Little strongbark is one of the rarest native shrubs in South Florida with perhaps less than one hundred individual plants scattered in about a dozen sites in Miami-Dade and Monroe county and, along with the Bahama strongbark and the rough strongbark, is a state listed endangered specie. It is interesting though that the little strongbark propagates easily from seed while the much more common, Bahama strongbark is more difficult for us to get to germinate well. To propagate little strongbark, gather the seeds (though they produce seed year round, there seems to be a couple of big flushes during the summer), clean them well from the pulp and rinse in a colander, let dry and sow in lightweight potting mix, covered by just enough of the mix so as to make them unseen. Keep moist until germination, about 6-8 weeks planted in the fall.

Little strong bark grows reasonably fast with regular water and occasional fertilizer and will look great as a specimen in the landscape and as a plant native to pine rocklands, it has the advantage of being drought tolerant and needing very little care after it is established. We have some nice three gallon plants at the nursery that are about one and a half to two feet tall. Give us a call to come by and take a look.