What’s in Your Yard?

Trees and other woody plants are a lovely way to create a friendly welcome to your home. They add interest to your landscape and enhance the environment. My profiles of suggested plants that belong in your yard are environmentally friendly and will keep Marco Island a healthy place to live and enjoy. Woody plants may be single or multi-trunked trees or shrubs. Their leaves, flowers, and fruits are various shapes and colors. They function as background or scaffold plants, screen or buffer, or specimen. I hope you will find these suggestions useful and incorporate them into your landscape.

Myrsine floridana (Myrsine)

MUR-seen FLOR-uh-day-nah

15-20 feet’

This evergreen tree grows in sun or shade, dry or wet soils with a moderately fast growth rate. Its bark is light gray and its long, leathery leaves are alternate, shiny and found mainly at the ends of the branches. Small, white flowers appear along the stems of the branches in winter followed by tiny, black berries. These berries attract Blue Jays, Cardinals, woodpeckers and other birds. Another name for this tree is Rapanea.