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Mid Summer at Florabundance Gardens

Mark your Calendar for Great Georgia Pollinator Days: https://ggapc.org/

Florabundance Gardens and Coastal Wildscapes will host monitoring and educational activities on August 20, 2022.

8:30 am Explore Florabundance Garden’s diverse habitats in search of migrating and resident birds and other wildlife with Royce Hayes, retired Superintendent of St. Catherines Island. Royce will share his decades of experience living and working on the Georgia coast in a guided walk. Beginners and experienced birders welcome.

10:00 am to 2:00 pm Participate in the Great Georgia Pollinator Day survey by selecting a plant or plants to monitor for 15 minutes. We will provide training, chairs, and water for participants. Dozens of plants in the nursery and gardens will allow the guests to observe and document a variety of pollinators.

The nursery and gardens will be open all day.

Events are free, but registration is required.

Contact Florabundance Gardens at florabundancegardens@gmail com or call 912-217-4892 for registration and directions or click the button below.

Click on any of the images to visit our online store for purchases.

What is in a name?

A bright array of flowering plants are attracting butterflies, birds, and bees to Florabundance these days. Among the native plants available now and ready to bloom in your garden this fall is Texas Star Hibiscus. Wait, aren’t we in Georgia? Don’t we call this stunning, red hibiscus Scarlet Rosemallow or Crimson Rosemallow or just Scarlet Hibiscus? All those names are fitting and fine — unless you want to know the plant.

While, at first glance, the common names may seem easier to work with, learning the correct scientific names of your favorite plants paves the way for accurate research and communication. Binomial nomenclature, the formal system that applies a two-part name to each species, allows the same name to be used worldwide. Made popular by Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778), it has been globally accepted by scientists for well over two centuries. Here is how Scarlet Hibiscus fits into the international world of Scientific Classification, staring with order level:

• Order: Malvales (includes nine families)

• Family: Malvaceae (mallows include 244 genera with 4,225 known species)

• Genus: Hibiscus (includes around 300 species)

• Species: Hibiscus coccineus (one of a kind!)

Although that scientific name may change as DNA technology improves, a clear “genealogy” is retained over time through synonyms. For these reasons, Florabundance provides you with each plant’s binomial as well as a common name.

Below is the genealogy (and a bunch of nicknames) of the four native hibiscus grown at Florabundance. Note that the earliest published scientific name wins out.

• Hibiscus aculeatus 1788(syn: Hibiscus scaber, 1789, 1803): Savanna Hibiscus, Comfortroot, Pineland Hibiscus,

• Hibiscus coccineus 1788: Scarlet Hibiscus, Scarlet Rosemallow, Texas Star

• Hibiscus grandiflorus 1803: Large-flowered Hibiscus, Swamp Hibiscus, Swamp Rosemallow

• Hibiscus moscheutos 1753 (syn: Hibiscus incanus 1798, H. lasiocarpos 1787): Eastern Rose-mallow, Crimsoneyed Rosemallow, Swamp Rosemallow

If you live near brackish waters, add another Malvaceae to your cart: Seashore-Mallow (Kosteletzkya pentacarpos). This lovely and forgiving plant is saltwater resistant and may even need exposure to salt for seeds to sprout.

Why are fall flowers and grasses important?

It may not feel like autumn, but butterflies and birds along the Atlantic Flyway are gearing up for their fall migration. What can we do to support them?

• Plant fall blooming species: Our local butterflies need to beef up on flower nectar before heading south, while their northern neighbors count on coastal blossoms to fuel their long journey south when they pass through from mid-August to mid-November. Joe Pye Weed, Mountain Mint, Hibiscus, Bee balm, Black Eyed Susan, Blue Mist Flower, Ironweed, and Coreopsis, sought-after nectar sources, are here!

• Protect Monarchs from a deadly pathogen: Do not plant Tropical/Mexican Milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) — a non-native species—and eradicate it if you have it. If you succumb to its persistent allure, cut it to the ground NOW and keep it cut back until March. Follow this link to understand the problem: https://xerces.org/blog/tropical-milkweed-a-no-grow

Learn to love a bit of chaos: Resist cutting down all the dried-up vegetation in your landscape — leave dried flower stalks that hold on to their seed heads standing into the spring. Seeds of flowers (swamp sunflower, goldenrods, asters) provide highly nutritious food for birds in the fall. Enjoy the drama Sunflowers stage with Goldfinches dangling from dried sunflower heads through the winter and Cape May warblers negotiating brittle stems for seeds.

Seeding flowers, grasses, and sedges provide cover and food for birds.

Ginger lilies are at their tropical best, with Butterfly ginger lily providing beautiful fragrant flowers in abundance.

Buy something for yourself: Indulge in the sultry fragrance of ginger lilies.

We gladly accept and reuse clean plastic pots in good condition 4″ and larger. Please bring yours when you pick up your plants.

Special for August, buy two Hibiscus and get one FREE! Buy four, and you get two FREE!

Good till our inventory is depleted.

Many thanks to Christa Hayes for her beautiful photos and content on this newsletter.

912-217-4892

florabundancegardens@gmail.com

Shopping online or in person

Order plants on-line and make an appointment to pick up. As our stock fluctuates, plan to look around when you pick up your order.

Set up an appointment to shop in person. To make an appointment, just send us an email or call and suggest a time. We will get back to you and confirm availability.