Thorns Are Fine
Thorny plants may be ignored by some but they are often some of the best plants for a living landscape. Thorns not only protect plants from herbivory; they provide safe places for songbirds to build nests in. The best also provide for pollinators and produce food for birds. As I sit today on my front porch, one of the best is in full bloom and nothing comes close to providing nectar for my pollinators. Tough bumelia ( Sideroxylon tenax ) is one of the best plants I've added to my landscape. As its name suggests, it is tough. I grew this one from seed collected in the Lake Wales Ridge in a scrub site that has since been bulldozed to make way for a new home and a lawn of turfgrass. What now stands there is useless for wildlife; a situation too often occurring in this state hellbent on clearing our native plant communities out of existence. At least I've saved this plant for the wildlife I'm landscaping for. Creating a landscape f...