{"id":9835,"date":"2023-05-01T16:15:21","date_gmt":"2023-05-01T20:15:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/?p=9835"},"modified":"2023-05-01T16:15:24","modified_gmt":"2023-05-01T20:15:24","slug":"gardening-unexpected-beauty-from-a-weed-and-a-bean-plant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-unexpected-beauty-from-a-weed-and-a-bean-plant\/","title":{"rendered":"Gardening | Unexpected beauty from a \u201cweed\u201d and a bean plant"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>By Master Gardener Volunteer Lesley Arrandale<br>mail@floridanewsline.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s the second week in April and we\u2019ve had a good amount of rain. No torrential downpours, just the steady soaking type and some refreshing brief showers. While venturing into the backyard one day, I glanced along the back of my house, where I\u2019ve laid some long branches to edge an informal bed. Sitting on one of them was a lovely red and black butterfly. I\u2019ve seen the species before, but not often; it was a red admiral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So why did it appear in my yard? Like most butterflies, it needs specific plants on which to lay eggs, so I did some research (https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/yxr5u3tu). Red admirals can be found in many areas of the world, and they are one of the butterflies I saw as a child in the UK. There they lay their eggs on stinging nettles (<em>Urtica sp<\/em>.), and on this continent there are similar plants for them to utilize. In my yard, though, Florida pellitory (<em>Parietaria floridana<\/em>) is its host plant \u2014 a weedy thing that I\u2019d been pulling out without a second thought, and certainly without bothering to learn what it was first. Well, I\u2019ve decided to keep some of it and hope for more red admirals. I\u2019ll be more cautious in future about what I edit from my yard, and this article could help: https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/mr2mmd3j. The website is full of information for wildflower enthusiasts and is worth investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As more insects emerge for the summer, I know there\u2019s more to discover. Before our Shumard oak leafed out I noticed it had two egg-shaped \u201cthings\u201d dangling from its outer twigs. I\u2019ve recently learnt that they were cocoons of the polyphemus moth, one of our largest and most beautiful silk moths (https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/mazr9zv2). It might sound strange, but I am hoping our tree will host a small army of polyphemus caterpillars \u2014 it won\u2019t suffer \u2014 as they could be food for hungry baby birds.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I recently planted out some hyacinth beans (<em>Lablab purpureus<\/em>) at the base of a bamboo \u201cteepee\u201d frame. As well as being decorative plants, the leaves can be eaten like spinach. The beans are edible, with a good amount of protein, but must be boiled before eating as they contain a toxin. Another experiment. For more information, check out https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/4hr7wyc7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A reminder \u2014 the Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide (<a href=\"https:\/\/edis.ifas.ufl.edu\/publication\/vh021\">https:\/\/edis.ifas.ufl.edu\/publication\/vh021<\/a>) is a great source of information on choosing and growing our more usual summer crops.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are having a difficult tomato season, information here could help identify possible diseases: https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/45ypukb3. Although a popular crop, tomatoes are not always easy to grow, and I\u2019ve had little joy recently. Next year I\u2019ll try one or two varieties bred by the University of Florida. There are three available from Proven Winners, in their \u201cTempting Tomatoes\u201d series. They get great reviews based on flavor and disease resistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some of the plants flowering in my garden include wild petunias (<em>Ruellia caroliniensis<\/em>), Simpson\u2019s stoppers (<em>Myrcianthes fragrans<\/em>), lance leaf coreopsis (<em>Coreopsis lanceolata<\/em>), blanket flower (<em>Gaillardia sp.<\/em>), sunflowers (<em>Helianthus sp.<\/em>), wild red salvia (<em>Salvia coccinea<\/em>), starry rosinweed (<em>Silphium asteriscus<\/em>), and \u2014 a mixed blessing \u2014 beggar\u2019s ticks (<em>Bidens alba<\/em>), one of the very best native plants for a huge variety of pollinators. It\u2019s vital to keep it in check. If you remove its seedheads before the seeds mature, then it\u2019s a great plant. But if those seeds spread, it will live up to the definition of a weed \u2014 there will be plants aplenty in the wrong places.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The native passion vine or maypop (<em>Passiflora incarnata<\/em>) has begun to flower, and the gulf fritillary butterflies that have been flitting around for weeks, have clearly been laying eggs. Their caterpillars are making a meal of the tender new leaves and are growing daily. This native vine can spread too, but it\u2019s simple to pull up when spotted in the wrong place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Master Gardener Volunteer Lesley Arrandalemail@floridanewsline.com It\u2019s the second week in April and we\u2019ve had a good amount of rain. No torrential downpours, just the steady soaking type and some refreshing brief showers. While venturing into the backyard one day, I glanced along the back of my house, where I\u2019ve laid some long branches to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4100,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[12],"class_list":{"0":"post-9835","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-creekline-st-johns","8":"category-mandarin","9":"tag-gardening"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Gardening | Unexpected beauty from a \u201cweed\u201d and a bean plant - Florida NewsLine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"CreekLine, Mandarin NewsLineBy Master Gardener Volunteer Lesley Arrandalemail@floridanewsline.com It\u2019s the second week in April and we\u2019ve had a good amount of rain. 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