Red Mulberry, Morus rubra

The Red Mulberry, also known as Morus rubra, is a tree species native to North America. It belongs to the mulberry family, Moraceae, which includes over 1000 species of plants. The Red Mulberry is an important tree species in many ways, as it provides a range of ecological, economic, and cultural benefits.

Ecological Benefits

The Red Mulberry is an ecologically important tree species, as it provides various ecological benefits. The tree is well-suited to a wide range of soils, from sandy loam to heavy clay, and can tolerate a range of pH levels. The tree is also tolerant of flooding, making it an important species in riparian zones, floodplains, and other wetland areas.

The Red Mulberry produces large quantities of fruit, which are eaten by a range of wildlife species. The fruit is rich in nutrients, including vitamin C, iron, and calcium, and is an important food source for many bird species, including blue jays, robins, and cedar waxwings. Other animals that feed on the fruit include squirrels, raccoons, opossums, and deer.

The Red Mulberry also provides important habitat for a range of insect species. Many butterfly and moth species rely on the Red Mulberry as a host plant for their caterpillars. The tree also supports a range of other insect species, including beetles, wasps, and ants.

Economic Benefits

The Red Mulberry is an economically important tree species in North America, as it has a range of commercial uses. The tree is grown for its fruit, which is used to make jams, jellies, pies, and other food products. The fruit is also used to make wine and other alcoholic beverages.

The wood of the Red Mulberry is also valuable, as it is hard, dense, and resistant to decay. The wood is used to make furniture, flooring, and other high-quality wood products. The bark of the Red Mulberry is also used in traditional medicine, as it has been shown to have antiviral and antimicrobial properties.

Mulberry trees are easy to propagate and make an excellent fodder source.

Cultural Significance

The Red Mulberry has a rich cultural significance in North America. The tree has been used for centuries by indigenous people for food, medicine, and other purposes. The Cherokee people used the bark of the tree to treat fever, while the Iroquois used the inner bark to make a tea to treat coughs and colds.

The Red Mulberry also played an important role in the Underground Railroad, as it was used by slaves escaping to freedom. The tree provided important cover for escaping slaves, as well as a source of food.

Beautyberry, Callicarpa americana

     Known for its edible small purple berries. I have eaten the berries raw, and they don't have much flavor. Popular for creating jams/jellies - sugar and pectin will have to be added.

    Usually you see the brightly colored magenta berries for months in the summer. I was finally able to get a picture of the flowers themselves.

Shibataea kumasaca, Ruscus Bamboo

     I'm not even sure how I got this plant. . I don't think I bought it, or did I? No, I think I would remember if I had bought a dwarf clumping bamboo, because it's very cool -

now that I know it's not a weed trying to take over the lemon tree. 

     Indeed, bamboos are cool. I have another larger grass that I quite enjoy because it's beautiful and grows well. And more importantly, it's edible to the rabbits.  These grasses can be very helpful in their ability to displace weeds. They are also easy to harvest and bring to the rabbits.

Permaculture in Florida: What Should I Do With All These Sticks?

      Have you ever felt like winter has left your place a mess and you don't know what to do with all of the sticks and leaves? 

     The permaculture thing to do would probably be to let the sticks and leaves stay where they fell and fertilize the soil. While I would agree that this is a good idea, it can be a  little bit unsightly in the front yard gardens. Then there is the problem of palm trees and them leaving their fallen branches on top of other plants. 

     These extra branches and leaves do have a purpose in the permaculture garden. Believe it or not, fallen leaves can be fed to livestock. My rabbits eat sycamore leaves and palm leaves, but neither are their favorite. Any amount they can mulch for me is appreciated, and the uneaten leaves are put onto the garden pathways as a mulch layer. Sometimes I also put fallen leaves and rabbit manure around new plantings.

     Large branches and sticks are a whole nother problem. They take years to break down, even here in the South. So I have found a solution, and that is to cut all branches to the desired widths of the paths, and then to stack similar width sticks horizontally to create a path. This is imperfect at times, because the branches often roll, and they also can make a person trip. But I am confident that digging in the logs a little bit will prevent this problem.

