I do mostly native gardening in Orlando. Though use a few non-natives that are not invasive to supplement butterflies & our native bees, many of which are picky. But our bumble bees like Mystic Blue Spires Salvia & Vitex. Actually lots of our native bees like Vitex. Love our native Tea Bush which gets lots of our smaller native bees. Since you’re not watering, you might try adding Salt & Pepper bush (small subshrub), Partridge Pea & Spotted Beebalm. Also, the Many Flowered Penstemon can handle dry sandy locations. You might even try just scattering some Partridge Pea seeds amongst your Mimosa and see what happens. Sharon’s Florida almost always has Partridge Pea seeds. She collects her seeds out of her own garden
How fun that you also are doing "mostly" native gardening! Thank-you for your suggestions! I have several books on native plants for Florida- my favorite is "Native Florida Plants" by Robert Haehle and Joan Brookwell. I've seen salt & pepper on the YT channel, Wild Floridian, but haven't bought it yet. I will look up Sharon's Florida!
@@adriennebrayrealestate Sharon collects seed from her own garden. They’re seasonal, but she’s a good source of Florida ecotypes. Your garden is going to be beautiful. I’ve been slowly naturalizing my almost 2 acres for about 6 years now. It’s been lots of trial and error. But I think I’ve gotten the hang of it now. My sister has been doing the same thing. But I live on a lake that used to be an oak hammock & she lives on a sand dune - lol. So it’s been a learning experience regarding which plants thrive where. What’s surprised me is how many of our natives can thrive in both habitats. But certainly not all of them. Beach Sunflower is gorgeous in her yard. It’s just a leggy thing with no flowers in mine.
You could add Maypop Passionvine to your trellis. It won’t disturb your other vines. Also could probably add our NATIVE Dutchman’s Pipevine. Right now, the only place I can find it is the online only shop “Joyful Butterfly”. Also, if you want some quick coverage plants, consider native Red Salvia & Scorpian’s Tail. They readily seed, which a super tidy gardener might not like. But then again they’re easy to weed out 😉
I have a Scorpian's tail near the front trellis... I'm still a newbie on recognizing the baby plants vs weeds. I'm working on it:) Thank-you, again, for the great plant suggestions! I'll head down another rabbit trail of plant research (that's a good thing, right?)
@@adriennebrayrealestate Here’s a quick list I’d suggest: One Scorpian’s Tail is enough once you recognize the babies. You have to catch them young in order to easily move them. If you have one, believe me you’re getting babies from the seeds it puts off. If you can’t recognize the babies (they look a lot like a certain weed it get, but I’ve finally learned to tell the difference), add one more somewhere else. Then you’ll have more babies and you’ll get the hang of seeing them. When young, they’re easy to move about. Get a Native Red Salvia. It will produce easily recognizable babies right next to it. The seeds go everywhere, but also always near the parent plant because the seeds are heavier than Scorpian’s Tail. Scorpian’s Tail seeds are more unruly. Red Salvia is easy to transplant. Plus you can grow it from cuttings super easy. Get 3 Beach Sunflowers. Only because you’re going to adore them. Really. If you have Dwarf Pentas, add Old Fashion (Heirloom) Pentas. Dwarf are cultivars that produce very little nectar. The Old Fashioned ones are larger & I think way prettier. And butterflies love them. Add a few more shrubs somewhere, the left side of your house & against your house might be a good place for a shrub or two. Put some host plants there. Butterflies need shelter and a place to pupate. They’ll use shrubs for both. Oh, a shrub or two or three. And an Old Fashion Penta. The big red flowers will attract to butterflies. For shrubs, I’d suggest another Fire Bush (you can’t have too many), a Withlacoochee Walter’s Viburnum, Simpson’s Stopper, Florida Privet. Or some combo. All of these shrubs produce fruit for birds & flowers for bees & butterflies. I really love you front yard path and circle & trellises. It’s a great design.
