Plant Showcase
The Wakulla Master Gardeners are busy dividing plants from their own yards or raising seedlings for this year’s plant sale. Here are a few of the plants we will have available for the plant sale:
Oak Leaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia)
![Hydrangea quercifolia Image by leoleobobeo on Pixabay](https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/franklinco/wp-content/blogs.dir/147/files/2019/03/Hydrangea-quercifolia-159x300.jpg)
A native shrub, good for shady gardens. The plant has large, dark green leaves that look like oak leaves. In the summer the plant produces huge clusters of white flowers that stay for several weeks. Eventually the flowers turn pink or light purple. The leaves turn red or purple in the fall and will stay on the plant well into winter.
These large shrubs can reach 8 to 10 feet tall and have a wider spread. Because of its size, oak leaf hydrangea is a great specimen plant out in the landscape.
Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
![Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) Image: WikimediaImages](https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/franklinco/wp-content/blogs.dir/147/files/2019/03/Asclepias-syriaca-300x159.jpg)
Native to Eastern North America. Easily grown in average, well-drained soil. Prefers full sun. This plant typically reaches 3-4 feet in height and spreads about .75 to 1 foot across.
Blooms in June through August. Flowers are pink, mauve, or white and are a nectar source for many butterflies. Common milkweed is also a host plant for monarch butterflies. Plants are suited to a natural, informal setting
Easter Lily (Lilium longiflorum)
Not native but can be grown in the Florida landscape. This plant prefers a well-drained and sunny location. Each single stem can produce 4-6 white,
![Easter Lily (Lilium longiflorum) Image: Wikipedia](https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/franklinco/wp-content/blogs.dir/147/files/2019/03/Lilium-longiflorum-300x159.jpg)
trumpet shaped flowers. In the landscape, these plants flower in the late spring or early summer. As the plants begin to die back, cut the stems back to the soil surface. Bulbs can be divided in the fall.
Datil Pepper (Capsicum chinense)
A very hot pepper grown commercially in St. Augustine, FL. Heat index matches the habanero pepper. Legend has the pepper brought to Florida from
Spain by the Minorcans. Many families carefully guard the hot sauce or jelly recipe they use with this pepper!
![Datil Pepper (Capsicum chinense) Image: Simon Feiertag Florida Trend Magazine](https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/franklinco/wp-content/blogs.dir/147/files/2019/03/Capsicum-chinense-300x159.jpg)
Plants can reach 2 feet in height and spread. It takes at least 5 months of frost-free weather for plants to mature. They are relatively slow growers!
Fruits start off a lime green color and turn a brilliant orange when ripe. Each small blunt pepper can reach 3 inches long, but most are smaller.
Plant Sale Information
The Wakulla Master Gardeners will hold their spring plant sale on Saturday, April 6th. Gate opens at 9 am and the sale runs to 12:30 pm. The event is at the Wakulla Extension Services Office, 84 Cedar Street in Crawfordville, FL.
To learn more about purple nut sedge in Wakulla County contact the UF/IFAS Wakulla County Extension Office at 850-926-3931 or http://wakulla.ifas.ufl.edu/.
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