Sagittaria lancifolia

Arrowhead is a native, perennial wetland wildflower. It grows 3’-6’ tall and 2’-3’ wide, thriving in full sun and very wet soil, mud, and pond muck with a high content of organic material. Its white summer blooms are highly attractive to bees and butterflies, and the plant also serves as a food source for waterfowl, songbirds, frogs, and fish. It spreads reliably via underground rhizomes to stabilize muddy shorelines and naturally absorb excess nutrients from the water.

Taxodium distichum

Bald Cypress is a majestic deciduous conifer native to the southeastern United States that can reach 50’-120’ tall with a distinctive buttressed base when growing in water. This long-lived species features feathery, light green needles that turn brilliant russet-orange in fall before dropping, and fibrous, reddish-brown bark. Its most distinctive characteristic is the development of "knees" - woody projections that grow upward from the root system when the tree is in standing water or wet soils. Naturally occurring in swamps, bayous, floodplains, and along rivers from Maryland to Texas, it's remarkably adaptable, tolerating both permanently flooded conditions and surprisingly dry soils once established. This iconic tree provides critical habitat for wildlife, including nesting sites for wood ducks and various wading birds, and serves as an excellent specimen or street tree in zones 4-10.

Aster carolinianus

Climbing Aster is a perennial, flowering, vine-like shrub, that can be trained to grow up a trellis or can be trimmed to a more formal shape and lower height. It prefers average to wet soils and full sun to partial shade. In the late summer through winter, it is covered in small lavender aster flowers. It’s a pollinator favorite!

Ilex cassine

Dahoon Holly is a native, evergreen tree, with heights ranging from 20-30ft and it grows best in full sun to partial shade with moist, clay, loamy, or sandy soils. While they are moderately drought tolerant, they may need irrigation in dry, sandy conditions. Moderately salt-spray tolerant. Their foliage is dark green, with clumps of white flowers in spring that are replaced by red berries in fall and winter that provide food for birds and small mammals.

Sambucus canadensis

Elderberry is a fast-growing native shrub that offers beauty, food, and unmatched wildlife value. This versatile plant thrives in moist soils and adapts easily to sun or partial shade, reaching 6-20 feet to create a lush, pollinator-friendly hedge or specimen plant. In early summer, you'll enjoy massive clusters of fragrant white flowers that attract butterflies, followed by nutrient-rich dark purple berries perfect for homemade syrups and jams. As a cornerstone of the native wildlife garden, Elderberry is a favorite for songbirds and beneficial insects alike.

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.

Canna flaccida

Golden Canna is a native, upright flowering wetland plant growing 2’ tall. This plant thrives in very moist to wet, soggy soil, and full submersion up to 6”. It has large, butter-yellow blooms that are highly attractive to hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees; it also serves as a vital larval host plant for the native Canna Skipper butterfly.

Conocarpus erectus

The Green Buttonwood is an evergreen, coastal, native small tree or large shrub that can reach 20' and has vibrant green leaves and small brown berries that look like wood buttons. This buttonwood is considered the 4th type of mangrove and really thrives in coastal conditions, and can take salt water inundation and salty soils. The Buttonwood also has high wind tolerance making it a great windscreen on coastal properties.

Acrostichum  danaeifolium

A majestic and prehistoric-looking native fern that makes a bold architectural statement in the landscape. It features large, upright, leathery fronds that can reach impressive heights of 6 to 12 feet. This robust fern thrives in full sun to deep shade and is particularly well-suited for wet areas, pond edges, or low spots in the garden. It is highly salt-tolerant and adds a lush, tropical texture to any damp or aquatic setting.

Quercus virginiana

Live Oak is a magnificent, slow-growing evergreen oak native to the southeastern United States from Virginia to Texas that can live for centuries. This iconic tree typically grows 40’-60’ tall but spreads dramatically wider, with massive horizontal and arching branches forming a broad, rounded canopy that can extend 100’ or more. The thick, leathery leaves are dark green and elliptical, often draped with Spanish moss in its native range. It produces inconspicuous flowers followed by acorns that provide critical food for squirrels, deer, and numerous bird species. Extremely durable and salt-tolerant, it thrives in sandy coastal soils and can withstand hurricanes, making it a symbol of the Old South and an excellent choice for large landscapes, parks, and street plantings in zones 8-10.

