A Beautiful Combination!

When we were in NYC for a seminar, our flight got delayed for 4 hours! Fortunately we hadn't headed out to the airport yet so we spent a few hours in Bryant Park. It is beautifully landscaped with big trees that surround a large grass area. There were hundreds of people enjoying the gorgeous summer day with their families.

Most of the gardens are in the shade or partial shade so many of the same plants are used: Hostas, Astilbe, Begonias, Coleus, and Ferns. Also, there were lots of hollies and hydrangeas of every variety.

This is one combination that really caught my eye: Pink Begonias, Dark Red Coleus and Plectranthus (a type of Swedish Ivy having a yellow and green leave which is very fragrant when crushed). All in all the colors all work beautifully.

Growing Caladiums in Florida

Caladiums are great plants to use in Florida. They are grown for their leaves which come in a variety of colors of red, pink white and green. These are amazing in their spectacular color and will brighten up a boring garden.

A little about their care and maintenance. Caladiums are grown from tubers ( a type of bulb). These can be planted in late winter and early spring. The other option is to purchase them already started in pots. Last week I saw 6-packs of them in Home Depot ready to go in the garden. Now here is the most important part about being successful with Caladiums......they can't be grown in full sun!!!!! Plant them in partial shade or full shade gardens. Do not allow them to get any direct sun in the middle of the day or the leaves will burn. When planting supplement the soil with some composted cow manure or peat moss to help retain the water.

After the heat of the summer, Caladiums will die down to the ground. At that point in the Fall, you can plant a cold tolerant annual on top of the tuber. In the Spring the tuber will sprout again and give you a summer full of beautiful foliage.

Caladiums look great when mixed with Begonias and New Guinea Impatiens and Sweet Potato Vine.

Top 20 Shrub Choices in Florida

If you are a lover of unusual plants, this isn't one of them.  From years of experience I have found that it is good to have a palette of reliable plants that showcase your unusual plants.  Many unusual plants are unusual because they are hard to grow or hard to grow for Growers.  Therefore, you don't want a whole yard of high maintenance, fussy plants.  But you can have your cake and eat it too.  Utilize the tried and true varieties and showcase one or two somethings that are spectacular.

One of those staple plants is Schefflera arboricola `Trinette' or Variegated Arboricola.  The variety Trinette is a very colorful variegated yellow and green variety.  Another great characteristic is that it is slow growing and compact and works well in larger groupings.  The yellow leaves are a great contrast to reds and dark pinks such as Firespike and Dwarf Jatropha and can be used as a layering plant.  Variegated Aroricola can easily be kept at 2-3' tall and 2-3' wide or left alone with no pruning they can reach 6-8' tall and 4' wide.  They prefer sun but will tolerate dense shade. 

Maintenance: the best way to prune is to clip prune.  That's right get out your pruners and turn off the hedge trimmers.  These plants tend to shoot up uneven growth so often times just a couple cuts of more aggressive branches and you are all set.  Enjoy these plants!

Spacing Landscape Plants in Florida

How close do you plant landscape plants in Florida.  Most of my Landscape Design experience has been in New England and I have been known to plant trees and shrubs a little too close because I am really impatient for things to grow in. However in Florida I would be known as a person who plants too far apart!!  The difference in Florida's growing season is that plants grow about 9 months out of the year unlike the short growing season up North.  So you plant a cute little 6 inch Canna bulb and it is 6 feet tall and 3 feet wide in a year.  Given that information, spacing depends on the mature size of the plant- you need to research a bit.  Look how big the plant is going to get and space it accordingly.  Do not plant a tree 6" from your foundation or you WILL be sorry.

The above photo is of Ginger and Dwarf Natal Plum ( nice combination) but they are planted 2 feet apart.  Both of these plants will get 4 feet across and you will constantly have to prune them back- what a waste of plant material.  Give plants the proper space and you will reduce the money you have to spend in the beginning and you will reduce your maintenance and if you are a landscaper you will have happy clients!

