Shrubs
American Beautyberry:
The American Beautyberry is a shrub that is welcoming to wildlife. It bears clustered purple berries that serve as a food source for many birds. When fully grown, the shrub reats 3-5 ft tall. This shrub is native to Maryland, North Carolina, Arkansas, Mexico, and the West Indies States.
Chickasaw plum:
The Chickasaw Plum is native to much of the central and eastern United States, from Florida to New Mexico and California, and then north to Illinois, Nebraska, and New Jersey. It’s natural habitats include forest openings, woodlands, savannahs, woodland edges, plains, prairies, and meadows. This shrub has yellow fruit that ripens to red in August or September, and can reach a height of 6 to 12 feet when fully mature. Interestingly, the Chickasaw Plum was cultivated by the chickasaw Indians and other Native Americans before the Europeans came.
Christmasberry:
The Christmasberry is an evergreen woody shrub that gets its name from the scarlet red berries that it produces in the summer. Although these berries are toxic to some animals, they are a favorite food source for many birds. The Christmasberry is a wetland species that is highly salt tolerant, growing in swamps, depressions, ravines, marshes and ditches. Its native range are coastal plains from South Carolina to Texas.
Firebush:
The Firebush is sometimes called the Hummingbird-bush because of the noise from the amount of animals attracted to it. It has orange-red tubular flowers, and its berries are small green berries that turn red and then purplish-black as they mature. The Firebush can grow up to a height of 6 to 12 feet. This shrub’s native distribution is Florida to as far south as Argentina. It can grow in dry to moist, sandy soils.
Rouge Plant:
The Rouge Plant is also commonly referred to as the Pigeonberry, Bloodberry, or Coralito. It has bright red fruit, and can reach a height of up to 3 to 5 feet tall. It thrives in habitats such as forests, hammocks, thickets, and shell middens. Its native distribution is southern North America south through Central America, and the Carribean to tropical South Americas.
Sparkleberry:
The Sparkleberry is a deciduous shrub that can reach a height of up to 6-25 feet. This tree produces fragrant white flowers that look like tiny bells, and are followed by black berries. It is also known as Farkleberry, Huckleberry, and Winter Huckleberry. The Sparkleberry is native to southeast North America, and is the tallest of its species
Florida Privet:
The Florida Privet is native to Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and many of the Caribbean Islands. It is naturally found in coastal hammocks, scrub and pine rocklands, and thickets. When fully grown, it can reach a height of 5-15 feet, and have a spread of 5-10 feet. The Florida Privet is a deciduous shrub, and is otherwise referred to as Florida Swamp Privet, or Southern Privet.
Buttonbush:
The Buttonbush is a perennial shrub that is native to North America. It thrives in swamps, around ponds or streams, lakes, marshes, and creek and swamp margins. When fully mature, this shrub can reach a height of 5-20 feet. The Buttonbush produces tiny, tubular, fragrant white flowers that attract many species of butterflies as well as birds.
Wild Coffee:
The Wild Coffee produces berries that resemble coffee beans, but it doesn’t contain any caffeine. When fully grown, it can reach a height of up to 4-10 feet, and can have a spread of 4-8 feet. This shrub thrives in native habitats such as coastal, mesic, hydric, and rockland hammocks throughout Florida.