A splash of colorful seeds and blooms highlights
the dominant green hue of most native plants. Here are a few
of the plants for sale at Meadow Beauty that would be appropriate
east of the Intracoastal Waterway: above -- Beauty berry lives up to its name
with purple fruit and fuzzy leaves. Below: Bitter bush has glossy leaves and clusters of red fruit.
Two more species: Below -- Slow-growing lignum vitae has brilliant blue blooms that mature
into yellow seed pods that hold bright red fruit. Inset in story: Dune sunflower is a very salt-tolerant ground cover.
Photos by Jerry Lower/ The Coastal Star
By Deborah Hartz-Seeley
You need to go slowly and look carefully or, better yet, set your GPS to find Meadow Beauty Nursery on a rural road in western Lake Worth.
Your hint that you are approaching the 2½-acre site is the butterfly- and flower-covered garden flags flying by the side of the road. A red Radio Flyer wagon sits at the edge of the macadam, its bed filled festively with flowering plants.
Now look closely and you’ll see the sign that tells you that this nursery is open to the public only from 8 a.m. until noon on Saturday mornings.
This is when you can head through the wire gate and up the gravel driveway lined with small pots of wildflowers. Their diminutive but colorful blooms attract plenty of zebra longwings, sulphurs and other fluttering butterflies.
You’ll note these flowers aren’t as showy as the hibiscus, bougainvillea or other exotics you find at most garden stores. That’s because Meadow Beauty Nursery specializes in native plants. That’s flora that has learned to survive in the dunes, wetlands, grasslands, Everglades and other habitats common to South Florida.
Park your car in the small grassy area at the end of the drive and, as you get out, you’ll probably be greeted by Carl Terwilliger or his wife, Donna Leone. They make it their business to welcome you and help you navigate the 200 varieties of trees, shrubs and wildflowers they provide.
Terwilliger is proud that almost all are native to within 100 miles of Palm Beach County. He knows because he’s personally collected their seeds. For example, he found the red berries of the bitter bush on Brickell Hammock near Key Biscayne. The seeds for bear grass were gathered from a park in Central Florida. And the satin leaf with its coppery foliage is from around Hutchinson Island.
He then brought the seeds home, grew them into plants and then used their seeds to propagate what you see today. It takes him an average of five years to raise his plants from seeds to sellable trees and shrubs. But the lignum vitae can take up to 15 years.
Many natives are in pots waiting to be bought; but some, such as the saw palmettos and slash pines, also are part of the landscape. The nursery was established in 1988 and has been at this location since 1993. It’s taken the trees that long to establish themselves and grow tall.
In fact, the couple use the landscaping around their home to demonstrate how native plants can be used in a yard and how they will look after a few years’ growth. That helps shoppers understand how their purchases today will fit into their landscapes tomorrow.
On a recent visit, “Tim” Keith and her husband, Bill Petry, of Delray Beach were there for the first time because they want to replant part of their yard.
Leone teams up with them to discuss what will work in their garden on the barrier island that’s affected by sandy soil and salty ocean breezes.
Terwilliger helps them gather their purchases — including beauty berries, white indigo berries, locust berries and bitter bushes — on a green mesh hand cart and load them into the back of their car. After getting some planting tips, they are on their way.
For the nursery owners, it’s rewarding to see their careful work appreciated by other gardeners. “I have a lot of time invested in these plants,” Terwilliger says.
Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley is a certified master gardener who can be reached at debhartz@att.net when she’s not in her garden.
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