Vegetable Gardening in Containers in Florida

Vegetable gardening in Florida can be a bit of a challenge.  For the most part the best season to grow vegetables is in the Fall, Winter and Spring.  The challenges that you face when you grow in containers is:  too much water, too little water, not enough drainage, disease and bugs.  You also have to choose the type of container as well as the type of soil and fertilizer.  I am going to be updating this blog as my project goes along to see if some of my choices are successful.  First I wanted to grow organically- so that creates a bit of a challenge because I have found that many of the Organic Potting Soils were rather heavy and compacted in the pots.  I bought a bag of Organic Choice Potting Soil ( and please get potting soil and not garden soil for your pots!)  and it was a bit heavy.  So......I decided to mix in the bottom half of the pot some 1/4" pea stone.  This would aerate the soil and if there was a great deal of rain my plants would not drown.  I also worked in some Espoma Plant-tone as an Organic Fertilizer.  This is one of my favorite fertilizers- I have used it in New England and sold tons of it at my nursery.  So here is a photo of my completed pots.  I have 2 cherry tomatoes and 1 Yellow Bell Pepper and I have seeded some Snap Peas and Pole Beans.  I hope my Condo Association doesn't have a rule about beans growing over my railings.

Note:  The day after planting it rained solidly for 4 days and none of the plants died so the drainage idea was a hit!  By the way you can get bags of stones at Home Depot or Lowes.  Another Advantage to adding the stones is that it gives the pots weight so the wind does not knock them over.  I live near the beach and it is a consideration.

Successful Flowers to Plant for Winter

What are successful flowers to plant in your pots for the winter?  I would have to consider myself a flower snob- when I lived up North I only planted unusual flowers, never giving way to the common.  Well, Florida is a whole different story.  The climate is so severe and pots take such a beating with the heavy rain, high humidity, bugs, etc.  Therefore the flowers that I love are the ones I can keep alive.  The Begonia Family is so reliable.  From wax begonias to Angel Wing begonia- they are hardy and bloom all throughout the winter.  Impatiens also do nicely as well as geraniums, snapdragons, blue salvia, pansies and violas.  The plants all thrive with the cool weather and it is not necessary to water them as heavily.  Stay tuned and I will give you some important information on how to plant your pots for great success- what kind of soil, fertilizer and pots.

Firespike

Looking for an unusual plant in Florida that you won't see in your neighbors yard- well here it is!  It is called Odontonema strictum or the common name is Firespike.  It will grow in zone 7-11.  I love this plant because when the flowers come out it is very striking but as the little flowers drop off the long flower stem- the stems are still red and very attractive.  Therefore you don't have to prune these plants as soon as the flowers go by.  It was voted "Plant of the Year" in 1998 by the Florida Nurserymen and Growers Association.  Any plant voted by any Nurserymen Association is usually a good choice. 

Firespike grows about 4-5' tall and the same in width.  They prefer sun to light shade. They bloom from the middle of the summer until mid winter.  It is good to cut them back severely in February.  If you are in areas of Florida that get freezes it will die back to the ground but will recover again.

I have planted them along with Ruella Purple Showers and Pinwheel Jasmine.  They also look great with pentas.  Enjoy this lovely plant!

Mexican Bluebell, Ruellisa 'Purple Showers"

This plant, also called Mexican Petunia, comes in Blue, pink and white. Most of my experience is with the purple-blue variety. It grows up to 5' tall and 3' wide but can be kept with pruning at 3' by 2'. This variety has a tendency to spread and send up new plants from the roots, but I have found that it can be controlled with regular pruning. The best place to plant it is in a contained area, such as an island bed which is surrounded by asphalt or an edged bed. Then you can just let it go. Planted in a mass these plants are a gorgeous splash of blue all summer and into the fall. They take to hard pruning so if they get too tall just hack them back to 2'. They will be flowering again shortly after.

Combine them with red canna, shrub allamanda for a beautiful combination. When combined with other plants you may have to keep up the pruning as they are aggressive for their space.

Pinwheel Jasmine

The common name of jasmine is used for a variety of plants that aren't even jasmines. Pinwheel jasmine is one of them. The botanical name is Tabernaemontana divaricata. It is also know as Butterfly Gardenia. You see how common names will get you into trouble? Anyway this is a gorgeous plant with rich green shiny leaves and white fragrant flowers. The flowers look like little pinwheels-hence the common name.

