Well it seems real life has taken over for now, so the Garden Diary has been put on the back burner. As soon as I get some free
time, I'll try to add another entry. I'm also in the process of adding and replacing photos on this page, so keep checking back!
For now, I hope you enjoy browsing through this page - and into our garden. Let me know what's blooming in yours!
We grow a variety of plants in our garden. Some make it, some don't.
In Florida, it's very hard to know anything about
gardening because seasons vary from year to year, and "northern" tips
very often don't apply here. We grow many vegetables in winter. Our
fruit trees fruit when they feel like it. Sometimes, it's in the Spring.
Other times, it's in the Fall. You just never know. I think there's always
an element of surprise. Our "northern" fruit trees need a lot of chilling
hours whereas our "southern" varieties will die if it gets too cold. So
it's quite a challenge knowing what to grow where and when. We're still learning.
Our backyard is a typical suburban yard. It is a rectangle with St. Augustine grass in the center and flowers and such on the sides.
This allows us to keep the center free for activities, such as playing badminton, for instance. It faces south with fences all around.
Therefore, most of our backyard plants get full sun. We have full and part shade on either side of the house, and our front yard gets
mostly full sun, with some areas of full and part shade.
We also have a flower area in our lanai, by the pool. We are located in zone 9, close to the Hillsborough River, which is about 5 min. from our home. It is a lovely, peaceful river that has almost no current.
Please keep in mind that a garden is always a work in progress. Therefore, pictures of our garden are not always up-to-date. I do try my best at keeping it up-to-date, but it's quite a challenge.
New this year (or last):
Last updated: Nov. 2003
This year, we decided to put up a small picket fence around the veggie garden. In previous years, we'd had to redraw the veggie area every season, which was a waste of time, and it was never really straight, or efficient. This year, we finally did something about it. We picked a vinyl type fence so there would be no maintenance. By far the most time-consuming thing was to level the fence. I mean, level it sideways, up and down, and in & out so it would be perfectly square. After the leveling was done, and everything was holding well, we poured quick cement at each of the corner posts, let is harden, then added the door and its latch. The whole thing took a weekend (wouldn't want to do that for a living), but we're pretty happy with the result. We then drew 2 paths inside the area, one covering the water line (can't dig there), the other leading to the door; applied a black plastic sheet to keep the weeds out of the pathways (I'm usually not fond of this myself, but as we're not going to plant anything there, we won't have to deal with this messy plastic stuff); added mulch; and planted our veggies. :-)
In this section, I've included Annuals and Perennials. Other miscellaneous annuals are grouped together at the end of this section. Here in Florida, we have annuals that perform as perennials, and perennials that perform as annuals. Yet, we also have regular perennials and annuals. Each flower has its own life cycle, and it's hard to figure out before a couple of years whether that flower is there to stay or not. After a lot of trial and error, we've managed to decipher some of nature's puzzles.
~ Pentas, Vincas, and Geraniums ~
Our perennials are basically made up of lots of pentas (butterflies love 'em!) and vincas (an all-around favorite; self deadheading; no maintenance, blooms all year long), and plenty of Florida-native lantanas (the common yellow and less common purple). We've experimented with the native, bi-color specimens (lavender/yellow, yellow/orange, red/orange, purple/yellow), but have found that they are just too big for the small bed we planted them in. These things grow to 15 ft. They're not the compact plants you find in the stores (although you can now find the native as well), but rather sprawling shrubs that need lots of space. We've moved them to the back of the yard. In the well-manicured beds (yeah, right...), we'll stick with the yellow (my favorite) and the purple, although this one tends to become invasise. We also have a number of geraniums planted in the lanai. They usually make it through the summer in quasi-full sun, and have no problem making it through the winter with very light portection.
~ Impatiens ~
Under the porch, we put a planter filled with impatiens. This allows the planter to be in the shade, and we can see it every day when we go out to get the mail. We have a mix of colors: red, pink, white and purple. The only problem is squirrels. They come by the front door and dig through the entire planter, breaking and unearthing most of the plants. We have tried repeatedly to plant more flowers but it's a losing battle. Right now, we're still fighting. About a third of our planter is still populated...
~ Four O'Clocks ~
We were recently given four o'clock cuttings by a coworker. I love these. They usually open around 4 o'clock (hence the name) and are delightfully fragrant! Apparently, different plants of different colors tend to mix together by themselves so that we have bi-colored pink/white, white/yellow, pink/yellow, all pink, all yellow, etc. Sometimes, half the flower is pink, half is white. Other times, a flower may be 90% white, with just one slice of pink. It's a never-ending array of colors! And they even re-seed liberally...
~ Tropical Sage & Cat's Whiskers (Orthosiphon) ~
Under the oak tree, and also in the back yard, we added Texas (or Tropical) sage (salvia coccinea), a native, butterfly-attracting plant. We have pink ones, scarlet ones (one of which has green buds; the other has black buds), and white ones. They're all beautiful, and they even re-seed by themselves! We have new plants apprearing everywhere! Somewhat similar is Cat's Whiskers (orthosiphon). When it blooms, the flowers resemble tropical sage, but they are usually white (although I've had some light blue ones), and they have that extra little "whisker" that hangs from the middle of each floweret. They really do resemble cat's whiskers. Unfortunately, orthosiphon is very sensitive to frost. Make sure you cover it up nicely when a freeze is forecast. Nowadays, you can find this plant in garden stores. When ours freeze, we just buy new ones. For tropical sage, which also freezes, we just wait for the latent seeds to sprout from the ground.
~ Butterfly Weed / Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa ) ~
This is a brand new addition, also in 2000. We bought this plant at the USF Botanical Garden. We were told it would attract Monarchs. Well, did it ever!! The day after we planted it, there were at least 10 Monarch caterpillars chewing on it! In fact, it's so popular, we have monarchs hovering around it all the time. Last year, we've made cuttings of the milkweeds, so that we now have a fairly large bed. Some are yellow, but most are the usual orange butterfly weed. The only problem with this one is milkweed bugs, and there are lots of them. These are the orange and black stinkbug-looking creatures that eat the plant faster than the monarch caterpillars! We've been able to keep them in check so far.
~ Daisies & Black-eyed Susans ~
We have both annual and perennial daisies. I'll discuss the perennial ones here. After having trouble getting potted shasta daisies to adapt to our yard, we decided to start some from seed. The operation was a success , and we have a large number of dwarf shasta daisy "clumps" (for lack of a better word), and they bloom beautifully. These are under the bottlebrush tree. Each clump is now made up of 4 or 5 clumps. We should be dividing them, but they look so content there that we don't plan on dividing them any time soon. We also have clumps of black-eyed susans.
~ Wedelia ~
We planted wedelia after nothing would grow under the bottlebrush tree. It was generously given to us through a mail exchange. This is a spreading (and I do mean "spreading") perennial that has yellow daisy-like flowers . These blend in very nicely next to the daisies. Wedelia is a plant that will grow anywhere, tolerates droughts, floods, good or poor soil, it doesn't matter. It can live anywhere. Nowadays, we have a mound of wedelia , about a foot tall, which spreads everywhere. We've also planted some under the crape myrtles, where it's hard to plant anything else. It forms a beautiful green and gold carpet.
~ Showy Crotalaria ~
Now, this plant could be classified as an annual, but since it reseeds freely, I'll consider it a perennial. This is a weed that started appearing in the vegetable garden a few years ago. We had dozens of them pop up at once. Since then, we've had a number of plants come back each year. Turns out I finally found the name of this plant in a book, and its latin name is 'Crotalaria Spectabilis'. It is a very tall (7 ft.) plant (although it starts out small) with stalks of beautiful pea-like yellow flowers in July/August. The light green leaves are particularly attractive too. The plant fruits which results in pea-like seedpods, which turn black. The pods (which rattle when you shake them) contain little black seeds.
