It’s time for ‘Florida snow’ to blanket your property
The weed known as pusley plant thrives during dry season.
As snow begins its silent fall in more frigid climes, South Florida gets its own tropical version of the white and fluffy stuff.
The pusley plant, nicknamed “Florida snow” because of the pale blanket it spreads on lawns and swales, thrives during autumn and can easily get a foothold in grass stressed by insects, improper mowing or disease.
Its delicate funnel-shaped flowers of white, pink or light purple are pretty to some but a pain to others, who consider the unintended ground cover a weed.
“Some people’s weeds are other people’s flowers,” said Tom Dellolio, a master gardener with the Palm Beach County Extension Office. “Some weeds are, in fact, rather attractive. It really comes down to a matter of taste.”
Pusley is drought tolerant and prefers drier soil, which is why it’s often in full bloom during Florida’s dry season. While this fall has been slightly wetter than normal, with much of Palm Beach County about an inch higher than average for November, the landscape invader is still prevalent.
Ed Skvarch, St. Lucie County Extension director and horticulturist, said that’s because sandy soils near the coast won’t retain the water for very long.
“I’ve got it in my yard and just
kind of let it be,” Skvarch said. “You can have it all year, but usually it flowers during this time, and that’s when everyone notices it.”
Because pusley — formally known as Richardia scabra — grows very low to the ground, it often escapes mower blades that are usually recommended to be set at 3 to 4 inches so as not to scalp grass.
Once the ground cover is established, each flower produces three sticky nutlets.
With each plant cluster containing 20 flowers, it has a lot of seeds to spread.
“The best way to control weeds like pusley is to prevent their seeds from germinating by blanketing bare soil with a dense cover of vegetation, such as turfgrass, or a 3- to 4-inch layer of mulch,” said Yvette Goodiel, interim director for the Martin County Extension Office. “Though many consider these species to be weeds, as in plants growing where they are not desired, they are not invasive species.”
A 2011 paper written by a horticulture agent for the University Martin County Extension Office
‘The best way to control weeds like pusley is to prevent their seeds from germinating.’
of Florida said hand weeding might be fruitless because the plant’s small seeds will spill to the ground unnoticed, growing new plants.
There are three varieties of pusley, which is related to tropical plants such as gardenia, ixora, penta, firebush and wild coffee, according to the paper.
Horticulturists steer away from recommending herbicides to fight the pusley because people can just as easily kill their lawns.
“Getting rid of it is extremely difficult,” he said. “Honestly, I just sometimes incorporate it into my Christmas landscape decorations.”