Weekend Plantings: Turf Virus Nearby, Saving Variegation, Plants for Wet Sites

Charlie's Plant to Ponder: Pothos

Also called devil's ivy and hunter's robe, pothos is a high-climbing, evergreen vine that develops leaves up to 2 feet long as it gains height. Pothos (Epipremnum aureum), a native of the Solomon Islands, is tender to cold but still spreads rapidly when grown in the landscape. This common houseplant is propagated by cuttings.

Numerous cold-sensitive species of Eugenia are grown for their fruit, including pitomba, grumichima, Brazil cherry, Australian beach cherry and the invasive Surinam cherry. The only hardy Eugenia commonly cultivated for its fruit is cherry of the Rio Grande, a plant that withstands temperatures into the upper teens with minimal damage. This is a handsome shrub or small tree that grows 12 to 15 feet tall in full or part-day sun.

The juicy and tasty fruit of cherry of the Rio Grande is about an inch long and dark red and is eye-catching against the plant's glossy, dark-green foliage. Those fruit, eaten fresh and used for preserves, appear in late spring and early summer following attractive white blossoms. This slow-growing species thrives on organically enriched, mulched sites that are irrigated during dry spells. Cherry of the Rio Grande is difficult to propagate from cuttings and air layers, so it's usually propagated by seeds. Typically it takes 5 to 10 years from seed sowing for plants to bear fruit. Plants are available online and sometimes from local nurseries. This plant can be found listed under Eugenia cerasiflora, involucrata and aggregata.

TURF VIRUS NEARBY

Sugarcane mosaic virus, a disease that infects various grasses, including kinds of St. Augustine turf, appeared in Palm Beach County in the 1960s. But in 2013, and again in 2014, sugarcane mosaic virus showed up in Pinellas County and devastated numerous lawns, especially those with the Floratam' variety of St. Augustine turfgrass. All varieties of St. Augustine may be vulnerable, but Palmetto' and Bitter Blue' are considered somewhat resistant.

No treatment is available for stricken lawns, which display intermittent yellow streaks on grass blades, eventually leading to necrosis (death). The virus seems to become noticeable in early autumn and then progress throughout the cool season.

Machinery such as mowers and string trimmers can spread the disease from site to site, so it may eventually move into neighboring counties. Homeowners who want more information should visit http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pp313.

SAVING VARIEGATION

This is a good time of year to remove any solid-green growth that has emerged on variegated plants. Variegated varieties of most plants tend to slowly revert to all-green foliage that, if left intact, eventually dominates the plant and looks unsightly. One of the most popular landscape plants in Florida the flax lily often begins to produce solid-green offsets after a few years. In this case, sever the non-variegated clumps and dig them out, roots and all.

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Weekend Plantings: Turf Virus Nearby, Saving Variegation, Plants for Wet Sites