Fill your yard with native plants to attract pollinators, support the environment, and cutback on gardening maintenance
With fair weather year-round in Hillsborough County, gardens and landscapes can require continual maintenance and tending to.
For those looking to support local wildlife, beautify their surroundings, and reduce the amount of time and money spent managing their landscapes, planting native species is an option worth considering.
Benefits of native plants
A native plant is one that has been documented to exist in Florida before European contact.
Because native plants have evolved to thrive in their natural environments, they are already adapted to the local soil, rainfall patterns, temperature, and general weather conditions of an area. As a result, they typically require less watering, fertilizing, and pest control compared to non-native species.
In addition to requiring less maintenance, native plants also support local wildlife by serving as nesting sites and hiding places. Just as important, these plants also serve as food and attract and support pollinators like bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. These insects and birds are essential to ensuring the area's plant species are pollinated and thus, able to reproduce.
Below are five examples of attractive, resilient, native plants. These species are also noteworthy for their ability to endure dry spells and thrive during Hillsborough County's hot and arid months.
Beach dune sunflowers
Beach dune sunflower (Helianthus debilis) is a long-lived perennial with bright yellow flowers that bloom continuously throughout the year. It's considered a groundcover because of its tendency to spread and fill large landscape areas that are often dry and receive a lot of sun.
These flowers grow on coastal dunes along the Gulf Coast and are well-suited to thrive in sandy or well-drained soil. The yellow flowers are a hit with butterflies.
Sunshine mimosa
Sunshine mimosa (Mimosa strigillosa), also known as powderpuff mimosa, is a perennial groundcover with globe-shaped pink powderpuff flowers. It can be used on lawns as an alternative to grass and can tolerate light foot traffic.
Due to their fairly deep root system, sunshine mimosa can help control erosion. These plants prefer full sun and well-drained sandy soils.
Since sunshine mimosa serves as a host plant for butterfly larvae, they attract butterflies, as well as other pollinators.
Firebush
Firebush (Hamelia patens) is a native evergreen shrub with orange-yellow flowers. Because this plant bounces back in the spring after undergoing winter freezes, it's often referred to as a "root-hardy perennial."
This plant provides nectar for butterflies and hummingbirds and berries for larger wildlife. Firebush thrives in well-drained soil in full or part sun.
Muhly grass
Muhly grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris) is a low-maintenance clumping grass, reaching a height of 2 to 3 feet when mature. In the fall, this grass produces fluffy pinkish flower stalks that can grow as tall as 5 feet. These flowers produce small seeds that feed birds and other wildlife.
Muhly grass can be used as an accent plant or in mass plantings in landscape beds. This grass does best in full sun and well-drained soil.
Saw palmetto
Saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) is very drought tolerant once established, as well as highly salt tolerant. It works well as an accent shrub in landscapes due to its large and spiny fan-shaped palms.
Saw palmetto should be planted in full sun in a space that will allow the plant to grow to its mature size of 5 to 10 feet tall and 5 to 10 feet wide.
Saw palmetto flowers attract bees and other pollinators, and it serves as a host plant for palmetto skipper and monk butterflies' larvae. The berries it produces are an important food source for birds and mammals.
Many native plants are only available at nurseries that specialize in select species. Visit the Florida Association of Native Nurseries website to locate native plant nurseries in Hillsborough County.
Looking for more gardening tips and help?
Hillsborough County Extension Service is responsible for extending and implementing research-based information to the people of Hillsborough County. Extension Service provides education and information to county residents and businesses through workshops, publications, and mass media. The department partners with the University of Florida (UF) and the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS).
Workshops on gardening, composting, growing fruit in Florida, microirrigation, rainwater harvesting, and more are available this summer. Visit the Hillsborough County Extension Service Events webpage for more information.