Muscadine Grapes

      One grapevine planted several years ago now yields more grapes than I can ever harvest. This year I was able to reach four quarts of grapes for eating. They are sweet and crunchy. You know they are ready to harvest when the grapes are soft and springy, if they feel hard then they need more time on the vine. They seem to last quite a while in the refrigerator. Yes Muscadine grapes have seeds in them unless you are able to get a variety without seeds. 

Do Ducks Eat Tradescantia Purple Heart?

 

    Things are so expensive. A bag of plain chicken food without the additives to promote egg laying is about $20. When you factor in the cost of the baby duck food I have already given them, at this time I have spent about $40 in nothing but feed for these ducks. That makes them kinda expensive if I was owning them for meat. So any supplementation that I can give them from my plants would be a good thing.

     Between the corn sprouts and the water hyacinth, I have learned that they will eat Spanish Needle, but they won't eat Papyrus. And today I covered their splash ponds in Tradescantia Purple Heart, also called Moses in a Boat. It's a lovely succulent that grows in deep shade and is used often around here as a groundcover. Previously I had determined that the rabbits do indeed like it.

     Covered the splash ponds in Purple Heart, and then went on to do the next chore. By the time I turned around they were eating everything in sight, including the Purple Heart.

     That day they didn't finish their chicken crumble food or the corn sprouts because they filled up on healthy plants.

     Ducks love water hyacinth.

Spiderwort, Spring 2022

 

     Every Spring, around Alban Eilir, all the Spiderwort start blooming. The flowers are open in the very early morning, and as the sun rises they appear to be glowing 🟣. They are amazingly beautiful, and one of the few plants of early spring that is native to this area and edible. 

 

    Every year I transplant seedlings from the mowed areas to safer areas of my place. And every year I have more and more beautiful color in the spring. One year I used the flowers to color eggs, by sticking them to the egg and then boiling the egg in a wrapper. It came out amazingly.

Mystery plant, has flowers in the early summer.

          Found this strange looking friend growing in the deep shade of a Ficus tree at my friend's house. He has 3 acres of mostly grass but he thinks its the most amazing property ever. Regardless, I thought this little guy was some kind of raspberry or blackberry due to it's diminutive size and berry looking pods. 

This picture was taken in May

     Later I continued to check on the berries, hoping it was something edible. But it never turned purple or red, instead it burst into color. Into a most familiar color, the native flower known as Lantana.

     I don't know that much about Lantana other than it has yellow flowers or it has pink flowers and sometimes you can find one plant with both colors on it. Some people say the ripe berries are edible. Maybe we should do more with this native beauty.

     Wikipedia says that Lantana is poisonous if eaten, but can be used topically as it has antimicrobial and antifungal properties. It also has chemicals which give it insecticidal properties, which makes it insect resistant. Lantana is native to North and South America.

Acalypha wilkesiana, Copperleaf

     I bought this gorgeous plant at the botanical gardens near my house. At the time, I had hoped it had edible value, but as my research continued, I discovered that Copperleaf is used largely as a topical antifungal agent.

     There is an entry in a book from Archive that talks about the edibilty of Acalypha, written in 1943. It says the young shoots and leaves may be cooked and eaten.
     The internet assures me that copperleaf is not frost hardy and will surely freeze in my area. Bring it, winter!

Kiddie Pool Gardening

   I have been wanting to plant cannas into a kiddie pool for years. Maybe I wasn't brave enough before. Maybe I just didn't " have the time". Either way, I somehow managed to bring home a kiddie pool late this last spring.
     I wanted to make sure it was sunken into the ground for two reasons: to protect the corms of the cannas from temperature extremes and to keep the edibles hidden from the NSA/the Sheriff's Secret Police. I would really like the dirt and water to be able to insulate the cannas enough in the winter that they will no longer need protection.

   Managed to dig the shallow pit in less than an hour. After placing the pool, I took it out a few times in order to get it leveled - which was when I discovered the front yard was sloped at much steeper angle than I had ever realized.
     Once the pool was mostly level I filled up the water and began placing some plants in it - which was when I realized that though the pool looks shallow it is actually deeper than the height of my one gallon nursery pots. The plants were rolling/ floating sideways and then were losing their surface soil and mulch. I decided to fill the floor of the pool with plant matter from plants that I didnt want to keep, mostly African orange honeysuckle and purple Tradescantia pallida 'Purple Heart' (which I am unclear if it is edible or not.) I raised the floor of the pool about an inch, then began filling it with a few plants.

