Florida Native Plants for Full Sun

Buttonbush

• Growing throughout all of Florida except for close to the coastal regions, buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) requires a full sun location. This deciduous shrub can grow to 12 feet in a warm climate such as Florida features. Buttonbush takes its moniker from its globular flower heads and resulting fruit. The shrub likes damp ground, making it suitable to use near ponds and streams. Buttonbush has glossy, green foliage that is toxic to livestock. The foliage will turn yellow to a shade of green-yellow in the fall.

Oakleaf Hydrangea

• A flowering shrub with multi-lobed foliage, oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) occurs in the Florida panhandle. In full sun, this native plant will develop to as high as 12 feet, although it will typically grow 4 to 8 feet tall. Oakleaf hydrangea has showy late season foliage, with the leaves often remaining attached until winter. The flowers emerge in upright clusters by July, with the white blooms changing to tan and pink late in summer. Oakleaf hydrangea's landscaping usages are many, with the species working as a foundation plant, as a specimen plant in the middle of your yard or in naturalized portions of your landscape.

Butterfly Weed

• Although butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) is hardy as far north as Quebec, the plant is also native to Florida. Butterfly weed is an herbaceous perennial, growing to heights in the range of 2 1/2 feet in full sun habitats. Butterfly weed may be the solution as to what to grow in the open areas featuring dry, poor quality soils on your property. The plant, which tolerates droughts, will bloom from June through August, turning out colorful orange-yellow flowers that butterflies find irresistible. Butterfly weed is a staple of sun-splashed borders and butterfly gardens throughout the East.

Southern Red Oak

• Northern Florida is the southern range of the southern red oak (Quercus falcata), a species also called Spanish oak, according to the "National Audubon Society Field Guide to Trees: Eastern Region." Southern red oak will excel in a well-draining loam in full sun. The tree can grow to 80 feet, with its limbs spreading as wide as 50 feet. This makes it useful as a shade tree or as a street tree. Southern red oak's leaves are much darker green on top than on their undersides. The fall color is nothing special, notes the Missouri Botanical Garden, with the leaves changing to brownish-red, but staying on the twigs until deep into the autumn months.