If you live in the Florida Keys or along the coast,
south of a line from Vero Beach on the Atlantic to Sarasota on the
Gulf, you can include palms and tropical hardwood hammock plant
species in your landscaping plans. These native plants include many
berry-producing shrubs and trees that are very attractive to
wildlife.
For trees, good choices include gumbo-limbo, Geiger
tree (Florida Keys), coffee colubrina, mastic, lancewood, Florida
royal palm, silver palm, thatch tree, paradise tree, pigeon plum,
sea grape, shortleaf fig, stoppers, strangler fig, wild lime, wild
tamarind and willow bustic. For smaller shrubs and trees, choose
blolly, cocoplum, wild coffee, firebush, Florida trema, marlberry,
myrsine, necklace pod, Florida privet, seven-year apple, spicewood,
tetrazygia and torchwood.
Consult a good native plant nursery for advice on
selecting and planting vegetation for your growing conditions. To
locate a native nursery near you, contact the Association of
Florida Native Nurseries (AFNN), P.O. Box 972, Melbourne, FL 32902;
http://www.afnn.org/. Or, call 321-917-1960.
The Florida Native Plant Society also provides information and
publications. Contact them at P.O. Box 278, Melbourne, FL, 32902;
321-271-6702. Or, visit their Web site at http://www.fnps.org/.
Want some help creating wildlife friendly
landscaping? Check out Landscaping for Florida's Wildlife,
Re-creating Native Ecosystems in Your Yard, by Joe Schaefer and
George Tanner; available from University Press of Florida, www.upf.com, or check
out our online version of "Planting a Refuge for
Wildlife" by Susan Cerulean, Celeste Botha and Donna
Legare.
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