Fast-Growing Florida Native Plants

Chapman's Wild Sensitive Plant

• Chapman's wild sensitive plant (Senna mexicana var. chapmanii) is a fast-growing shrub endemic to Florida's Monroe County Keys and Miami-Dade County. This widely cultivated member of the Fabaceae (Leguminosae) family of plants finds use as an accent ground cover in flower beds and rock gardens. This drought-tolerant shrub adapts to nutritionally deficient soils, but does not perform well when exposed to long-term flooding by salt or brackish water. In ideal growing conditions, Chapman's wild sensitive plant grows 2 to 4 feet tall and produces bright-yellow, showy flowers nearly 1 inch wide. This flowering shrub is also a larval host plant for three different species of butterflies.

Beach Morningglory

• Beach Morningglory (Ipomoea imperati) is a fast-growing, herbaceous vine and rare plant native to the southeastern United States. This ephemeral ground cover grows along beach dunes where the soil is sandy, moist, well-drained and without humus. Beach Morningglory is a vigorous, low-maintenance, highly drought-tolerant sun worshiper. Flowers are showy and have bright white petals surrounding a golden circle and purplish lobes. Beach morningglory flowers from spring to fall; blossoms look their most beautiful during peak summer.

Florida Coastal Indigo

• Florida coastal indigo (Indigofera miniata var. florida) is a small, fast-growing, herbaceous wildflower endemic to the Sunshine State. The magenta-colored blossoms of this leafy plant adds color to Florida's pine-lands and open spaces. Florida coastal indigo enjoys full sun and is highly tolerant of drought-like conditions. The recommended growth environment for this plant includes moist, well-drained limestone or sandy, humus-free soils and weedy conditions.

Purple Love Grass

• Purple love grass (Eragrostis spectabilis) is a summer-flowering, fast-growing, perennial grass plant featuring a dense thicket of erect, widely spreading, flowering stems. In late summer, the plant's stiff inflorescence resembles a garnet- to mauve-colored cloud hovering at ground level. Purple love grass spreads to a range of 1 to 3 feet and reaches heights from 8 to 18 inches tall. Purple love grass grows in dry or moist pastures, hay fields, roadsides and non-crop areas in Florida's Miami-Dade and Collier counties.