We love a Green Market. For those of you who have never had the opportunity to attend, a Green Market is usually comprised of locally grown produce and native plant booths along with many other products available for sale. My husband and I go to the one in Dunedin held every Friday October through April. It makes for a very enjoyable morning as we wander around the booths and then wind up at a local eatery for lunch.

I have to admit we've only just started attending but we've already gotten acquainted with several of the vendors. I mentioned Tocobaga Landscaping in my last post about the beautyberry, who specializes in Florida native plants, and they are there like clockwork every Friday. We have visited Linda at It's Our Nature who sells organic cotton clothing and home products. My husband purchased a shirt from her for my birthday. It's made of cotton and hemp, and environmentally dyed with clay. I liked it so much I went back and bought a pair of pants so comfortable I could live in them. And, we most recently met Donna of DonDro Gardens who sells and provides advice on orchids.

Open seasonally, Green Markets are held throughout Florida. The Florida Dept. of Agriculture shares a list of Markets near you. Go out and visit soon. It's a great way to get some fresh air, meet your neighbors and find some interesting products. Oh - I almost forgot. There's music! Most Green Markets have some form of local entertainment throughout the season. How cool is that. Happy Florida Gardening.

What an absolutely gorgeous plant this is. My husband and I visited the local Green Market in December and met Josh and Natasha Motesharei Renaud, owners of Tocobaga Landscape. They specialize in Florida native plants, butterfly and bird attractors, and bonsai.

As we chatted I noticed a beautyberry shrub. Although there were not a lot of leaves on it (the time of year) it had huge clusters of fushia colored berries. Callicarpa americana is a native shrub in the Verbena family. It is also known as the French mulberry named by English settlers here who despised the French and named the berry, which they found bland and unpalatable, after them.

The shrub is a perennial and grows to about 8 feet in height and width although it can be kept trimmed to a smaller size to fit in the landscape. It produces small pink flowers in spring and summer and then berries as a winter food source for birds and gray squirrels. The berries are edible and can be made into a jelly. The roots and leaves were used by Indians to make tea to treat fever and dysentery among other maladies.

It truly is a gorgeous plant and can be grown in full sun to part shade requiring very little attention once it is established. I placed mine in part sun and the berry clusters are stunning against the green hollies. For more information about the beautyberry as well as other Florida natives contact any of the Florida Native Plant Societies in your area or read the Waterwise Florida Landscapes booklet produced by Florida's water management districts. Or drop an email to Josh and Natasha. They are a wealth of information. Happy Florida Gardening.