Zamia pumila (umbrosa) is the form of this low cycad native in eastern Florida. It has stiff evergreen fern-like leaves from a large tuberous root which is the source of arrowroot starch and once much used by the Indians. It is not a palm and is actually more closely related to ferns. It is a popular landscape plant in Florida but hardy in much of the Coastal and Lower South. Somewhat tolerant of salt spray and slightly saline soil. Winter mulch is advisable for young plants in areas where palms are marginal. Can be grown as a container plant and protected in winter. Male and female cones produced on separate plants.
Trunk short, sometimes underground, tuberlike. Pinnae leaves to 6 inches long and 1/4 inches wide.A heavy winter mulch is advisable for young plants in areas where palms are marginal. Or, the plants may be potted when received and kept inside the first winter.
Bold green foliage on long petioles and showy flowers make this a favorite in many mild climates where the ground doesn't freeze. This clone developed in England is more winter hardy and sun tolerant according to Armitage. A good poolside plant where cool, moist, and fertile soil that is well-drained exists. (See O&T, ARM) Cut back plants after the frost kills the tops. Mound 10 inches of coarse sand over the stubs. Mulch over with pine straw. As weather warms, remove this covering to allow new shoots to emerge. Given rich soil and ample water, these plants will thrive during hot summers.
A native tree that bites back, and can numb a toothache. Zanthoxylum clava-herculis, the toothache tree or Hercules' club, is a small to medium deciduous tree of the citrus family, native along the coastal Southeast from Virginia to Florida and Texas. The genus name Zanthoxylum means yellow wood, and the species clava-herculis, the club of Hercules, names the stout, spiny, club-shaped trunk that is the tree's signature.
Small thorny tree or large shrub with glossy compound deciduous leaves which turn yellow in fall. Small greenish-yellow flower clusters in early summer followed by reddish fruits containing black seeds which are ground and used as pepper in Japan. Dirr says:àperhaps the most ornamental member of the genus.à (See DIR)
Large deciduous tree with relatively small dark green leaves and smooth, later scaly gray trunk. Dirr states there is a magnificent specimen at Kew. (See DIR, KRU)
One of the finest shade trees for a hard place. Zelkova serrata, the Japanese zelkova, is a deciduous tree of the elm family, native to Japan, Korea, and eastern China, long valued as the sacred keyaki of Japanese temples and a prized timber and bonsai subject. In the West the tree has become a leading street and lawn tree, in no small part as a graceful, disease-resistant stand-in for the American elms lost to Dutch elm disease.
A rare gem of the Southeastern coastal plain, chosen for the bluest foliage of the tribe. Zenobia pulverulenta 'Woodlanders Blue' is a semi-evergreen shrub of the heath family, native to the pocosins and pine savannas of the coastal Carolinas, and grown above all for striking powder-blue, glaucous foliage and hanging clusters of white, bell-shaped flowers in early summer. Woodlanders selected and introduced this exceptionally blue form, which has since won wider recognition.
This is the green foliaged form of this fine semi-evergreen ornamental shrub native to the coastal Carolinas. Showy racemes of white bell-shaped flowers in spring. Moist sandy acid soil in sun or semi-shade. See also the 'Woodlanders Blue' selection with blue foliage which is becoming more widely available. Zenobia was virtually unavailable from nurseries when Woodlanders first began offering it.
A native lily that answers the rain. Zephyranthes atamasco, the atamasco lily or rain lily, is a bulbous perennial of the amaryllis family, native to moist woods and meadows of the Southeastern United States. The name atamasco comes from the Powhatan people of the Virginia tidewater, an old word carried into botany, and the plant has also long been called Easter lily for the season of bloom.
This fall blooming Rain-lily produces masses of white flowers from grass-like clumps of foliage. It is tolerant of a wide range of soils and conditions but likes moisture. It spreads and naturalizes nicely in the South. It is native to Argentina. The silvery flowers of this species along the Rio de la Plata may have inspired the Spanish to name the river and the country (Silver).
The leaves on this rush-like yellow-flowered Rainlily are thick with blunt edges. The clear yellow crocus-like flowers can appear at various times but mostly in late summer. A fine garden bulb native to Central and South America.
Bright golden star like lilies through the summer. These bulbs produce grass like foliage which is somewhat persistent through the winter. Not difficult to grow but likes moisture. Native to Argentina and Brazil.
A rain lily that flowers on a whim of the weather. Zephyranthes fosteri, Foster's pink rain lily, is a bulbous perennial of the amaryllis family, native to Mexico and hardy in the warm South, grown for vivid, crocus-like pink flowers that appear as if overnight after summer and autumn rains.
Zingiber mioga, or Japanese ginger, is a plant of quiet beauty and old-world usefulness. Native to the cool woodlands of Japan and Korea, it rises in summer on slender green stems, its foliage long and narrow—almost bamboo-like in its grace. In late summer to fall, just when most of the garden begins to settle, this hardy ginger offers its surprise: pale yellow flower buds that emerge right at soil level, modest and easily missed if you’re not paying close attention.