Acoelorrhaphe wrightii

Paurotis Palm is a Florida native palm that grows to be 15’-25’ tall and 8’-15’ wide. They grow best in full sun and moist to wet sandy soil. They can tolerate standing water, but they are surprisingly drought tolerant once they are established. They are very salt-tolerant, and their dense, multi-trunk growth habit provides cover for local wildlife.

Acer rubrum

Red Maple is a native deciduous tree that can grow 40’-70’ tall and 30’-50’ wide. They grow best in full sun to partial shade and moist, well-draining, slightly acidic soils. They can tolerate both short dry periods and very wet soil once established. In spring, they produce showy pink to red blooms that attract pollinators, which are followed by seeds that feel local birds and small mammals.

Spartina patens

Saltmeadow Cordgrass is a perennial grass native to Florida's coasts that grows up to 3 feet tall in salt marshes and brackish wetlands. This hardy species features slender, wiry stems and narrow leaves that often form distinctive whorled patterns, creating dense clumps in the high marsh zone above the high-tide line. Highly valuable for Florida wildlife, it provides critical nesting habitat for saltmarsh sparrows, red-winged blackbirds, and boat-tailed grackles, while the seeds feed various shorebirds and waterfowl including mallards and pintails. The dense grass also offers protective cover for diamondback terrapins, marsh rabbits, and juvenile fish during high tide, while serving as foraging areas for great blue herons and snowy egrets. This salt-tolerant native grass plays a vital ecological role in Florida's coastal marsh systems, supporting both resident and migratory species.

Hibiscus coccineus

Scarlet Hibiscus is a native, perennial flowering shrub that grows 3’-8’ tall and 2’-4’ wide, with large, lobed leaves and large red star-shaped, long-lasting flowers that bloom from mid-summer to early fall. They grow best in full sun to partial shade with moist to wet, rich soil. They naturally grow in very wet areas and are very tolerant of soggy soil, but they can adapt to average soil environments with adequate watering. They are very attractive to Ruby Throated Hummingbirds, butterflies, and native bees!

Juniperus virginiana silicoa

Red Cedar is an evergreen shade tree that is also excellent for a privacy screen or buffer planting. It’s long-lived, it can grow to approximately 30’ over many years, is adaptable to dry and moist soils and does well in full sun to light shade. It can be used as a coastal plant as it is salt tolerant. Red Cedars are an important nesting and food source for birds.

Mimosa strigillosa

Sunshine Mimosa is a native perennial groundcover that grows 6–9” tall, with a deep root system and a fast-spreading habit. It thrives in full to partial sun and adapts to dry to wet soils. This hardy plant is salt-tolerant, cold-tolerant, and perfect for walkable or mowable spaces, making it an excellent choice for multi-species or “floral lawns.” Pollinators love it.

Magnolia virginiana

Sweetbay Magnolia is a native, evergreen flowering tree with beautiful, soft-green pointed foliage and heavily fragrant, ivory flowers that are significantly smaller than the large blooms of the Southern Magnolia. They grow to be 15’-30’ tall, and do well in full sun to partial shade and moist to wet sandy, loamy, and clay-heavy soil. Sweetbay Magnolias also serve as a larval host for the Sweetbay Silk Moth, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, and the Spicebush Swallowtail, and the seeds feed local songbirds.

Viburnum obovatum

Walter's Viburnum is an evergreen shrub or small tree native to the southeastern United States that can reach up to 20’ tall but is commonly pruned as a hedge or screen. This densely branched species features fine-textured foliage and produces masses of small, fragrant white flower clusters in early spring, giving it its nickname "Florida snow," that attract butterflies and other pollinators. In fall, it develops dark blue berries that provide food for birds and wildlife. Thriving in zones 7-10, it adapts to various soil types and light conditions from full sun to partial shade, making it an excellent choice for native landscaping, wildlife gardens, and as a Florida-friendly alternative to boxwood hedges.

Sizing of cultivars:

‘Withlacoochee’ - 12’-15’

‘Select’ - 6’-8’

‘Densa’ - 4’-5’

‘Snow Fury’ - 5’-10’

aka Southern Bayberry

Myrica cerifera

Southern Bayberry is a go-to large shrub for tough conditions that require plants that can tolerate moist soils and full sun. It’s also highly adaptable to dry soils and partial shade. It is evergreen and best left untrimmed and allowed to get to its natural height of about 15’. Southern Bayberry makes a nice hedge, natural screen or buffer planting or a specimen shrub and it is an excellent wildlife attractor. The waxy berries on the female plants are a food source for birds, and also used to make traditional bayberry candles.