     It was at this point that I had to break for the week, which gave me some time to think about pool pond garden. I decided to try putting a few fish in there. The next week I hit the local Walmart and bought 3 goldfish, knowing that one or all would probably die. Then I repotted a bunch of my cannas since I now had space to place them. I ended up filling the entire pool with pots, and didn't see a single goldfish as I did so - the water was a bit brackish at this point. Almost all of the cannas survived dividing and replanting, and most have bloomed now that a few months have passed.

    I have been taking the plain red cannas out of the front yard and putting them into the back. I am going to be taking them out to the forest garden and the river garden, both of which have low areas which are moist at this time of year. I plan on keeping the yellow, yellow/orange, peach, and pink cannas here in the front. It's my hope that they will cross and make new colors. I have potted up two volunteer seedling cannas I found in my yard, plus saving and planting any seed.

Monarda punctata, Horsemint, Spotted Bee Balm

   I was at the forest garden and snapped a nice picture of an interesting looking flower near the road that I had never seen before. It was growing under the edge of shade from trees but also getting a few hours of sunlight as it was near the road. To me, these are among the harshest conditions known to plants.
     Then later I found an article on social media put out there by the Pasco County UF IFAS office that touted the horn of beebalm. It specifically mentions how the flowers of beebalm herald the beginning of Florida's fall wildflower season. What it neglected to mention in detail was beebalm's edibility and medicinal uses, plus the fact that it's a native that grows with no irrigation!
     Green Deane says it has more thymol than the other mints. It can be used as a cough suppressant, an antihelminthic, anti-inflammatory. He also says that it can make a sedating tea. Which might be good if you have a cough.

     On Archive, there is actually a book discussing the production of thymiol using beebalm, and breaks down the costs by acre. It's an interesting read. The information from 1916 is still every bit as true today, even if our currency's value has changed over the years.
     I have often thought about the value of creating herbal teas and tisanes to treat some common ailments. Dehydration would be necessary, of course, along with a delivery system such as tea bags. Beebalm would be a great herb to start out with, as it is medicinal, safe, and native.

Pennisetum purpureum, Napier grass, Elephant Grass

     At the local gardening club, I picked up some rooted cuttings of this interesting black grass and planted one in the front garden and one in the back garden. I didn't know too much about it then, other than that it was big and black and $12.
     It turns out that Elephant grass earned it name because it is a favorite plant of elephants back in its native home of Africa. It is edible for people too, and by extension, rabbits. Plants for a Future says the young shoots or leaves are added to soups. Elephant grass is closely related to millet.

     According to Feedipedia, it is primarily used in cut and carry feeding systems and used to make silage. It is desirable due to its wide range of habitats and drought tolerance. The fresh leaves an stems are reported to have just 1-10% protein, but to be a good source of carotene.  Historically there have been a few cases of nitrate poisining in cattle fed on exclusively Elephant Grass, but I remember reading the same for Tifton hay also. Archive has a fantastic book about using Elephant grass as a fodder crop in Hawaii.
     It is also used to make thatch and mulch, and to prevent erosion if planted on contour.
   Elephant grass is mainly grown in stands. It produces few seeds and is usually propagated by stem cuttings of at least 3 nodes, 2 of which are buried into the soil. Has been known to grow 4 meters in three months time after planting from stem cuttings.

     It has been growing very well in my yard for almost one year now. I plan on taking cuttings out to the forest to plant on the sandy areas created by cars driving through the corner of the land.

Wild Coffee, Psychotria Nervosa

     I like to call this plant Psycho Coffee, because it's just more fun to say. I bought this several years ago from the Nature Coast Botanical Gardens, and it has thrived with no care at all. When I planted it back then I heeded the advice of IFAS and put it in the full shade, where it doubled in height and width and produced two seedlings. The seedlings also thrived in the full shade with no care, no watering, nothing.

