The Plant Palette
Our Plant Palette
This is the palette we actually design with — palms, canopy trees, flowering color, vines and ground covers, all chosen because they handle South Florida's salt, heat and rain. It looks as good in year three as it does on install day.
Palms
Medjool Palm
Phoenix dactylifera 'Medjool'
The estate centerpiece — a massive, sculptural date palm that instantly changes what a property says about itself.
Salt
Moderate
Drought
High
Light
Full sun
Cabadae Palm
Dypsis cabadae
Smooth ringed green trunks in an elegant clump — a collector's palm that gives instant tropical depth.
Salt
Moderate
Drought
Moderate
Light
Full sun to part shade
Silver Bismarck
Bismarckia nobilis
Huge silver-blue fans on a commanding frame. One tree, and the whole landscape gets a focal point.
Salt
Moderate
Drought
High
Light
Full sun
Christmas Palm
Adonidia merrillii
The tidy, self-cleaning palm for entries and tight spaces — royal palm looks at a fraction of the size.
Salt
Moderate
Drought
Moderate
Light
Full sun to part shade
Foxtail Palm
Wodyetia bifurcata
Full, plume-like fronds that look freshly groomed year-round — the modern South Florida standard.
Salt
Moderate
Drought
High
Light
Full sun
Shade Trees
Gumbo Limbo
Bursera simaruba
The 'tourist tree' with peeling copper bark — a hurricane-tested native that anchors a yard for generations.
Salt
High
Drought
High
Light
Full sun
Royal Poinciana
Delonix regia
The most spectacular flowering canopy in Florida — a summer canopy of flame-red bloom you can see from a block away.
Salt
Moderate
Drought
High
Light
Full sun
Japanese Fern Tree
Filicium decipiens
A naturally round, dense dome of fern-like foliage — the manicured look without the manicuring.
Salt
Moderate
Drought
Moderate
Light
Full sun
Verawood
Bulnesia arborea
Golden bloom flushes over ferny foliage on a tough, storm-resistant frame — the connoisseur's shade tree.
Salt
Moderate
Drought
High
Light
Full sun
Hong Kong Orchid
Bauhinia × blakeana
Orchid-like magenta blooms through the cool months, when little else is flowering — shade and show in one tree.
Salt
Moderate
Drought
Moderate
Light
Full sun
Flowering Trees
Jatropha
Jatropha integerrima
Red star-shaped flowers essentially every day of the year — the hardest-working small tree in the palette.
Salt
Moderate
Drought
High
Light
Full sun
Tibouchina
Tibouchina granulosa
Electric royal-purple flowers in heavy flushes — a color no other South Florida tree can match.
Salt
Moderate
Drought
Moderate
Light
Full sun to part shade
Powderpuff
Calliandra haematocephala
Crimson puffball blooms loved by butterflies and hummingbirds — cheerful, fast and generous with color.
Salt
Moderate
Drought
Moderate
Light
Full sun
Yellow Elder
Tecoma stans
Clusters of golden trumpet flowers on an easy, fast frame — sunshine in tree form.
Salt
Moderate
Drought
High
Light
Full sun
Hibiscus
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis
The tropical classic — dinner-plate blooms in nearly any color, trained as tree or shrub.
Salt
Moderate
Drought
Moderate
Light
Full sun to part shade
Flowering Shrubs
Dwarf Jasmine
Radermachera 'Kunming'
Glossy fine-textured foliage with fragrant white bloom on a tidy, compact frame — refined filler for beds and borders.
Salt
Moderate
Drought
Moderate
Light
Full sun to part shade
Ixora
Ixora coccinea
Dense clusters of red, orange or yellow bloom on a neat hedge-able shrub — the reliable color workhorse.
Salt
Moderate
Drought
Moderate
Light
Full sun
Bougainvillea
Bougainvillea spp.
Nothing blooms harder in full South Florida sun. Walls, trellises, standards — an explosion of paper-bright color.
Salt
High
Drought
High
Light
Full sun
Plumbago
Plumbago auriculata
True sky-blue flowers — rare in this climate — on a soft, billowing shrub that blooms nearly year-round.
Salt
Moderate
Drought
High
Light
Full sun to part shade
Oleander
Nerium oleander
Salt wind, drought, poor soil — oleander blooms through all of it. A proven performer for exposed coastal spots.
Salt
High
Drought
High
Light
Full sun
Vines
Confederate Jasmine
Trachelospermum jasminoides
Star-white spring bloom with a fragrance that carries across the whole yard — the classic trellis and fence vine.
Salt
Moderate
Drought
Moderate
Light
Full sun to part shade
Bleeding Heart
Clerodendrum thomsoniae
White lanterns with crimson hearts spilling from twining stems — an eye-catcher for shaded arbors and lanais.