~ Philippine Violet ~
I'm very excited about this one, as I finally found the name of this flower we've have for a couple of years now (which we received from a friend at work). What we have here is a bunch of Philippine Violets, a plant native to India. They have lovely white or purple flowers on erect plants that can easily reach 4 ft. in height. Philippine Violets are sensitive to frost, and usually die to the ground. However, it is very easy to root cuttings (just cut a piece and stick it in water, and wait for it to root), so we should be able to keep them growing year after year...
~ Nemesia ~
The first one we had was called Nemesia Fruiticans 'Compact Innocence', about 12 in. tall with lots of white tiny little flowers with yellow centers that smell like lily-of-the-valley. Hard to find in stores (if you find one, make sure it's fragrant; not all are), but well worth the search. Does better in cool weather and has a hard time surviving our boiling sun. We've also had one called 'Vanilla Sachet', which had the same lovely fragrance.
~ Miscellaneous Annuals ~
We often use different annuals from year to year, depending on what we can find in stores. I guess you could say they're "impulse buys". Aside from the flowers I've already listed, we've had these over the years:
Winter: pansies, celosia, and snapdragons
Spring: California poppies, red poppies, Drummond phlox
Summer: marigolds, new guinea impatiens, dianthus (the regular kind plus dwarf ones, and carnations), cosmos (red, purple), blue salvia (your regular tall salvia, with very delicate blue/dark purple flowers, on very tall, skinny stems), and annual daisies [purple African daisies (osteospermum), bright yellow Marguerite daisies (argyrantemum), Swan River daisies (tiny, with lavender petals), and Dahlberg daisies (which reappear whenever)]. Also, although this is technically a weed, here's a plant that appeared out of nowhere this summer and which, I found out, is called 'Sida Cordifolia'. It does have cute little flowers, so I though I'd include it here.
The first thing that comes to mind when you mention bulbs is tulips, daffodils and crocuses. Unfortunately, we can't have these here (see our experiments below), so we've decided to stick with tropical bulbs instead. They're obviously not the same (I still miss tulips and daffodils), but then again, northerners can't enjoy cannas, and I think if I ever had to move up north, I would miss them.
~ Canna ~
The most successful bulbs we have are giant cannas, which are of course tropical [red-orange | close-up | red]. I particularly like the way the flowers start out. They have been coming back year after year, and multiplying on their own, which is nice. They usually have no problem coming back after a freeze, but if the freezes are hard enough and tend to last, a few of them may not make it. It's still fairly rare, though. The latest ones we got were "Pretoria" cannas, which have variegated leaves and orange blooms. We also have some yellow ones. The only problem we have with these bulbs is caterpillars. Since it's either the cannas or the caterpillars, we decided to manually eradicate the caterpillars (which do not turn into butterflies, incidentally). Cannas are some of my favorite flowers. They're very tall (close to 5 feet), have large-size blooms that are very striking, and large, tropical leaves. They do have a tendency to move underground, and they mainly migrate south. Every few years, we dig up the canna bed, and re-position them. One thing I've learned is that you can't know for sure when you buy cannas what you'll end up with. I recently bought "dwarf" Lucifer cannas. They turned out to be the *tallest* ones I have at around 7 ft. !!! Oh well, so much for "dwarf"... ;-) The cannas' bed is located right next to the tecoma, which provide a nice backdrop for the cannas.
~ Gladiolus ~
In addition, we have planted good quality gladiolus bulbs. They come back year after year, but tend to move underground, so it's hard to know exactly where they'll pop up! In 2003, we decided to put an end to this migration. We dug up as many of the bulbs as we could find, and confined them to 2 areas of one bed. Hopefully, they'll like it and decide to stay. ;-) On this picture , the 2 gladioli are from our garden (the daisy too), the rest is from the florist ;-) Here's another view. Now, one problem we have with growing gladioli in Florida, is that they don't stay upright. Instead, the fall and grow horizontally on the ground, but the flower they produce grows of course upright, so that there's right angle between the stalk and the flower. Interesting... I assume it's because our soil is sandy, so it doesn't exactly hold the bulb straight. As soon as the plant is mature, its weight pulls it down. We never had this problem in Europe, where we had clay soil.
~ Heliconia and Peace Lily ~
We've tried heliconia, but they didn't do as well as cannas... much less spectacular, and they didn't come back after the last freeze in early 2001. The blooms were orange-red. When they're beginning to unfold, the flowers kind of look like cranes with their beaks looking up... We also have a peace lily in a shaded part of the garden.
~ Other "Northern" Bulbs ~
Ah, daffodils, freesias, hyacinths, tulips... We've tried just about everything with these, short of moving up north. ;-) In late 2002, we put them in the freezer for a few months (so they could get the chilling they need). Planting them in late winter, we waited to see what would happen. What the squirrels left alone, was disappointing to say the least. We got a few hyacinths, but their growth was stunted by warm weather, so that they had very short stems. A few of the tulips came out but looked awful. We had no crocuses... So much for that. The only other bulbs that do well here are day lilies. Those are very nice, but we have to plant new ones each year because they don't reappear year after year like they're supposed to. I guess they're really "annuals" here...
I love vines. They are some of my favorite plants because they are usually very vigorous and bloom abundantly.
~ Passion Vine (P. Incarnata) ~
My personal favorite is our passiflora (passion vine), which has been growing so quickly that we've had to cut it back every few weeks to keep it from invading our entire garden! What's more, we have passionvine shoots that keep popping up all over our yard ... in the other flower beds, in the grass, sometimes yards away from the original location ... It's really a weed native to this area. And a beautiful weed it is... It has beautiful purple blossoms that have a somewhat aromatic fragrance, and it also attracts butterflies: most often Gulf Fritillaries, but also Zebra Longwings on occasion [leaves close-up | flower close-up]. Passionvine happens to be the larval and caterpillar plant for these two species. Fortunately, the plant has enough growth to support hundreds of caterpillars! Wild passionvine will freeze to the ground around 30°F, but will easily come back in the Spring. Within 2 months in the Spring, it has the fence covered again.
~ Bougainvillea ~
Ah, the lovely "paper" flowers of the bougainvillea . This is truly one of the gems in our garden (and my mom's favorite plant). Now, the only problem with the bougainvillea is that it needs several months of dry, warm weather to bloom. Our problem, outside of the fact that Florida has warm, wet summers (although it rarely rains for hours on end), is that our bougainvilleas also freeze to the ground every winter, so that by the time they get to be big enough to bloom, it's already summer time, and time for summer rains. Fortunately (in a sense), we do have droughts sometimes, and when we do, the bougainvillea start blooming. The most gorgeous fuschia color you've ever seen! And now that the bougs are starting to fall over themselves (they basically "hang" from the fence - you can't really train them, they just refuse to bloom if they're tied), the top branches arch over the lower ones, and they keep the roots dry. Now, if only they didn't have those sharp thorns...
~ Black-Eyed Susan Vine ~
This vine is fairly new in our garden. We added it in the summer of 2002. It grows extremely fast and produces an abundance of yellow blooms, about 2" across with a black throat. It's just beautiful. Leaves are rather big and light green. We plan to add more of these soon. It made it through the summer just fine, and after looking slighly damaged by repeated freezes (although it never died), it just started growing again. Now, it's just a big monster. It's already gone up to the roof and down again several times within a couple of months into the growing season. Pruning it has apparently not slowed it down. I think next winter, we'll prune it drastically, maybe to a foot from the ground. Maybe that'll help... This one is on the back (southern) wall of the house, where it's a little shaded by the roof overhang. It's still mostly sunny though.
~ Cape Honeysuckle ~
This is a beautiful plant, native to Cape Town, with lots of bunches of orange flowers (1, 2 , 3, 4, 5). This one's not really a vine, but it's not really a tree either. I guess you could call it a "vining shrub" or a "shubby vine"... And it's another one of our "overgrown" plants. It has reached over 10 feet in height, and that's because we've kept it from growing any taller. The problem is that, as the plant grows, it roots along the way. Every time a piece of wood grows near the ground, it roots and then continues on, so that we end up with more than one plant. That makes the job of pruning it even more difficult. But it gives us beautiful orange blossoms in spring and fall. It stops blooming when it gets hotter. I've also noticed that it is not at all affected by droughts or excessive amounts of water. And although it slows down in the winter, it is pretty cold tolerant and when it freezes to the ground (as it does almost every winter), it is very quick to grow back. We have pruned this one drastically every year, but it was still damaging the fence (all right, so we did plant it too close!), so we moved it to the area where the grapevines used to be. We'll eventually build a wooden "cage" around it as support.
