Adding Bumelias

Rusty bumelia (Sideroxylon tenax) in bud

Rusty bumelia with ripe fruit

Just before our recent rain, I added two bumelias, or buckthorns, (Sideroxylon spp.) to my new landscape. After the haws, this is one of my favorite genera and I have always had several in my wildlife-friendly yard - for good reason.  Bumelias maybe a thorny "mess" to some, but they are an invaluable wildlife magnet at all stages of the year.
Some, like rusty or tough bumelia (Sideroxylon tenax) form an impenetrable thicket of gnarly and twisted branches while others like saffron plum (Sideroxylon celastrina) are more upright and "respectable", but all produce extremely good hiding cover for small songbirds. While the latter is evergreen and restricted to the warmer portions of Florida, many are tardily deciduous and provide this cover only during the growing months - but that is the time when my songbirds are nesting and need cover most.
Rusty bumelia and a few of the others I've planted in the past - namely wooly bumelia (S. lanuginosa) and dwarf bumelia (S. rufotomentosa) produce stiff leathery leaves whose undersides sparkle in the sun because of their thick mat of coppery "hairs." Alachua buckthorn (S. alachuense) is equally wooly, but the hairs are silver. All of these are especially attractive in a landscape, but I plant bumelias because of what they provide wildlife.
I am not sure that there is a shrub/small tree that attracts pollinating insects more than the bumelias. Most are exceptionally fragrant and a mature plant will have dozens of bees, butterflies, flies, and other pollinators at any one time when in full bloom. It is amazing to witness the activity around them. If several species are planted, the bloom time will be extended over several weeks.
Flowers of saffron plum (Sideroxylon celastrina) - Not exceptionally beautiful, but exceedingly fragrant

 Within a few months of pollination, these flowers produce a deep purple fruit (a drupe to be specific) that is relished by songbirds such as Northern mockingbirds, grey catbirds, and Northern cardinals. Over time, these birds will scatter this seed around the parent plant and more plants are sure to follow. I planted my first rusty bumelia in an native plant landscape almost 30 years ago at the Pinellas County Cooperative Extension office and it was eventually lost to a parking lot expansion that took several of my original plantings. If you were to visit today, however, you'd find about a half dozen of its offspring, planted by songbirds.
Most, if not all, of Florida's bumelias are very difficult to find from the native plant nurseries here. Perhaps its their thorny nature and often-irregular aspect that makes them a difficult sell to buyers of native plants. Perhaps its just a lack of awareness on all parties involved of how valuable they are to a living landscape. All I am sure of is that they should be added a lot more than they are.
As I prepared for my move to my new home in Pasco County, I collected the ripe fruit of several species and kept them in my nursery for this day. The plants I added are small and a bit inconspicuous, but they will mature quickly and add a lot to the landscape I'm installing in my front yard. I fear that my plants back in Seminole will be removed by whoever purchases my former home, but these will live on to provide for the wildlife I hope to someday attract. If you plant it, they will come - let's hope, anyway.

Dwarf bumelia (S. rufotomentosa) rarely gets taller and 2 feet and makes a wonderful ground cover shrub

This is the dwarf bumelia I've grown from seed and planted in my new landscape
I've also added a scrub form of rusty bumelia as well - a form that rarely stands more than 3 feet tall

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