What's Blooming in July?
Here are some of the gorgeous native wildflowers you'll see when hiking through a Hillsborough County Conservation Park or Nature Preserve this month!
Water hemlock
This beautiful semi-aquatic plant (Cicuta maculata) produces masses of fluffy white flower umbels throughout the spring and summer. Growing in wet meadows, ditches, riverbanks, and even on floating mats of vegetation, water hemlock can be found throughout Florida. Be careful with children and pets around this plant- it’s extremely toxic, and ingesting a small bit of any part of the plant can easily be deadly. Water hemlock is in the carrot family and closely resembles some edible aquatic plants- never eat any plant that you aren’t 100% sure is safe to ingest!
Firebush
More often seen in garden beds than out in the wild, firebush (Hamelia patens) is one of Florida’s most popular native plants. Drought- and heat-tolerant and able to grow anywhere from full sun to part shade, this attractive shrub blooms through the summer and into fall with the bright, orange-red flower clusters for which it was named. Firebush attracts lot of pollinators, including hummingbirds, and its berries provide food for birds and other wildlife. Come see firebush up close in the butterfly garden of Bell Creek Nature Preserve in Riverview!
Eastern False Dragonhead
Also known as obedient plant, this lush purple wildflower (Physostegia purpurea) grows in wet areas like ditches, wet meadows, riverbanks and cypress swamps. Its purple blooms create a beautiful pop of color in both sun and shade, and in the right areas it can grow very aggressively and create large monoculture patches. Eastern false dragonhead blooms through the early fall all over Hillsborough County. Find this beautiful and colorful plant at Fish Hawk Creek Nature Preserve (South) in Riverview, growing along Fish Hawk Creek.
Air Plants
Florida has 16 varieties of native bromeliads, often called “air plants.” Mainly found growing on trees in shady areas, these plants are epiphytes, meaning that they grow on other plants but are not parasitic. Air plants get their nutrients and moisture from the air around them. 10 of these species are endangered or threatened, and illegal collection is one of the biggest dangers to air plants in Florida! Never remove an air plant from where you found it. These beautiful plants often bloom throughout the summer with violet, pink, or red flower stalks that can be tiny or huge, depending on the plant. Look for air plants as you hike through the woods at Alafia River Corridor Nature Preserve (North) in Plant City.
Bonus fact- Spanish moss is actually not a moss but a native epiphyte, and its tiny flowers bloom around April! Look for the blooms next year on your spring hikes.