~ Allamanda, Mandevilla, and Clematis ~
Some of the other vines in our garden are a Brown Bud Allamanda which has the most beautiful creamy yellow flowers, a pink Mandevilla (Alice DuPont), and a Clematis [another view | yet another view| flower close-up]. The barely-opened flowers have quite a distinctive shape, as you can see on this picture. The allamanda is very cold-sensitive. We almost lose it every winter... This one's leaning against the wooden fence. Not sure if we'll keep buying it... Mandevilla is a bulb, and therefore comes back every Spring. But it won't bloom unless it gets sun, so we've had to move it recently because the crape myrtles were providing too much shade. It is still leaning against the fence as well. It was just getting used to its new home when it froze to the ground. I think it'll come back though. Our clematis is growing stronger every year, and increasing its blooms too! This one's growing on the garden arch, but it's nowhere near the top yet... Its roots are shaded by the milkweed.
~ Wild Allamanda (Urechites Lutea) ~
In 1999, we planted a Urechites Lutea, which is a wild allamanda with smaller flowers than the brown bud. In contrast with the brown bud, it twines around almost anything. It is very flexible, whereas the Brown Bud we have is very stiff. Brown Bud Allamanda has robust, thick, woody stems that can't really be trained at all. Also, instead of having 4 leaves at each junction, the Urechites has only 2. Finally, if you look closely, you'll find out that the Brown Bud has no visible pistil, whereas the Urechites does. Two factors however have resulted in the removal of this plant: 1) Caterpillars on this plant have been a major problem (they're the infamous oleander caterpillars - we checked: same moth, same eggs, same larvae, and same ugly, hairy orange caterpillars). So much so that actually gave up killing them. It was a losing battle. The plant was infested with them. And 2) It is even more cold-sensitive than the regular allamanda. We replanted it a couple of times after it had died, but even when it made it, it took more than 6 months to grow back from the roots. We eventually gave up and removed it.
~ Creeping Fig (Ficus Pumila) ~
This is a plant that we have growing on a high wall on the east side of the house. It is very invasive, and has to be controlled periodically. Now, if you're looking to cover a wall, this is probably your best bet. From afar, it looks like ivy. It starts out really small (and kinda cute), but it quickly grows into a monster with huge leaves, and it clings to everything! Needless to say, we weren't aware of that... You can see young creeping fig in front in this picture.
~ Southern Bleeding Heart Vine (Glory Bower) ~
This is not your regular northern bleeding heart vine (dicentra spectabilis). This particular vine, clerodendrum thomsoniae, also called "Glory Bower", has lovely white and red flowers, that look a lot less like bleeding hearts than the northern variety. The one we have was given to us (again) by a colleague at work. We planted this one next to the fence and the garden hose. It is very strong, with beautiful dark green, glossy leaves, but it does need support, as it is fairly thin-stemmed. It's already bloomed a few times. This one freezes to the ground, and may not always come back, so be sure to take cuttings before the first freeze.
~ Jasmine & Morning Glories ~
Our neighbor's vines luckily hang on our side of the fence, so that we get Carolina Jessamine, which has lovely yellow trumpet flowers, confederate jasmine (the numerous flowers have a strong, but exquisite, fragrance!) [flower close-up | mound of jasmine], and night-blooming jasmine (Cestrum Nocturnum), whose thousands of flowers open only at night, and have a very strong fragrance, perhaps a little too strong. Fortunately for us, the confederate jasmine's fragrance tends to offset that of the night-blooming jasmine. All of these vines almost reach the ground on our side of the fence. I hate to imagine what would happen if the fence had to be replaced! They also have a variegated jasmine hanging over the fence near the back of our backyard. Same flowers as the regular confederate jasmine (same fragrance too!), but variegated leaves.
Most years, we plant morning glories but they tend to be invasive. They are beautiful plants, though. They have huge leaves and lots of flowers that unfortunately only remain open in the morning. Not my time of day!...
~ Trumpet Vine (Campsis Radicans) ~
Fairly recently, we were given a red trumpet vine (Campsis Radicans), which, judging by the leaves alone, looks almost exactly like Cape Honeysukle. The flowers, however, are completely different, and so is the growth habit. It has huge (and I mean huge) red tubular flowers which butterflies love, and it is a true vine which climbs the fence with "suction cups" and twines around posts. It is quite a bit woody, though. This thing spreads underground by its very powerful roots. Therefore, it is very invasive, and we try to keep it in check. Otherwise, it would gladly colonize the entire garden... We've found it in adjacent beds, and even after removing the entire root (believe me, we checked), it still came back like nothing happened. It's growing on the fence, but the roots are in the cannas bed.
~ Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera) ~
At a plant sale called "GreenFest", held at the University of Tampa, we acquired one more vine, Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera). The lonicera is climbing the other side of the arch (opposite the clematis). It gets beautiful hanging, tubular, red flower clusters. This one doesn't seem to freeze, and apparently, it even likes hot weather. It blooms in the Spring.
~ Hibiscus (& Other Mallows) ~
I love hibiscus because, even from a distance, you can't miss the flowers. The plants we have vary from year to year, depending on the freezes and whether we can recover the plants or not. Hibiscuses we've had over the years: our first one called President -- we still have this one, a pink hibiscus called Painted Lady -- we also have this one still, but just barely, a white hibiscus (close-up of flower | another close-up) -- which was hard hit after last winter's freezes, and three orange hibiscuses, one of which is still with us. One of the orange ones had gorgeous orange flowers. The last one I'll mention is the newest addition to our hibiscus family: a double-flowered light pink/white hibiscus, which seems to be doing OK for now. We really should've planted them closer to the house where they probably wouldn't freeze. Oh well... Our neighbor has a beautiful variegated hibiscus with drooping red flowers. Something closely related to the hibiscus is our new lavatera (mallow family) which we acquired in 2002. It's been doing well, but as it's its first year, it's still growing and getting stronger.
~ Azaleas ~
In front of our den, we have a lot of fuschia azaleas that tend to form almost a hedge. They're about 4 ft. high. They're especially lovely when they're in bloom, which occurs in March. At that time, they're covered with blooms that you can see from quite a distance away. They're just magnificent! What a pity... they only last a few weeks!! I wish they could bloom all year long. We also have dwarf azaleas in the back (some white, some pink, and some salmon).
~ Forsythia ~
I must say I've never seen a shrub grow as fast. We have 2 forsythia bushes, and they grow about 3 feet every month. If you're visualizing this in your head, that's a lot of wood. We ended up with woody vines rather than"compact shrubs". Imagine if we had fertilized them! Not wanting to prune them because they're about to bloom, you can imagine we have some trouble keeping the plants in check before we can prune them. It usually requires a lot of string and support, but they bloom beautifully. They're just not "compact shrubs" ;-) Of course, after growing at top speed for this many years, their lifespan has been considerably reduced. We think the forsythias have just about lived their useful lives. One already looks dead, and the other seems to be going the same route...