     Psycho Coffee is native to Florida, and Florida is its only home. It's hardiness is from 10B to 11, but it's growing well in the full shade in my 8A front yard. I happened to be at the Pasco County Earth Day celebration, and there was a gentleman there from the Florida Native Plant Society and he had some for sale, so I picked up another one and supported the Society. I have also spotted it growing as a huge bush at the entrance of the Boyd Hill Nature Preserve in St. Petersburg.
     Psycho coffee propagates by seed, and I have found that the easiest way to propagate it is to dig up seedlings and put them where you want them.
     The berries are edible, and have a large seed in them. They don't taste good. Flowers attract butterflies and the fruits attract birds. Some say that members of the coffee family contain a hallucinogen called dimethyltryptamine, but it is unknown if Psycho Coffee has that chemical. It's called Psychotria nervosa for the prominent ribbing on the leaves.
     Definitely a keeper because edible fruit, beautiful flowers that bloom for months and attract pollinators, requires no care or watering, and loves full shade.

Cannas, surprisingly beautiful

     Came home from my so-called job to find these beauties in my back yard. I have them growing in a standard nursery pot that is sitting in a larger clay pot that has no drainage holes. It usually is filled with a few inches of water. They say cannas like to have their feet wet, and that definitely seems to be the case around here.
     Cannas are edible, and I have eaten the leaves, which have a mild flavor but are chewy. Would be an excellent base for a salad but I wouldnt use them for lettuce wraps. I haven't yet tried the roots.
     This is a plant that can be found at many nurseries. I have even seen them for sale at Meijers in Michigan, what a sight for sore eyes. They are distinctive and come in several varieties, including variegated and purple-leaved.

The Ginger Family

     While trying to discern if Stromanthe was a type of ginger, learned a few things:
     -The ginger order (Zingiberales) is a large one, including 68 genera.
     -Most members of Zingiberales are herbacious perennials with rhizomatous root systems (Wikipedia).
     -Straight from Wikipedia, the families of Zingiberales include
          -Cannas
          -Costus Spiral Gingers
          -Heliconias
          -Orchidantha
          -Musa Bananas
          -Maranta Prayer Plants
          -Strelitzia Bird of Paradise
          -Zingiber Gingers
     Most of the members of the Zingiberales Order are tropical or subtropical. Cannas are native to the new world, while most Zingiber gingers are native to Asia.
     Zingiberoides members have adapted to Southeast Asia's monsoonal climate, becoming dormant in the dry season as underground fleshy rhizomes. Marantas, Heliconias, and Cannas have adapted to swampy areas and have their rhizomes rooted underwater.
     Asarum canadense "wild ginger" of Eastern North America is actually not a ginger, and is not edible. If eaten it causes permanent kidney damage as it contains aristolochic acid. Try saying that 5 times fast.
     Members of the Maranta family can have Rosmarinic acid, a caffeic ester. Arrowroot is a member of the Maranta family. So is Stromanthe, so it is possibly edible and possibly awesome.

Red Sugarcane, Saccharum officinarum

   Last fall I took a road trip to a nursery called A Natural Farm, at Howie in the Hills, Florida. They had many interesting plants, which pleased me very much, including many that I already owned. I ended up buying three sugar cane rooted cuttings, and planted all three in the back yard. The back is sheltered from frost and winds, as best as I can make it. These are some pictures taken shortly after planting.

     Wikipedia says that sugarcane is the worlds most produced crop by quantity. It also says that sugarcane is a true grass. It is propagated by stem cuttings that must contain at least one bud. These three are stem cuttings.
     IFAS recommends cutting linger stalks into 6 bud seed pieces ( about 2-3 feet long) and planting that. Also, "Single node pieces, which contain a single bud, can be planted in pots or trays and later transplanted at the target site."

Shell Ginger Smoothies

     Since learning that Shell Ginger is a superfood, I have found that it can be good in a green smoothie with plant based vanilla flavored protein and frozen blueberries. I have also found that freezing the leaves in advance and then removing the center spine improves their consistency in the smoothie without sacrificing any nutrition.

Salvia splendens

     I bought this little beauty on sale from one of the big box stores in the springtime. Clearly the shoppers there had passed it over for showier selections. It was significantly rootbound, with hardly any soil remaining in its tiny two inch container. Aside from that indicator, it looked like it still might be worthwhile since my yard has been very successful with tropical or cardinal sage. This picture was taken about two weeks after planting, shocking how much fuller the leaves became once they had a little bit of room to grow!

