Florida Nature: Hummingbird Plants (3) | |
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Birders
who want to host hummingbirds in their backyards need to plan
bird-friendly landscaping, especially flowers that attract hummingbirds.
Flowers that are especially adapted for hummingbird pollination are long
and tube-shaped and often red. Browse through our alphabetical list of
native Florida plants and find the ones that are best suited for your
yard or garden! Obedient Plant (Physostegia spp)- Obedient plant is also known as False Dragonhead. The plant has opposite lance shaped leaves and bears showy spikes of light purple flowers in September and also earlier. The large tubular flowers have white areas on margins and interior. The common name "obedient plant" results from the fact that the flowers will remain in place after being moved. The other name "False Dragonhead" results from the flower's similarity to a Snapdragon. The plant is easily cultivated and used as an ornamental perennial. In fertile soil it can become a weed pest. Obedient plant occurs in swamps, stream banks, ditches, seepages, damp meadows and prairies, moist open woodlands, bogs, and pine savannas. Obedient plant is happy in either sunny or lightly shaded spots, but it does best with some shade on drier sites, and full sun where it is wetter. This is a wonderful plant to add luminous rosy lavender late season color to the bronzy golds and yellows of a damp meadow. It holds its own with grasses very well. And it is classified as deer resistant, so it should bloom well in places where deer would eat the tasty buds off other flowers. Red Basil (Calamintha coccinea)- The red basil plant is an upright, woody, smooth to slightly hairy perennial. It's preferred habitat is poor soils, flat pine woods and at roadsides. Red basil distribution is coastal in the Escambia region of Florida. The red basil leaves are opposite on the stem, consisting of one whole part that is small and egg-shaped. Re basil's stalk is tapering to the tip with sides less than equal. Its margins are toothed and the base is heart-shaped and attached to the stalk between lobes. Red basil flowers are in a panicle or a raceme. Calyx is long-lipped; corolla is red; two stamens and extending beyond the corolla. Flowering season is in the summer. Red Basil fruit is an ovary with two or more seed chambers. This plant is attractive to bees, butterflies and birds. It is important to pinch this variety back, as with all basil, in order to keep it from getting leggy. This produces a dense, round little plant. Red Buckeye (Aesculus pavia Red Star Hibiscus (Hibiscus coccineus |
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