~ Philodendron Burgundy (P. Erubescens) ~
This one is my personal favorites. I'm also the only one who likes it. It is a magnificent plant, with green leaves, which makes a wonderful cornerstone for our little lanai garden. Leaf sheaths and stems are a deep red. When the leaves are new, they're also a beautiful red, then they unfurl and turn green progressively. Nowadays, we're very careful about covering it when the temperature gets down to around 35ºF. At that temperature, it tends to get damaged pretty badly. Lately, it's been growing so much that it overgrew all of its supports. In 2000, we finally pruned it rather drastically, and gave it a new, bolted wooden frame that's going to be indestructible. Now, we did get a few branches torn from the plant. What could we possibly do with them? Well, cuttings, of course... I had already made a few "voluntary" cuttings before, so I quickly planted those torn branches in pots, according to the instructions I had been given on the Garden Web Tropicals forum. In April of 1999, I had already planted 2 cuttings I'd made. This time, I made 8 new plants! The mother plant is in full sun. The 2 cuttings are in full shade. Nowadays, I make cuttings from time to time. This plant, in case you're wondering, does produce a few flowers/fruit occasionally. They do look rather odd, though... I've only seen two on my plant so far.
~ Red Leaf Hibiscus or False Roselle (H. Acetosella) ~
Now I know that's what it's called ;-). At first I thought it was a Hibiscus Sabdariffa or Roselle (Cranberry) Hibiscus. Well, it turns out that it's not... it's a False Roselle (Hibiscus Acetosella). They look very similar, but the False Roselle has ribbed calyxes, and the fruits never mature. Also, it has maple-like leaves. I don't particularly care for this plant, but everyone else seems to think it's beautiful, so we keep it. I agree that the flowers tend to resemble hibiscus flowers, but they're definitely not as pretty. Anyway, this thing looks innocent at first, but can quickly become a 10-ft. monster. This is also a plant that replants itself without asking permission! The simple act of walking the pruned branches to the garbage can, can result in the proliferation of little seedlings all across the route you took to get to the garbage can! It can also live among rocks or in concrete driveways!! I will note that the plant on the picture is a mature plant that is quite old, and therefore, the leaves are darker. When the leaves are young, they are burgundy. As they age, they become darker and greyer. And as the plant grows tall (too tall), the woody stem tends to break. This thing usually freezes to the ground, so it's good pruning.
~ Red Tip (Photinia Fraserii) ~
I won't mention much on this, but we used to have, until recently, 4 Red Tips, those hedge-type shrubs that get red tips when their leaves are new. They do get rather big, but they're pretty when they're bushy. Unfortunately, there's always one of the four that looks 'sickly'... and it's not always the same one, it varies from year to year. Sadly, they were getting big, had to be pruned often, and were getting very close to the lanai, so we decided to take them out. They were given to a friend of ours who will take good care of them and give them plenty of space. ;-)
~ Buddleia (Butterfly Bush) ~
We replaced our butterfly bush in 2000. The previous 2 buddleias we'd had in the past had both died mysteriously. This time, we planted our new bush in a different spot. It gets part shade in the morning and in the afternoon, being right against the southern fence. It seems to love that spot, and rewards us with beautiful, fragrant blooms. The butterflies are happy too. This thing is a butterfly magnet! :-)
~ Plumbago ~
One of my favorites, and a 2000 addition. Plumbago is a mounding shrub that spreads horizontally rather than vertically. When in bloom, it is covered with delicate, sky blue flowers. It is just beautiful... This one was given to us by a colleague at work. :-) It is native to Cape Town. It freezes in part each winter, but usually recovers very well.
~ Firebush (Hamelia Patens) ~
Another addition in 2000. This is a beautiful, compact shrub (the kind that has the perfect shape you see in magazines). During its growing season, it reaches about 7 ft. but it is incredibly cold-sensitive. Without cover, it will freeze completely. Still, it usually grows back. It's really quite amazing because after a hard freeze, there's really nothing left, not even the slightest little green shoot. I'm always amazed that it can come back from that! It produces an abundance of dark orange tubular flowers.
~ Mexican Heather ~
OK, last 2000 addition. This is just one of those little plants that look so pretty at the garden store, you've gotta get one. ;-) They have tiny purple flowers. We've got 3 of these, and we planted 2 next to the passionvine's roots. Then one rooted outside the flower bed, so we moved it next to the garden arch. These look cute and small, but they grow quite large.
~ Hydrangea and Lilac ~
Unlike the forsythia, the hydrangea has been growing perfectly according to the catalog. It's perfectly bushy and compact, and it blooms for long periods of time with enormous blue flowers, turning slighly pink before they die. The hydrangea and forsythia are on the west side of the house so they get some shade. We also have a lilac on the east side. It's still alive but not really doing much. We know we'll never get blooms. (it's only supposed to survive down to zone 8 - we're zone 9). To help it with the temperature, we planted it in a part-shade area. Too bad we don't get the lovely fragrance.
~ Porterweed ~
This is a lovely plant, which certainly deserves a much better name than "weed". It is rather large, bushy, and in the mint family. It has tall, green spires, with little delicate dark blue, almost purple flowers that grow in the middle of the spire. Some have dull red flowers. As soon as it rains, all the flowers fall to the ground below. Makes a great accent plant, and a beautiful back drop for vincas, or combined with false roselle hibiscus. We bought it at the USF Botanical Garden in 2000. And it even attracts butterflies! The only problem is that it is cold-sensitive, so it usually dies in the winter. The blue-flowered kind we had died entirely, so we replaced it with a red one that died the following year. Right now, we have another blue one.
~ Gardenia and Roses ~
Two other bushes we pay no attention to. The gardenia bush is located near the bottlebrush tree, in the front yard. Doing well overall, but I don't particularly care for the fragrance myself. Roses are in the backyard. We don't really care for them at all, and don't even know what they're called anymore, and yet, they're doing pretty well. This year, they've been blooming very nicely. Oddly enough, the only roses that have survived over the years are the pink ones, so that after planting red, pink, and even yellow roses, we ended up with 4 pink rose bushes. We sometimes cut them and bring them inside so we can enjoy their fragrance all day long.
~ Nandina ~
I recently found the name of this plant in a book, finally. This is a plant that was part of the original landscaping of our house. We have 3 of these. They are very upright shrubs, with leaves that are green and glossy, turning a little red in the Fall. But by far the most distinctive feature of this plant is its hundreds of bright red berries. They are lovely, but apparently, birds don't like them. I guess they're probably toxic. Such a pity that those things are wasted...
~ Jatropha ~
This is a cutting I got from work (no, I don't work in a botanical garden LOL). We just planted this one in 2002, in a corner of our property. This thing grows incredibly slowly. Still, it's a beautiful shrub that produces little red flowers. Very pretty. The leaves are kind of unusually shaped. I've heard this plant referred to a "Coral Plant".
~ Yellow-Elder (Tecoma) ~
We recently acquired a Yellow-Elder at GreenFest, held at the University of Tampa. Yellow-Elder (aka Tecoma or Yellow Trumpet Vine) is a shrub which gets the most beautiful clusters of yellow tubular flower. It dies to the ground in the winter, but quickly grows back in the spring. We've had it grow to over 7 ft. in the little time we've had it, and even spread over the garden arch next to it. It's planted where the Cape Honeysuckle used to be. Remember, we took out the Cape Honeysuckle because it was too big for the space. Let's hope this one isn't...
Our trees include an laurel oak tree in front of our den, a bottlebrush tree
(Callistemon Viminalis), which is not doing too well (it was blooming a few years ago), lots of oleanders, crape myrtles, some palms and a firethorn.
~ Crape Myrtles ~
We have 2 crape myrtles, that have been giving us a wonderful show of pink
flowers every year. We prune them back every winter. In the Spring, as soon as the weather gets warmer, they start growing back. At first, it's a few tentative leaves... but pretty soon, the vigorous growth starts and it ends in bunches of pink blossoms [another view]. It's especially beautiful when they arch gracefully, like the garden arch in the background... Wouldn't miss that for the world. :-)
~ Oleanders ~
We have about 18 oleanders, in a line formation (with a few exceptions). We just prune them
back before spring starts. When they're fully grown, they reach anywhere from 8 to 10 feet. We use them to camouflage the fence on the west side of the yard. They're beautiful when gorged with flowers. Even
though we bought them thinking they were all the same, some ended up with light pink flowers,
while others had dark, almost fuschia flowers. We prune them hard every few years. Only one problem... caterpillars! Oleander caterpillars are orange with black tufts. They're really ugly and there are usually hundreds of them on our plants. At first, we started spraying them. But that turned out to be very time-consuming and moderately effective. So we turned to "manual elimination". We hand-pick them with tweezers, and throw them into a bucket
of soapy water. They die almost instantly. This is much more effective but as time-consuming as the other way. So, until we find another way of dealing with this, we'll continue to pick them this way and enjoy the plants' beautiful blossoms. Let me note that oleander caterpillars are different from gulf fritillary caterpillars, although they can be hard to tell apart
at first. The oleander caterpillars have hairy, black tufts, whereas gulf fritillary caterpillars have black spikes that are not hairy.