   Multiple internet sources say that Salvia splendens is native to Brazil and is a tender perennial that can't stand a freeze. Perhaps that is why it was looked over, it may have to be potted up in the winter and cuttings taken. Salvias can be propagated by cuttings and by seeds, but some varieties are not true to type.
     The internet is conflicted on whether Salvia splendens is edible or not. I will have to try it out on the rabbits, then watch them closely for hallucinations. Just in case.

Chrissy the Scrub Land Baroness

March, 2019

     When I was young, I was bullied. A lot. Things were different then. I have forgiven the chick who was always trying to fight me, because I am a grown up and she, well, she works at a car dealership. I have also forgiven the chick who was always calling me a "scrub" (she thought she was so much better than I was, economically, it seems.) She is a waitress now, and I have come to embrace the term Scrub and all it stands for.

Future Campsite

     When I was younger and trying to understand how the world works I would always ask my father the good questions. Not about dating and romancey stuff, but about science/history/religion/life. I used to spend time with him on the weekends at his repair shop, and sometimes we went out on service calls. I remeber once, as we were driving past the cattle farms on the east side of the county, asking him who owned all this land and how come they didn't do anything with it? His answer was vague, something about rich people that hoarded land from others. That kind of answer was right in character with him, as he grew up on a dairy farm and knew the value of land, or at least, Michigan land. Anyone who has scoped the price of acreage here in Florida knows that you can't buy anything but swampland for less than about 12k an acre. Many estimates are even higher than that number.

Climbing Tree

     When I was a teenager, I really started learning how the world works, and I took an interest in the biosciences and ecology. It was sometime during that time that I had the dream of becoming one of those land barons, so that I could preserve plant and animal habitat. Of course, back then I wanted to buy rainforests so the pretty little parrots and iguanas had their home to live in (thanks a lot, Ferngully!) But now that I am a grown up, I believe in protecting habitat locally. I try to support local parks amd state parks. I try to practice sustainable living ideals - so I have, indeed, turned into the scrub who hangs the laundry on the clothesline.

Rat Snake

     This year I have done something amazing, completed one of my lifelong goals - I have bought some bug out land. I have a piece of the local scrubland for myself, out on the eastside of my county. Though it's only an acre and a half, I am now one of those reviled land barons.
          Scrub Land Baroness.

Punch-bowl Gardening

     I love Cannas. They are beautiful and edible and easy to grow. They are easy to grow, but you have to give them what they want, and what they want is water and sunlight.
     So I am developing a whole new style of plant nursing which I invented, and I am going to call it Punch-Bowl Gardening.
     The technique is simple. Head to your local charity-based thrift store and buy a few punch bowls. Believe me, these large bowls are there in abundance and no one else is buying them! Make sure you don't spend more than $3.00 per bowl, as that kind of money means you are buying an antique and not just unwanted glassware. The bowls can have chips on the edges, no big deal. We are buying them to reuse and recycle, not necessarily for looks.

     Then pot on your Cannas, Taros, or other water-loving plants as you normally would into whatever kind of pot that you have handy. I am using black nursery pots that I have scavenged or begged for. When I plant Cannas and other bog plants i like to put a layer of cypress mulch into the bottom of the pot, then medium, then manure and plant base as the top layer. I use aged rabbit manure, the moldier/gummier the better. Then place the potted plant into the punchbowl sitting out in your garden, and fill the punchbowl up with water. Whenever you water your plants or when the punchbowl is empty, refill to the top.

     The advantages - easy to keep thirsty plants happy and gives wildlife a place to grab a drink (frogs, lizards, butterflies). Disadvantages - mosquito growth and high winds can sometimes knock plants over if very full of water. The easiest way to treat the mosquitos is to add BT to the punchbowl, which inhibits the larval form of mosquito. That is also the most expensive way. Hardest way to treat the mosquitos is to dump the water out twice a week, run a scrub brush around the inside, then refill with clean water.
    If you've enjoyed this post and now want to buy some mosquito dunks loaded with BT from amazon, please use Amazon Smile and donate to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention for me. I want them to get the proceeds for any sales, not me or my plant blog.

The back yard garden, featuring aquarium Cannas, Punch-Bowl Cannas, and non-draining pot Cannas