simpson's stopper, dahoon holly, and jamaica caper at this time. For shrubs I have hamelia patens and senna ligustrina. I've been trying to add one or two natives each year since I've been here.

I really like the shape of the caper, and moved it last year to a sunnier spot. I'm hoping for a lot more than the three or four blooms it had last year.

A friend who grew up in Cortez (fishing village) said I needed to keep the buttonwood out of sight since it is a favorite wood for smoking mullet. Maybe I can plant more and have a "cash crop"??

When the nursery delivered last fall's trees, the nurserywoman asked to collect seeds from the senna. It surprised me since I had bought it from her a couple years prior. Apparently she hadn't saved any seeds since she wasn't sure how it was going to perform. After she saw ours, she decided she wanted to grow more. Maybe I'll get a discount this year??

Kat - just how thorny is the acacia and how large is it going to be?

It's much easier to choose and plant now that we have sun in the backyard. The we helped the neighbor remove the Cuban Laurel, small ficus and Brazilian pepper. Now, for the bischofia... :-)

Terri

red maple, wax myrtle, river birch, red cedar, southern magnolia, sweet gum, sycamore, laurel oak, live oak, chapman's oak, dogwood, eastern redbud, and bald cypress.

Lady, I think my sweet acacia is about 12 tall now and I read they can get to 25 ft. Yes, they are very thorny and can be a problem to prune, so wear heavy gloves. But I love the little ball flowers, but I haven't noticed much of a fragrance. Mine is blooming now again after the cold weather we had.

My elderberry(s) is 12 feet tall, does that make it a tree?
It came through the freeze with flying colors and it's many blossoms were one of the few available for the bees to live on.

Although some folks say it's been invasive for them it has not for me although I can see it's tendencies to throw shoots from the bottom of the bush (tree?). It's been a super nice hedge between my neighbor and me because it's skinny, dense and tall.

I'd love to have more native trees but there is not enough yard. At our previous house I planted Simpson stopper and hamelia patens and native coffee to add to the live oaks (2).

Thanks Kat. I think I'll put that one on a back burner for now. Maybe I can get a neighbor to plant one...

I've ripped out most of my tropicals to create a native temperate/tropical hammock. I've been trying to recreate what I find in the hammocks within my area. I have a few other trees that you wouldn't find in this particular ecosystem too.

So far I have paradise tree, false mastic, willow bustic, satinleaf, firebush, marlberry, white stopper, lancewood, myrsine, strangler fig, wild lime, wild coffee, redbay, swampbay, sweetbay, red mulberry, hackberry, red maple, bald cypress, pond cypress, slash pine, dahoon holly, inkberry, florida privet, live oak, water oak, laural oak, pop ash, buttonbush, carolina willow, water hickory, scrub hickory, virginia willow, pond apple, cinnamon bark, pigeon plum, persimmon...

There's probably more, but that's all I can think of at the moment... Maybe you can add a few of those to your landscape....

Guadua,

Tell me a little about the marlberry. I was considering it when I put in the stopper, but the nursery didn't have it then. They do now, and if it doesn't seem to get too large, I may have a place for it.

Thanks,
Terri

The marlberry is similar to the white stopper. It grows to about the same size and has a natural columnar form. The marlberry does seem to grow slightly faster and can flower almost year round. I like them both and have planted a lot of each...

Thanks Guadua - I appreciate your insight.

Guadua, you have a nice selection, actually several you listed that I didn't, I do have, but I considered them shrubs. I also forgot to name gumbo limbo and red mulberry. Some native shrubs I have are: red chokeberry, walter's viburnum, viburnum nudum (sp?), wild lime, sea myrtle, wax myrtle, wild coffee, saw palmetto, elderberry, virginia willow (also a cultivar which supposedly has purplish flowers), fringe tree, buttonbush, american snowbell, gallberry, fetterbush, asinima reticulata, scarlet hibiscus, swamp mallow. Some are still small and I hope to get them to size soon. Since it's moist at the edge of the property, that's all I can plant out there are hydric plants.

Gary

Gary, Yeah, I knew they were shrubs, but felt I'd tack them on to the list. I wanted people to have some names to research if they were thinking of planting natives. I did forget a few plants, plus our native palms too.

Are you using natives to create a formal garden or trying to re-create a natural appearance? I've been trying to stay strict about using what you would typically find in our local hammocks. Strolling through a tropical hammock full of satinleaf and firebush with a sabal and oak overstory is an awesome sight. My creation on our property is only a couple of years in the making. I'm hoping to have some canopy developing after this growing season.

Most of my plants were grown from seeds and cuttings. If you lived closer I'd gladly share some.

I have the Simpson stopper (1 died out of 3), Red Mapple, Sweet gum, redbud (not doing very good), live oak.