Now, the only other problem we've had with these was that we planted them too close to other plants. With the idea that plants take 20 years to reach a few feet (European thinking I admit), we planted them right next to our fruit trees. When these grew too big, we had to move some of our oleanders. We moved one that was next to the japanese plum and one that was next to the fig tree. They're now both against the southern fence and doing well. We weren't sure that mature oleanders would transplant well, but we've been pleasantly surprised. It took them a while to grow back, but they're blooming now. :-)
~ Palms and Cycads ~
A few years back, we planted a palm tree we got in a "get a free palm tree"
offer. I think it is a Majesty Palm, but I'm not sure. After we thought it
had died in a freeze, we bought another palm (same one but much bigger) and
when we came to plant it in the other one's place, we noticed that the old
one was alive. So we planted the new one next to the old one. They were both
doing well until the next freeze came around, and the next one... In short,
the older one disappeared, and the new one is still around. I'm wondering how it made it through all those freezes... These things are very cold-sensitive.
Then, we have this plant near the front door, which I always thought was a
bamboo, but kind of looked like a palm too... Well, it turns out that it's a bamboo palm
(Chamaedorea sp. - probably C. Microspadix). Now, there are quite a few other bamboo "pups"
(they kinda look like the banana
pups) popping up here and there. This is a very lovely plant.
As for cycads, we've always had 3 (they came with the house). "Cycads" are
not actually palms. They're often confused with palms, but they're actually
not from the palm family. In fact, they're often referred to as "false palm
trees". The 3 we have are King Sago "palms", and they
have very sturdy, pointy and very sharp fronds. The young palms are very soft, and can be touched without risking lacerations. ;-) The new fronds grow and become as sturdy as the old ones. Now, removing the 'pups' growing on sago's side can be a
difficult proposition... Be prepared to be injured in the process. ;-) Our main problem now is that they are growing taller every year. They're now forming a trunk, which honestly is not particularly attractive. We'll have to remove them eventually. Just not sure when. I think we still have a few years to go before they start obstructing the view.
~ Pyracantha (Firethorn) ~
For lack of a better term, I'll refer to this 'thing' as a tree. This is the
kind of tree that if you have it, you know it. You can't miss it... It can
grow incredibly tall (with a very thick, very strong trunk), and it doesn't
have a very neat appearance. Rather, it's more of a sprawling shrub, with
little glossy, dark green leaves... It has very sharp thorns (hence its
name), and in the spring, it is literally covered with little red berries
that birds absolutely love!! Our mockingbirds are
convinced that the tree (with all its berries) is theirs... And they even used to attack our cat when she got too close! We've tried to keep this "tree" in check by severely pruning it, but it's so strong, and so sharp, that it's a
very tough job. And it grows so fast that, by the time we want to prune it, it's already very large. Still, if the birds like it, ... :-)
~ Golden Shower Tree ~
OK, this one's actually not in our yard, but there are several golden shower trees in our area (including one we can see from our backyard, hence the pics), and they're just the most beautiful, interesting trees you've ever seen. They start out with bright gold flowers, which are then followed by pink pods. The trees look yellow from afar at first, then they look totally pink. In between, they have a mix of yellow flowers and pink pods together on the same tree.
Here, we have, on one hand, the "tropical" fruit trees and on the other, the
"European" or "Northern" varieties.
~ Papaya ~
Over the years, we've had several papayas (carica papaya), the main reason being that they get killed by frost every year or couple of years... We've had some in the past reach more 15 feet in height (the photo on the left is old). We got some good crops from some of them, and were able to save the seeds from the last crop we had a few years ago. Since then, we've been growing new papaya from seed almost every year, unless we can somehow save part of the tree ("herb", actually). Sometimes, they can look quite unusual after a freeze, such as this one, which had 3 "stems". That one got 3 times as much fruit! Papayas can be either male or female, or they can be both. I've read that they can undergo a sex change after a freeze, but I have yet to see that happen... Unfortunately, until now, all the seeds we've planted have given us wonderful plants, but they were all male...
~ Citrus ~
Our citrus trees include a Navel orange, a
Murcott tangerine, and a Meyer lemon. Young citrus have a tendency to get killed by
frost, so we've had to replace our original orange tree with a new one in
1997 (I think). It had partially frozen, and started growing below the
graft, with means that it just goes back to the original rootstock, an
unedible sour orange. All citrus are grafted. Still, we couldn't part with
it, so we planted it in the back where it just grows leaves and unedible
fruit. The new (in a manner of speaking) orange tree is doing very well. It
is about 9 ft. tall, and it's very wide. For a few years now, we've had
excellent crops (literally hundreds of huge oranges). They are excellent,
but are better used for juice, since the pulp is somewhat thick. All winter
long, we can enjoy freshly-squeezed orange juice. No need to add sugar, it's
just perfect coming from the tree. :-) While we're still picking oranges
off the tree, it's already starting to develop thousands of white flowers that look like tiny, little eggs when they're not open yet, and then hundreds of tiny oranges.
The flowers have a delightful fragrance, like all citrus.
The tangerine tree is also doing very
well. It does have an odd shape, but it's also been producing bumper crops
for a few years. Each year now, we have several hundred fruits. Our neighbor, on the other hand, had lemons and
grapefruits. In 2000, they decided to cut down their lemon tree, whose
branches were hanging on our side... That's when we decided to buy a lemon
tree for ourselves. We bought a Meyer lemon in 2001. The 2 lemons that were
on it were good to eat already, and since it's been in the ground, it's been
blooming like crazy. It is literally covered with flowers.
It's interesting to note that lemon flowers are white and purple whereas other citrus', such
as grapefruits' are white. Also, Florida lemons do not have that distinguishable shape that supermarket
lemons have. Instead, ours are round, pretty much like oranges, and they are
sweeter than regular lemons, kind of between oranges and regular lemons. I
love lemons and put lemon juice on pretty much everything! :-)
~ Banana ~
In 2001, we bought this new regular-size tree called "Nam Wah". It gets killed to the ground in 20° weather, but it has no problem growing back. This is a beautiful, full-size banana plant, which gave us its first crop in 2003. [flower & fruit | flower | fruit | fruit ripening in our garage | ready to eat!]. We used to have a Dwarf Cavendish banana tree, the most common backyard banana here, but it kept dying every winter, or barely making it alive. We replaced this one a couple of times, but finally removed it. We did get about 20 bananas [bananas in our garage] from this tree once. Our neighbor has full-size banana trees (in between our two houses), with beautiful flowers and fruit. Theirs are actually plantains, which are used cooked, not raw.
~ Pineapple ~
First, let me mention that I don't have this one anymore. OK, now...
A few years ago, we had a pineapple that was doing great. I thought it looked exotic, so I wanted one. Unfortunately, one of those pesky creatures (probably an opossum) found it to be an excellent snack. Now, I never thought anyone or anything could go through sharp, pointy leaves like this. These leaves are like spears. Even then, once you get past the leaves, an unripe pineapple's skin is pretty tough. But obviously, anything's possible. I couldn't believe it when I saw it had been eaten. I thought: "if anything can withstand attack, a pineapple can". Boy was I wrong! Of course, when you think about an opossum's 50 or so very sharp teeth, it's no wonder our pineapple didn't have a chance! We never bought another one.