Salt
Moderate
Drought
Moderate
Light
Part shade
Stephanotis
Stephanotis floribunda
The bridal bouquet vine — waxy white trumpets with a perfume to match the name. Elegant on posts and railings.
Salt
Moderate
Drought
Moderate
Light
Full sun to part shade
Queen's Wreath
Petrea volubilis
Cascading sprays of violet stars — the closest thing the tropics have to wisteria, without the drama.
Salt
Moderate
Drought
Moderate
Light
Full sun
Sky Vine
Thunbergia grandiflora
Big sky-blue trumpets on a vigorous vine that covers a pergola in a season.
Salt
Moderate
Drought
Moderate
Light
Full sun to part shade
Ground Covers
Liriope
Liriope muscari
Neat grassy tufts with purple bloom spikes — the border edger that works in nearly every design.
Salt
Moderate
Drought
Moderate
Light
Sun or shade
Jasmine Minima
Trachelospermum asiaticum 'Minima'
A low, dense evergreen carpet that smothers weeds and stays glossy — the clean alternative to mulch beds.
Salt
Moderate
Drought
Moderate
Light
Sun or shade
Perennial Peanut
Arachis glabrata
Golden blooms over a tough green mat that barely asks for water — the smart lawn alternative for hot spots.
Salt
Moderate
Drought
High
Light
Full sun
Gold Sedum
Sedum mexicanum
Chartreuse-gold succulent foliage that glows against dark mulch and stone — color without a single flower needed.
Salt
Moderate
Drought
High
Light
Full sun to part shade
Mondo Grass
Ophiopogon japonicus
Fine, deep-green tufts that thrive where lawns quit — the polished answer for shady beds and pathways.
Salt
Moderate
Drought
Moderate
Light
Part shade to shade
Looking to block a view or build a living wall? See the Privacy Trees & Hedges guide →
Botanical reference photos via Wikimedia Commons — credits
bleeding heart: Kurt Stüber [1] (CC BY-SA 3.0)
cabadae palm: Esculapio (CC BY-SA 4.0)
calophyllum: Forest & Kim Starr (CC BY 3.0)
chinese fan palm: No machine-readable author provided. Cookie assumed (based o (CC BY-SA 3.0)
christmas palm: Michel Chauvet (CC BY-SA 4.0)
clusia: Forest & Kim Starr (CC BY 3.0)
cocoplum: Hans Hillewaert (CC BY-SA 3.0)
confederate jasmine: Scott Zona from USA (CC BY 2.0)
fishtail palm: Stan Shebs (CC BY-SA 3.0)
gold sedum: Qwert1234 (CC BY-SA 3.0)
graceful bamboo: Forest & Kim Starr (CC BY 3.0)
green buttonwood: Photo by David J. Stang (CC BY-SA 4.0)
gumbo limbo: Louise Wolff (darina) (CC BY-SA 3.0)
hong kong orchid: Ianare (CC BY-SA 3.0)
ixora: User:Kokkarani (CC BY-SA 3.0)
jatropha: Oeropium (CC BY 3.0)
liriope: Qwert1234 (CC BY-SA 3.0)
mast tree: Original uploader was Omoo at en.wikipedia (Public domain)
medjool palm: Agnieszka Kwiecień, Nova (CC BY-SA 4.0)
oleander: Alvesgaspar (CC BY 2.5)
perennial peanut: Nurhafizah Abdullah (CC BY-SA 3.0)
podocarpus: Greg Hume (CC BY-SA 3.0)
powderpuff: Alejandro Bayer Tamayo from Armenia, Colombia (CC BY-SA 2.0)
queens wreath: Mike Dickison (CC BY 4.0)
royal poinciana: Averette (CC BY-SA 3.0)
seagrape: Forest & Kim Starr (CC BY 3.0)
silver bismarck: Mmcknight4 (Public domain)
stephanotis: Lenore Edman from Sunnyvale, CA (CC BY 2.0)
tibouchina: mauroguanandi (CC BY 2.0)
travelers palm: Dicklyon (CC BY-SA 4.0)
areca palm: Ping an Chang (CC BY-SA 4.0)
bougainvillea: Wikimedia Commons contributor (see Commons)
foxtail palm: Wikimedia Commons contributor (see Commons)
japanese fern tree: Wikimedia Commons contributor (see Commons)
verawood: Wikimedia Commons contributor (see Commons)
yellow elder: Wikimedia Commons contributor (see Commons)
hibiscus: Wikimedia Commons contributor (see Commons)
plumbago: Wikimedia Commons contributor (see Commons)
sky vine: Wikimedia Commons contributor (see Commons)
jasmine minima: Wikimedia Commons contributor (see Commons)
mondo grass: Wikimedia Commons contributor (see Commons)
Want a Landscape Built From This Palette?
We'll walk your property and design with the plants that belong on it. Estimates are free.
Get a Free Estimate