For shrubs: wild coffe (toasted this winter), firespike (purple, toasted now), firebush (dwarf and regular), firecracker, dwarf viburnum(I think)

I am thinking in adding a few small trees. I saw a white flowering Dogwood and Fringe tree in Lowes but I am not sure how good they are for this zone. Would they flower and do ok here?
Thanks

I collected a bunch of live oak acorns last fall from the north east corner of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in G'ville. I'm calling them "Gator Oaks". So far, 19 have sprouted. No green yet, but the tap root is doing its thing...

Is firespike native?
I forgot winged elm, it's an attention getting tree.

Guadua, mine is more natural than formal, mostly edging my property and filling in stuff friendly to wildlife wherever possible. Some of which a great visually. Many of my plants also need a couple years to get some size. My maples and some oaks are getting nice, some maples around 30', some oaks over 15'. The sweet gum is going to be a juggernaut, and it's fall color is amazing, burgundy purple. The river birch tree will be amazing when it gets bigger. My tupelos aren't doing much, but I really want them on my property.

Fruit trees take all areas that get enough drainage.

Gary

I live next to a 20 acre nature preserve in Martin County that is infested with brazilian pepper and melaleuca. I'd like to restore as much I can with natives. I've planted scrub oaks from acorns I gathered and I'll be planting slash pines from seedlings. Is there a source for native trees that won't break my wallet? Besides oaks and pines, are there there any other trees that I can raise from seed? Or is there a source for seedlings at reasonable prices?

Gary, Most of those aren't native to my area. I'm not sure how they would grow down here in the southern end of the state, but I have seen sweet gum planted around here. I saw some nice looking sweet gums while inner tubing the rainbow river last year.

Most of the trees on our property are small at the moment. Only the original pines have some size to them. My largest and fastest growers are my ficus aurea (20ft) and red mulberry (15ft), but the red maples seem to be quick too. I planted a sideroxylon foetidissimum (mastic tree) at the end of last summer, which has doubled in size (12ft).

So far my efforts have brought new wildlife. I had never seen a hummingbird in my yard before. They show up in little flocks buzzing the flowers ever since I planted a dozen or more firebush.

palmcityfl: Most native trees should grow from seed. You should probably mostly plant more of what's already there. Maple street natives was giving away little pine seedlings. Google them and send an email or call.

guadua: Certainly lots of mine aren't native to my exact area, but are native to within 100 miles, so I'm going to try some I find valuable. It's great that you're getting hummers, I get one now and then, but only a few times a year do I notice it. I've done better at attracting birds which like berries, like catbirds, mockingbirds and cardinals. Stoppers are great for them, like spanish, simpson and white. Also my female fiddlewood has berries that they love. Unfortunately, they also like my mulberries.

Gary

Here's a link to my favorite Florida nusery for natives:

http://www.mailordernatives.com/servlet/StoreFront

I cultivate Ilex opacas, vomitoria, vomitoria pendula, decidua (yellow berry;) oaks: live, overcap, white, turkey, bluff,and post; magnolias: virginia, macrophylla ssp. ashei,pyramidata, and grandiflora; Torreya taxifolia; native persimmon; cypress; cornus florida ('Gulf Coast' and 'Welch's Junior Miss' (both red flowered;) Chionanthus virginicus ;Sassafras Pines: longleaf, slash, sand, spruce; Maples: red, florida sugar; red and white buckeyes; shag and pignut hickories. There are others that escape my memory at the moment.

Love natives that feed wildlife. Ilex opacas feed lots of buzzing bees in early spring; the buckeyes feed the hummingbird; oaks and hickories feed the three squirrels (grey, flying, and fox.)

Gary, I am also growing green ash and I can't say enough good things about this tree. You rarely hear about it or see it for sale in north Florida, but it is just a great tree, all the way around. I got it about nine years ago at a Walmart - marked down to $8, I think. The hook on the tag was that it was grown from seed from Eisnehower's birthplace in Texas. Well it has grown quickly into a fantastic shade tree - just gorgeous - and all the birds in my yard love it. Provides wonderful shade for the house in the afternoon, too. If I could get another, I would.

Carol

Carol, it can't hurt to try to propagate your green ash from a cutting, either now, or when dormant. My green ash is stuck among large longleaf pines, seems happy enough, but still little, grown from a 1 gal plant. I believe the ash's are dioecious, need male and fem plant to get fruit. As a side note, I think my tulip poplar has bit the dust, unfortunately.

Gary

They are still young:

bald cypress, fringe tree (I think it is the native one but I am not sure), maple, redbud.

Mostly my natives are not trees, but have some citrus, oak, a giant bishopwood, and poinciana. Mostly stuff from way before we moved in here (except for a couple of orange trees).

@Guadua, I love the sweetbay, but does it need a wet or low-lying area (this does not fit the description of my yard)?

@Jetstream, LOVE the GatorOaks!