~ Grapes ~
We used to have 3 grapevines: white grapes, red grapes, and muscadine grapes. All were doing extremely well. we even got some fruit [ bunch 2]. The bunch grapes were not seedless, as we expected, but they were very sweet. The muscadine grapes, however, were not as sweet. Of course, that was only their first year. They had grown quite a lot, and were perfectly healthy. Now, normally, in the winter, they go dormant. Then, in the Spring, they come back to life, say, in April. Well, after the 1999-2000 winter, we waited for our grapes to come back, but they never did... They died for no apparent reason. These were some of the healthiest plants in the garden! The leaves were huge, the vines were growing and producing fruit; seemed like everything was going according to plan. I never thought we would lose grapevines, of all things! They're not cold-sensitive! The only explanation I can find is maybe nematodes sucking the roots... I guess we'll never know. We haven't replaced these.
~ Berries ~
We've had raspberries and blackberries for a few years now. Again, we've
replaced these a few times. They just weren't doing well here. We did replace the raspberries recently, and we've gotten a small crop of black raspberries. They were good, but awfully small. Unfortunately, the squirrels found them after a while. The good news is that they ate the berries when they were red so they didn't find them very appealing (no wonder! These berries are black when they're ripe. When red, they're unripe and sour!). Since then, they've left our berries alone. ;-)
~ Loquat (Japanese Plum)~
We are the proud owners of a beautiful (and huge) Loquat tree
which has grown tremendously since we bought it. This one cost us $3, and it
is ungrafted. It has gained a lot of strength lately, and has reached about 10-11 ft. in height. Every year, our tree gets lots of
flowers [close-up], and we've been enjoying very good harvests for a few years now. The fruit is delicious, and very sweet. The great thing is,
since it is ungrafted, it only freezes (and even then, very slightly) at
28°F or below, and even if did freeze, it's no big deal since it doesn't
have to start growing back above a graft. And I love its shape... One of the few
trees in the back yard which provides much needed shade.
~ "Northern" Trees ~
- Apple -
Our two apple trees are from the South. In fact, they're the only two
pollinating varieties that grow in Florida. They are Anna and Dorsett. Both
are about 7-8 feet tall but not very bushy yet. We recently replaced our
Anna, which had just about died. The one we bought (2002) was already in
bloom, and our Dorsett has also bloomed. Now if only they could bloom at the same time...
- Fig -
Our fig tree is about 8 feet tall now, and just as wide. We usually get good crops from
it. This is a Celeste fig tree, the most common here. The fruit is brown,
not too big, but very sweet. The tree is very healthy, and although it's a
little affected by freezes, it usually recovers just fine.
- Pear -
The first pear tree we had wasn't doing well at all. I should mention that it
wasn't meant to live in Florida. So we bought two more; trees specially
cultivated for Florida. One died mysteriously, but the other one ('Hood') is
thriving!!! We've had flowers all year, and we've
already had a small crop of delicious, juicy pears.
The flowers [another view]
themselves are beautiful too... Here, you can see the pears
still hanging from the tree.
- Apricot -
Our apricot tree is still alive, although the greater part of it has started to grow from below the graft. We do have one branch that originates above the graft. This tree is not meant to live in Florida either, and as such, is only an experiment (although we'd sure like to get some apricots!).
- Peach & Nectarine -
The last of the bunch, so to speak, are nectarine and peach trees. The
"nectarine" tree we first bought turned out to be a peach tree (we got a few
*excellent* peaches from it... yum!). I read somewhere that there is no way
to tell if it's going to be a peach tree or a nectarine tree. So we set out
to buy another one. The new tree we bought is now about 7 ft tall and is
very healthy. The "old tree" is now about 12 ft. tall! It's doing incredibly
well, it blooms all the time [flower close-up],
and we've had several small crops. We'd be able to enjoy the few peaches we get if it weren't for squirrels eating them first! We've been lucky to eat one or two peaches every couple of years... Our "new" tree isn't doing much, except for producing leaves all
- Failed Experiments -
Cherry trees just don't do well here. We found out that plum trees don't do
well either, even though one of our plum trees was supposed to make it to
zone 9. Oh well...
In the Spring, we usually plant carrots, and tomatoes. The biggest problem we get with tomatoes is tomato hornworms. When they are young, you can spray
these with organic Bt. Unfortunately, when they get big, it's too late for
spraying. You have to crush them. The hard part is spotting them. They are
the *exact* color of the tomatoes. Quite amazing. You can stare at a tomato
plant for hours and not see them. They are huge, though, and really ugly. I
should add that they are very aggressive and do not like being crushed
In the Winter, our crop consists mainly of peas, green beans, and sometimes
lettuce. Our best crop by far has been green beans. This year, we got fairly large bean crops (enough for a meal several times a week). We've also planted french "cornichons" (a kind of delicate pickle -- will let you know how those turn out. As I write this, they're pickling...), onions, and melons. Now, until recently, every time we planted melons (which would rather stay dry), with our luck, it started to rain soon afterwards, which in a sense, was good. Coming out of the dry season, it gets hot before it gets wet, and plants can easily be stressed by hot, dry weather. The solution? plant melons, and you'll get rain. If it were to fail, we'd get nice melons, so it's a win-win situation. Well, this year, we actually did get melons! We got 4 @ about 2 lb. each for the largest ones. Not too sweet but still very good. Melons from the garden! Wow, never thought that would happen... :-)
As far as herbs are concerned, we have some parsley, which we use in recipes, and sometimes, we also plant basil.
Then, we have lemon balm which we planted a couple years ago. I just love that one... simply touch it,
and you can smell its delightful lemon fragrance! In 2002, we bought catnip for our cat, but she never
liked the taste of it. She did smell it every time she walked by... (the poor thing passed away early 2003).
Over time, we've also had several lavender plants. We can usually keep those alive for a few months in the winter, but
as soon as late spring comes along, our lavender plants die due the high humidity we have here. It's just something
you have to replace every year...
At work, I have a beautiful pothos, which is doing very well (loves the low light).
At home, we used to have a zebra plant (Aphelandra) with striped leaves. By the way, this is a plant that will droop as soon as it lacks water, but when you water it, it brings its leaves back up in 15 minutes! Anyway, after producing only leaves for months
(it had bloomed once - a shrimp-plant looking yellow flower), it wasn't doing much, so we decided to prune it.
Guess what? Yep, we killed it. Then, recently, we got a dieffenbachia (dumb cane), but let's just say it's not doing very well... Somehow, we seem to be doing much better with plants outdoors than indoors.
Patio Plants (Potted)
Our patio has become a breeding ground for new plants, cuttings, transplants, seed trays, etc.
Most of the time, our counter is covered with all kinds of plants and containers. Most of these plants
will eventually be given away or planted in the garden, so only a few stay in the patio on a permanent basis.
~ Orchids ~
I was recently given some orchids, which I received through the mail. The orchids (there are 2) were just little sticks at the time, but with TLC, I'm happy to say that they've been growing steadily. I fertilize them once a week by leaving them in a bath of diluted liquid fertilizer for about 30 minutes. The rest of the time, I leave them completely dry. They seem to love this treatment! I have no idea what kind they are, but I do know that they are dendrobiums.
~ Aloes ~
Since we were given aloes (we never actually bought any), some have been multiplying by the dozen. The older ones we have (aloe vera), have not multiplied. We brought these home from work where they weren't getting enough light. The younger ones (some other species), which are a lighter green and have flatter leaves, have multiplied to the point that we have stopped dividing them... we don't know where to put them! We finally planted some of these outside, next to the banana tree, gave the others away, and kept the 2 older aloe vera in 2 large square planters. One of the large aloes actually bloomed once. A most unusual flower...
