Green Unseen

    At the farmers market today we bought new plants for the yard. We like to buy and grow plants that are native to our area because they feed and shelter our local wildlife, they are adapted to our climate, and they grow well without extra water or fertilizer.
    We bought two plants we thought were natives with long dark green spear shaped leaves. We were told their common name is cast iron plant. Now, isn’t that’s curious? How did they get that name? Here’s what we learned:

• It got the name cast iron plant because its so hardy it seems to last forever—just like a cast iron frying pan.

• It is NOT native to our area as we thought. It is native to China! Wouldn’t you love to fly to China and see these plants in their native habitat?

• The scientific name is Aspidistra elatior and they belong to the Liliaceae Family (lily Family).

• It lives well in the shade, in drought, and even indoors!

    We had a big surprise when we discovered two stowaways hidden in the leaves. We didn’t see them at first because they were camouflaged by the green leaves. Can you guess what we found?
    Two cute little green treefrogs. Here’s some things we learned abut our discovery:

• Most treefrogs breed in shallow ponds, but the green tree frog breeds in deeper water. ----->
• You can tell this is a treefrog by the prominent white stripe along his body.
• The little guy below may be a young green treefrog or a squirrel treefrog. It's hard to tell because he doesn't have the prominent white stripe. 
• You can hear treefrogs calling on warm, wet evenings.

For more information about Cast-Iron Plants, check out: http://www.floridata.com/ref/A/aspi_ela.cfm

For more information about green treefrogs, check out:
http://www.wec.ufl.edu/extension/wildlife_info/frogstoads/hyla_cinerea.php