Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ principles help us achieve beautiful, health lawns and landscapes that help to protect our natural resources rather than drain or otherwise damage them. And prominent among those nine Florida-Friendly principles is the idea of “right plant, right place.” That is, add plants in areas where they likely will thrive naturally.

Using native plants goes a long way in that regard. And, in part through these blog posts, we’ll help you identify native plants that you might enjoy using. Today, we focus on fetterbush.

DESCRIPTION

Honey-scented, unbranched and elongated inflorescences (flower clusters) bunch as 10-15 quarter-inch to half-inch long, white, shell-pink, or deep-pink bell-shaped flowers that brighten late-winter to early-spring gardens. New growth follows flowering. Smooth coppery-color leaves emerge, and then change to a leathery, shiny dark-green, about 1-3 inches long. The leaf is simple, elliptic to oval, and alternately arranged. Fruits are one-third of an inch and brown as they mature in summer.

Fetterbush favors partial shade to full shade exposure, but tolerates full sun if sufficiently watered. When planting, soils should be well-drained and acidic to slightly acidic. It succeeds best in Hardiness Zones 7A-10B. Reproduction is through suckering, and plants may be propagated from root cuttings, root division, and seeds. The growth rate is slow to medium, and the water-use requirement is medium.

Its natural occurrence is widespread in lower scrub edges, scrubby flatwoods, xeric hammocks, moist pine flatwoods, and forested wetlands. Although the plant is adapted to briefly flooded habitat and well-drained habitat, well-drained soil is preferred to saturated soil. Fetterbush is used effectively in naturalized landscapes, in mixed-shrub borders, or in rain gardens. If planted in the right place, no maintenance is recommended; however, fetterbush may be trimmed. No serious insect or disease issues have been noted, but shrubs can develop leaf spot if stressed.

WILDLIFE BENEFITS

Many butterflies, such as the pipevine swallowtail, black swallowtail, giant swallowtail, clouded sulphur, cloudless sulphur, little yellow, gulf fritillary, monarch, and queen winter in the Sarasota area. The fetterbush’s late-winter and early-spring blooms augment nectar supplies during this time for them, as well as for native bees and other insects. Birds and other wildlife feed on the bush’s summer fruits.

COMPANION FLORIDA NATIVE PLANTINGS

Companion plantings create aesthetically pleasing naturalized landscapes. Add native plants with contrasting or complimentary texture, color, and shapes, such as cinnamon fern (Osmunda cinnamomea), sweetspire “Henry’s garnet” (Itea virginica), or saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) alongside the dense, shiny, dark-green fetterbush foliage. Mix in taller trees and shrubs, such as the loblolly bay (Gordonia lasianthus) or sweetbells (Leucothoe racemosa) and smaller perennials such as Stokes’ aster (Stokesia laevis) to mimic native habitat layering and to create open sun and cooling, shady spaces.

Year-round seasonal colors from blooms and from new growth extend a garden’s visual richness. Year-round fruit and seed production provide a consistent food supply for wildlife. Sweetbay magnolia (Magnolia virginiana) blooms from June through September, seeds late summer, and serves as a butterfly larval plant. Inkberry (Ilex glabra) blooms May through June, with persistent fruit from September through May. Sweet pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia) blooms in the summer and also attracts hummingbirds. Fruit and seeds from these plants nourish many birds and mammals into the fall and winter, when fetterbush steps up and again blooms.

The above-mentioned companion plants favor acidic to slightly acidic soils, and are suitable to Sarasota County Hardiness Zones 9B-10A. These native plants are generally available from native plant nurseries. See the Resources section (below) to for a short list of companion, native-plant options.

Resources

• Fetterbush in UF/IFAS resources or UF/IFAS EDIS files
• Butterflies at www.naba.org/ftp/saar.pdf and https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/UW/UW05700.pdf
• Cinnamon fern (Osmunda cinnamomea) at Cinnamon fern
• Fetterbush (Lyonia lucida) at Florida Native Plant Society,
• Florida Honey Bee Plants at Florida honeybee plants
• Inkberry (Ilex glabra) at Inkberry
• Loblolly bay (Gordonia lasianthus) at Loblolly bay
• Saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) at Saw palmetto
• Sweet pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia) at Sweet pepperbush
• Sweetbay magnolia (Magnolia virginiana) at Sweetbay magnolia
• Sweetbells leucothe (Leucothoe racemosa) at Sweetbells leucothe
• Sweetspire “Henry’s garnet” (Itea virginica) at Sweetspire “Henry’s garnet”
• Stokes’ aster (Stokesia laevis) at Stokes’ aster

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