Zamia integrifolia

Coontie is perfect for a dry sunny or shady spot in the garden. It is extremely hardy and drought tolerant and is successful in harsh conditions like highway medians. It generally stays under three feet tall and 3 feet wide and has a tropical Florida feel. Coontie is an ancient plant and is Florida’s only living cycad. It is the important host plant for the Atala butterfly.

Ruellia caroliniana

Petunia’s are a beloved household wildflower that grows and reseeds prolifically in Florida. Often dappling the floors of woodlands and forests, this wildflower likes average to moist soils with dappled sunlight to full shade. It attracts many pollinators but is favored by bees.

Phyla nodiflora

One of our favorite native plant “lawn alternatives,” Frogfruit is a low growing, perennial evergeen groundcover that grows in full sun to partial shade and in dry to moist soils. Frogfruit is highly salt-tolerant, fast growing, mow-able and lightly walk-able. It’s also an important host plant to the Phaon Crescent, White Peacock and Common Buckeye butterflies and is a nectar source pollinators including hummingbirds.

Passiflora 'Incense'

Incense Passionvine is a non-native, Florida-friendly hybrid passionvine that is a cross of the native Maypop Passionvine and a South American variety. They can grow 10’-20’ with support, and do well in full sun to shade, with well-draining, rich organic soil. These vines have dark green leaves and beautiful, fragrant blooms that bring in butterflies and pollinators. They also serve as a larval hot for Gulf Fritillary, Zebra Longwing, and Julia butterflies.

Eriobotrya japonica

Loquat is a non-native, Florida-friendly, evergreen fruiting tree that grows 15’-25’ tall. They grow best in full sun to partial shade, with average, well-draining sandy, clay, or loamy soil. Their flowers are highly attractive to butterflies and other pollinators, and their apricot-like fruit can be enjoyed by humans and wildlife alike.

Passiflora incarnata

Maypop Passionvine is a Florida native passionvine that is evergreen, perennial and showy. It’s planted both as a medicinal plant for people and as a host plant for the Gulf Fritillary, Zebra Longwing, and Julia butterflies.

Aristolochia macrophylla

Pipevine is a Florida-friendly deciduous climbing vine that grows up to 15ft with large, heart-shaped leaves reaching 12in long. The leaves overlap in a shingle-like pattern to create dense screening, making it excellent for privacy on arbors, trellises, or fences. In late spring to early summer, it produces distinctive pipe-shaped flowers that are greenish-yellow and mottled with burgundy, though they're often hidden beneath the lush foliage. Native to moist woodlands and stream banks, it serves as the primary host plant for the Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly. This shade-tolerant vine prefers rich, moist soil and requires consistent moisture, making it unsuitable for dry conditions.

Passiflora edulis “Purple Possum”

Purple Passionvine is a Florida-friendly, evergreen, perennial, showy passion variety known for it’s fruit, unlike other passion varieties that are known for serving as host plants. While the fruit and the flowers are the stars of the show, Purple Possum also serves as a host plant for Zebra Longwing and Gulf Fritillary caterpillars, so you can use this plant to feed yourself, and your local butterflies! Grow in full sun with rich, well-draining sandy soil for the best blooms and fruit. The vines and fruit get heavy as they grow, so provide a sturdy trellis, arbor, tree, or fence to support them.

Magnolia grandiflora

Southern Magnolia is a native, evergreen flowering tree that grows to be 60’-80’ tall and 30’-50’ wide. They grow best in full sun to partial shade, with moist, rich, acidic well-drained soils. With their dark green leathery leaves and their large, heavily fragrant white flowers in late spring and summer, Southern Magnolias make a great addition to Florida landscapes as part of a privacy screen or specimen plant. Their flowers predate bees, so they are instead pollinated by beetles, but their seeds provide food for birds and small mammals, and their dense branches provide year-round cover for local wildlife.

Ficus aurea

Strangler Fig is a native evergreen tree that grows to be 40’-60’ tall with an equally large canopy. They have dark green leathery leaves and produce small, dark figs that provide a food source for birds and other wildlife. They grow best in full sun to partial shade, and thrive in a wide range of soil types and are moderately drought and salt tolerant once established.

Morus hybr. ‘Tice’

Tice Mulberry is a non-native, Florida-friendly deciduous fruit tree that grows to be 15’-60’ tall, depending on the pruning methods used to maintain it. They grow best in full sun to light shade with rich, well-draining loamy soil, though they are highly adaptable to poor soil conditions. While the Tice Mulberry fruits seasonally, they fruit profusely during their season, producing many large, black, delicious berries that are edible for humans and local wildlife.

Zanthoxylum fagara

Wild Lime is a native evergreen shrub or small tree native to southern Florida and the Florida Keys that grows up to 23 feet tall with a spreading, often multi-trunked form. This member of the citrus family features compound leaves with distinctly winged leaf stems and 7-11 rounded leaflets that emit a strong lime fragrance when crushed. The trunk and branches are armed with sharp spines, and it produces small, greenish-yellow flowers in dense clusters followed by brown seed capsules containing black seeds. Thriving in hammocks and woodland edges, it serves as a larval host plant for giant swallowtail butterflies and provides cover and food for various wildlife species. With its dense, thorny foliage, it makes an excellent natural barrier or privacy screen for central and south Florida landscapes.

Fragaria virginiana

Wild Strawberry is a native North American strawberry species that grows naturally in Florida's cooler, higher elevation areas and shaded woodlands. This low-growing perennial produces small, intensely flavorful berries that are much smaller than commercial strawberries but pack more concentrated taste. It's an important native plant that provides food for wildlife and for people. Does well in a hanging basket, pot, or shady garden beds.