~ Gloxinia ~
The first gloxinia I had was sent to me by an fellow online gardener. It bloomed very nicely for several years, with beautiful double flowers. In late 2002, we got very busy with our small business, and completely forgot to water it. Sadly, it didn't survive... In early 2003, I decided to buy another one. We got 2 bulbs, planted them in a pot, and lo and behold! We got a number of gloxinias! In late spring, the strongest one had its first bloom. It's a deep red, single flower with a wide throat. They all seem to be doing well. We just have to keep them well watered (but not on the leaves!). I've learned over the years that gloxinia tend to play tricks on you. They'll bloom, then they'll look very sick and rotted, and then they'll just die on you (to the point that there's nothing left). Not to worry. Within a few weeks, they'll reappear out of nowhere, grow new leaves, and bloom again. Then the cycle starts all over again. Just looks like an accelerated life cycle to me...
~ Amaryllis ~
We have several of these, and they have the most gorgeous, breathtaking peach flowers! They were all given to us by a colleague at work. Since we're not really sure what they like, we try to water them regularly, but not too much. I've always been fond of peach flowers, so these are a real treat!
~ Christmas Cactus ~
We were given this Christmas cactus (close-up of flower) at Christmastime a few years ago. One year, it bloomed at Easter (the most beautiful bloom - a rich purple/pink bloom with a most unusual shape!). The next year, it bloomed right before Christmas, with a beautiful show of gorgeous flowers! Nowadays, it seems to have settled into a routine: it starts blooming right around Thanksgiving, and is usually done right before Christmas, unless the weather is really cold, in which case it can bloom until late January. It is a weeping kind of cactus, which is good, because I hate hard, spined cacti. This one is actually quite pretty, and has lovely serrated leaves. But it does need a lot of water, and it grows by appending one "leaf" at the end of another. Strange, but cute. It is just beautiful when it's blooming. In 2002, we acquired another such cactus, although the flowers are a little more red on this one.
~ Easter Cactus ~
This one is basically similar to the Christmas Cactus above, except that 1) it has scalloped edges, 2) it blooms around Easter (obviously), and 3) the flower is shaped differently (a little less complex than the Christmas Cactus). We got this one in the mail in 2002 as a single leaf, which I planted in a little pot, then repoted a while later. Since then, it's grown quite a bit, but it bloomed for the first time in 2004. What a beautiful plant!
~ Kalanchoe ~
Kalanchoe care remains a mystery to me. We currently have 4 of these (although we've certainly tried to get rid of one). Our first one is the famous "mother plant" (or plant of a thousand or other similar names - probably K. Daigremontiana - or could be K. Verticillata). It is very tall and extremely slender but also very strong. It produces a myriad of little seedlings on its leaves that then fall down into the pot and root... so that we have a large quantity of little kalanchoe seedlings in this pot. This one got so bad, we actually removed all of the seedlings, pruned the main plant severely and only kept 1 or 2 of the stems. You really have to keep it in check, or it'll invade everything. The second kalanchoe is as large as it is tall, and has long, rounded leaves. It is also quite strong, and has just started the same re-rooting procedure, but at a much slower pace. This is really weird, if you ask me... Then, we have your regular store-bought kalanchoe, which has cute little red flowers. This one is kinda cute, but I really can't say that I like the other two. Finally, there is what I thought was a jade-plant, but is actually just another kalanchoe. Its growth is very slow, and it requires very little water. It's a cute little plant with rounded, smooth leaves. Right now, it's in a pot in the patio, in full shade, and doing well. I'll be sure to post a pic of it soon, so if anyone knows what it is, feel free to email me.
~ Jade-Plant ~
The plant I had identified as a jade-plant is in fact a kalanchoe (or so I think). Therefore, I have moved it to the Kalachoe section of this page. I still don't know that kind of kalanchoe it is...
~ Malay Spinach ~
This is another plant given to us by a colleague at work. To me, this looks like a papaya. Same kind of leaves. The leaves also originate in the center of the plant, just like a papaya. On occasion, it gets tiny little white flowers in clusters, which then form perfectly round seeds. The way it gets its flowers reminds me of a jatropha. It's really odd, but I like it.
~ Oyster Plant ~
We've got 2 of these. We received our first one from a friend who went to the Florida Keys and brought it back. The other I received from people at work. Both are doing really well. They look very tropical. The first one was in bloom when we got it. It has since re-bloomed. The other one hasn't bloomed yet, but it's still young.
~ Weeping Ficus ~
Again, another plant destined (originally) for the workplace. Turns out it got kinda big fast, and it looked so pretty at home anyway that it never made it to work. ;-) It's now growing steadily.
~ Palm ~
The final plant we brought back from work because it wasn't doing well due to low light. Again, growing nicely at home in the lanai. Don't know what kind it is, but it is a small type of palm you'd grow in a pot (might be a parlor palm).
Foliage Plants & Succulents
If I had been asked whether I liked succulents or foliage plants a few years ago, my answer would have been no. The truth is, I'd never owned any such plants, so I couldn't imagine how pretty they could be. There are some pretty amazing plants in this bunch, and my garden just wouldn't be complete without them.
~ Coleus ~
We planted these in a couple of shady spots where nothing else wanted to grow.
Over the years, we've had ones with red leaves with a green border, some that were green/yellow, and some that were
green/red. Coleus is so easy to propagate... you just cut up a piece, any piece, and stick it in the ground...
and they even live in water! Can't do much easier than that! And I love their bright colors.There are more pictures of our coleus in the
Bromeliads section below... (these plants are next to one another)
~ Wandering Jew ~
Again, a plant received from a colleague at work. This is a trailing plant, with leaves that are green on top, and burgundy/purple on the underside. This one's in the shade, near the oak tree. Very lovely. It grows without any care. A bit on the invasive side...
~ Heart-Leafed Philodendron ~
This is a plant I brought back from work. It just wasn't doing well at all. I'm assuming that the low light was weakening it. Since I've brought it back, it's been doing really well. Grows next to the wandering jew.
~ Purple Queen ~
Yet another plant given to me by friends at work. This is a plant that's a dull purple. It has lovely 3-petaled pink flowers.
Also grows in shade, next to... you guessed it, the wandering jew and the heart-leafed philodendron. Very easy to root cuttings, and its purple color provides nice contrast to the everpresent green...
~ Ferns ~
We have lots of ferns (they're some of our more invasive plants). Ferns spread by a very elaborate underground root system, so once they're established, it's very hard to remove them entirely from a spot. In the sun, we have Boston ferns. These are very strong, bold ferns that can reach up to 6 ft. tall! Most of them stand upright. They do provide a good backdrop for our fountain. In the shade, we have some delicate ferns (don't know what they're called), which arch gracefully to the ground. I like those a lot better. Under the oak tree, we have 'holly ferns', which were part of the original landscaping.
~ Juniper ~
This is your basic evergreen shrub, which comes standard in most housing developments here. We have juniper around the sago palms and also next to the garage. Not much pruning needed with this one. Just be very careful when you step into the juniper because it's very rough.
~ Snake plant ~
This plant is also called "mother-in-law's tongue". This one was again given to me by a colleague at work. The original plants I got were dark green. However, the new "baby" plants are whiter, and have some green spots. I personally find these prettier. Those plants require no care at all. We just let them be. We don't feed them, don't water them, don't care for them, and yet they're doing very well. We actually have a bunch of these, and they reproduce freely. Perhaps a little too freely... ;-)
~ Bromeliads ~
All I will mention on this, is that we have a few bromeliads, in a shady area next to the snake plants and the coleus, in the most shaded area of the garden. I don't know the names of the ones we have, but I know they require a lot of water. A lack of water will weaken them, sometimes killing them. Bromeliads are succulents that feed using the calyx in the center of the plant, which receives rain water and insects. One of our species has a tall, showy red flower; the other has very tiny purple flowers right in the calyx (these are barely visible).
The latest one we got (could very well be billbergia hoelscheriana), has beautiful flowers and almost red foliage (although the leaves were green when we first got it; Since then, they've turned almost completely red). This one is still in a pot, in the lanai. This year, it's actually 6 plants rather than 1 (we've had to repot)... The problem with bromeliads is that they reproduce quite a lot and it's hard to fit them all into the same area. We've stopped dividing them due to a lack of space. The ones that are in pots are quite amazing. The flower opens up one day, and it evolves so quickly, if you come back a few hours later, it looks quite different. First there is a sheath that's quite lovely, then the flower opens some more and blue petals appear. You think this is the prettiest thing only to find out a few hours later that now, the petals open again to let a yellow pistil appear. This is just gorgeous. How exciting to see a plant evolve before your eyes within a few hours! Within a few days, the flower is no more...
