General Landscape Uses:
Primarily recommended for natural landscapes and habitat restorations. Also wet to moist wildflower gardens.
Availability:
Available at native plant nurseries in central Florida.
Description: Medium herbaceous wildflower.
Dimensions: Typically 2-3 feet in height. Spreads and forms patches much broader than tall.
Growth Rate: Fast.
Range:
Eastern and central North America west to Arizona and south to Miami-Dade County and the Monroe County mainland; the West Indies (Cuba), Mexico and Central America (Honduras).
Map of select IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Map of Postal Code Areas of IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Habitats: Moist to wet hammocks, marshes and swamps.
Soils: Seasonally wet to moist, moderately well-drained sandy or calcareous soils, with or without organic or humusy top layer.
Nutritional Requirements: Low; it grows in nutrient poor soils.
Salt Water Tolerance: Low; does not tolerate flooding by salt or brackish water.
Salt Wind Tolerance: Low; salt wind may burn the leaves.
Drought Tolerance: Moderate; generally requires moist soils, but tolerant of short periods of drought once established.
Light Requirements: Full sun.
Flower Color: Pink.
Flower Characteristics: Showy.
Flowering Season: Spring-fall.
Fruit: Inconspicuous nutlet.
Wildlife and Ecology: Valuable source of seeds for birds.
Horticultural Notes: Can be grown from seed and division.
Comments: Can be aggressive, spreading from underground stems (rhizomes). See also the Florida Wildflower Foundation's
Flower Friday page.
