Fort Myers Beach Plant of the Month
Florida privet also known as Florida swampprivet (Forestiera segregata) is a very overlooked plant that weathered the wrath of Hurricane Ian and came back strongly. This hardy, long lived perennial in the olive family grows as a small tree or bush between five to 15 feet tall and five to 10 feet wide. It is maintenance-free once established and is drought and salt tolerant making it an ideal plant for coastal areas. Florida privet can be trimmed to a desired height or shape and can be used as a hedge or individual specimen plant. It tolerates full sun to part shade.
Florida privet is dioecious meaning it needs both male and female plants for successful pollination and fruit production. It blooms early in the spring and its tiny greenish yellow flowers are a magnet to bees and butterflies. Fruits ripen by late spring to early summer making it one of the earliest producing fruits for birds to enjoy before other fleshy fruits ripen. The fruit varies in color from purple to black and looks like a small olive. It feeds a variety of songbirds and wildlife and its thick foliage provides them shelter.
In Memory of Jim Rodwell