~ Spironema (Callisia Fragrans) ~
Next to the bromeliads, we have spironemas (callisia fragrans), given to us by a colleague at work. Spironema has light green rosettes, kinda like bromeliads, and it spreads underground (and with runners that run above ground, too), so that we now have a whole bunch of these plants. I think they're trying to overtake the bromeliad/coleus bed... They produce yard-long spikes of tiny white flowers. Can't say they're pretty, though...
~ Bamboo ~
The plant which I thought was a bamboo, I found, is actually a palm. Therefore, it's now in the Palms & Cycads section of this page.
Our lawn is St. Augustine grass. If you're not familiar with it, St. Augustine grass is very coarse, and it's only available through plugs or in pallets. This is pretty much the only thing that will withstand hot weather. However, it tends to die temporarily in the winter when it freezes. Then it looks like hay. In the summer, you need to keep it irrigated thoroughly. This is why summer
thunderstorms are always welcome. In the winter, it is essential to have an automatic sprinkler system.
However, in this part of the state, we do have water restrictions that forbid residents from watering during the day.
St. Augustine grass isn't particularly pretty. Like I said, it's really coarse, but it does the job.
One of the biggest problems we have with our lawn, outside of weeds, is "chinch bugs". Those little pesky creatures love St. Augustine grass. It's unbelievable the damage they can do. I speak from experience. If you start to see big circles of dead grass somewhere, you know you have a problem, especially if
these circles are expanding at an alarming rate. Once the damage is done, all you can do is replace the sod. If you
don't realize you have a problem and let it happen, it's going to cost you. We had to replace nearly
1/4 of our yard because we hadn't treated it (hadn't heard of chinch bugs back then). Now, we treat it
regularly with Dursban (which also happens to kill fleas).
Now, about those weeds... Our lawn is more or less infested with weeds (as are most lawns), but we seem to have found a partial cure. After applying Scott's "Bonus S", which is specially designed to feed St. Augustine grass, we've noticed a clear improvement resulting mainly in a reduction in the number of weeds, and an overall healtier, greener lawn. The only weed it doesn't kill (unfortunately) is torpedo grass, which runs thoughout the garden (only Roundup kills that thing, and even then...). But, hey, that's an improvement!
As you can imagine, here in Florida, our soil is mostly sand, which means it's really well-drained. In some
places, we have good soil (including some good, compact sand). The sand appears when you dig a little bit. In most places though, the soil looks more like dirt. It just runs through your fingers. You can't keep it compact in your hand, and water can't penetrate it, so we have to mix it with top soil and/or cow manure to improve it. Sand has very poor nutritional value. Well, it's still better than having clay, I guess.
- Summer -
I don't think I need to tell anyone that the weather here is great. As you probably already know, it's hot and humid. Humidity levels rarely fall below 40%. In the summer, they rarely go below 80%. We get temperatures mainly in the low 90's in the summer. We rarely go over 95°F-97°F. 98°F was our record. At night, temperatures hover around 80°F-85°F. Summers here are very humid. In fact, the rainy season starts in June. Thunderstorms cool down the atmosphere about every other evening. They last about an hour, and can be quite severe. Still, everything dries quickly.
- Hurricanes -
Hurricane season is from June 1st to November 30th. Usually, though, most of the activity is concentrated around late August-September-early October. However, in Tampa, we don't get hurricanes that often. Hurricanes usually scrape the southernmost tip of Florida, move toward Texas or Central America, or turn North early and either land in North or South Carolina, or again turn North in the Atlantic and never make landfall. The west coast of Florida is somewhat protected from a direct hit (except if it comes through the Gulf, which is rather rare). Still, we're very careful about watching them evolve. We do have hurricane protection, which is basically plywood panels for windows, and aluminum panels for very large areas/sliding doors, but we don't think we'll be using it very often.
- Winter -
Our winters are dry and mild, mostly. We start getting cooler around November. We have to watch cold fronts. Usually, we see a cold front move in from the northwest. It brings a little rain ahead of it (the only rain we get in the winter), and then dry air settles in with cooler temperatures. Our winters are pretty much a succession of cold fronts with periods of dry, cool temperatures. Nowadays, we get around 5 or 6 freezes a year that last a couple of days. In these cases, temperatures go down to around 28°F. We've had years with a last freeze in early March (our average last frost date is mid-February), and with temperatures as low as 25°F (this is getting more common). You can imagine the state of our tropical plants! The winter of 2002-03 was unusual in that it was cold for a long period of time. It started in Nov. 2002 and we were in the 20s (5 nights) and 30s (including 10 nights of below-freezing temps with a record 25° again this year) for 2.5 months!!! Our "normal" winter temperatures are 60°F-70°F during the day and 40°F-50°F at night. On the following pictures, you can see frost on orange tree leaves, and a sheet of ice on the ping pong table. We usually cover cold sensitive plants, such as papaya, hibiscus, and philodendron with old sheets, blankets, towels, pillowcases, anything that's fabric. Here, you can see steam rising from the pool in the cold morning air. Every time we get below freezing early in the season, this happens. It's beautiful and eerie.
- Spring and Fall -
Our spring and fall are rather quick. We go from winter into summer quickly, and we also go from summer into winter rather quickly. Fall is a little slower than spring. After the winter is over, the temperature warms up very fast.
- Rainfall -
Florida is known as the Sunshine State, and it does live up to its name. Most of our days here are sunny, or partly cloudy. We rarely get days when it rains for hours on end. In fact, most of our precipitation comes from summer thunderstorms and tropical storms. Our annual rainfall is supposed to be 42 inches, but we often get as much as 50 inches or more. In 1996, still going for records, we had more than 55 inches! 1998 brought a dry early summer followed by record rainfall in the summer with temperatures as high as a record 98°F! 1999 on the other hand was very dry... supposedly due to a strong "La Nina" effect in the Pacific Ocean. 2000 was again extremely dry, forcing authorities to apply strict water restrictions. In fact, we had the longest drought in the spring (that I've witnessed). We thought it'd never rain again. It started to rain in June, but already in October, it stopped raining, right at the end of the rainy season. 2001 was not as dry, although the official rainfall was well below the actual rainfall. 2002 was an El Nino year, which means that the winter was wetter than usual (at least at the beginning). 2003 seems to be a normal year. Tampa is also the "Lightning Capital of the World" and in fact, we have some pretty amazing bolts of lightning here. It's very intriguing to watch, especially from a distance.
Here are a few pictures of rainbows that I hope you'll enjoy...
First, the newest rainbow, from 2001:          #1 | #2 | #3 |
#4 | #5
Next, another older rainbow, from 1999:      #1 | #2
Finally, an interesting rainbow effect:           #1 | #2
- Sunrise, Sunset... -
We go to Daylight Savings Time in early April ("spring forward" - which means 2am becomes 3am, and you lose an hour's sleep), and we go off DST at the end of October, usually around Halloween ("fall back" - we then gain an hour's sleep, as 2am becomes 1am). Being so close to the equator, our sunset times are rather similar across the seasons. In the summer, we can expect daylight until about 8:30pm. In the winter, it's around 5:30pm. I know for a fact that in Europe, daylight extends until at least 10pm or 11pm in the summer, and it's dark around 4:00pm in the winter (believe me, it gets depressing after a while). Also, sunset here is fast. The sun sets within a half hour at best, whereas in some northern places, the sun takes a few hours to set. This means that if you're busy in the garden, and you see the sun starting to set, you better hurry! ;-) Oh, and we have the most beautiful sunsets. I really can't talk about sunrise, since I'm not a morning person; I don't really pay any attention to it...