It grows well in partial shade- filtered sun throughout the day or half day of sun. The ideal size for this plant is 4-6 ' tall and 4-6 wide. It does not like to be heavily pruned or constantly hacked back as plants are in Florida. Plant it in a space that allows for this growth. If you try to keep it under 4' it will not bloom. Now, did I say that it is more fragrant at night, so plant it near a patio or deck where you can enjoy it's fragrance. My experience with this plant is that it likes slightly rich soil. I have planted it in manure enriched soil as well as topsoil. In both these cases the plant thrived. I always use an organic fertilizer twice a year.

When you try to find this plant, start by asking for Pinwheel Jasmine but bring the Botanical Name with you and your local nursery will help you.

I wanted to add a few more pictures of this beautiful plant I collected this week.  Watch out for the gnomes living under the plant.  This plant was in late afternoon sun with shade all morning and throughout the midday. You can see that it is large and more compact then the photo above.  It has plenty of room and a bit more sunlight.

Autumn Fern

I last wrote about Crotons and said how they blended nicely in a semi-shaded area with Autumn Fern or the botanical name Dryopteris erythrosora. For my friends up North (that's you Elaine) this plant grows from New England all the way to Florida. It is evergreen in the South. It is a beautiful fern that grows to approximately 2' tall. What makes it special is that it has seasonal color. The new fronds emerging in the spring are a coppery color then turn to green and then a rusty brown in the fall. They are quite drought tolerant once established in the landscape. Plant these in the partial to full shade.

Crotons

When I first came to Florida I wanted to get information on what were the best, most reliable plants to use in this harsh environment. If you are from New England, stop complaining about your environment being so tough, Florida is quite a challenge: the heat, the dryness, the downpours and flooding. So, back to my top 20 shrub choices; it is good to know what shrubs will do well without a lot of extra work. These can be used as the backbone of your planting, then you can highlight with other possibly higher maintenance plants because you just like them.

The first plant I want to talk about is the Croton. The Botanical name is Codiaeum variegatum. I will be using the Botanical/Latin names for plants because really this is the only way to accurately identify them. For some reason, you do not see the Latin name used in Florida so it provides a great deal of mystery when buying plants with questions such as, " Is this the variety that grows 10 feet tall or 2 feet tall?" Answer, ummmm, " I think it is the short one." Wow, that really gives me security.

So, the Croton is very common but there are many interesting varieties. I will have more pictures later. The most common variety, Petra Croton, grows to about 6' tall and 4' wide but can be kept at 3'x3'. They will grow in part shade to full sun. The color can fade a bit in the full sun. These plants are subject to frost damage and this past winter with temperatures dipping into the thirty's with regularity, there wasn't a leaf left on any of the plants in my neighborhood. However most came back and on some of my jobs the entire top died and they came back from the base.

These plants, once established , will survive without irrigation, just the natural Florida rains. One of the nice things about these plants is the variety of colors in the leaves. As far as landscape design, you can work off these colors and make a beautiful arrangement. They also brighten up a semi-shaded area that is composed only of green plants. In the partial shade, mix them with Autumn Ferns, Ti Plant, Variegated Ginger and in the sun, use Cannas, Allamandas, Pentas.

Begonia

Moving to Clearwater, Florida, I read about a begonia that was a perennial. Coming from cold Massachusetts, I couldn't believe there was such a thing. The height of this plant was supposed to reach 7 feet! Again I was found that hard to believe. Well, I found one . The correct name is Begonia flamingo, also known as Begonia coccinea and the common name is Pink Angelwing Begonia. I planted it in a 18" container and it grew 4 feet tall within 4 months. This is such a beautiful plant with clusters of pink drooping flowers that bloom all year. This plant requires light to medium shade and once established will takes low water. It is very easy to propagate, just cut the tips and stick them in water. I have propagated over 20 plants from this one speciman. Try this plant out-in a shady nook in the garden or a container on a shaded patio-you won't regret it.