Recipe(tried): Florida plantings

Hi Venus - I live down in SW Florida, and although we get some pretty cool weather in late Dec., Jan, and mid Feb. it's considered tropical as far as plantings go.

We moved into our house three years ago, and being an older house, all the shrubs were old and overgrown. We basically started out fresh too - pulled out all the old shrubs, made new flower areas, shrub areas, planted new trees, and hauled out the old. I can tell you from my experience what has worked and what didn't work.

Azaleas look great at Home Depot, and for the first couple of months after planting, then they DIE!! I replanted them thinking it was something I did wrong - same thing. Others have had the same experience.

Fox tail ferns grow great and are lush and furry green. Tri-color arborcolas are wonderful - they just thrive in the heat and stay thick and bushy. Indian Hawthorne does very well. Cocoplums are wonderful for small or large hedges. I like the way the new growth is red/brown against the green leaves of the body of the shrub.

Ixoras, either the standard or dwarf, do very well, but I think they're BORING - too many of them all over the place. Same thing for crotons.

My very favorite shrub is Snow on the Mountain, since it has such a wonderful variety of colors on the new growth - old growth is green, but the new growth varies from ruby red, to light pink, to white. It takes some attention and cutting back every few months in order for it to show those colors and not grow tall and leggy. It has a light, airy, Japanese feel to it - delicate.

Another type of shrub/palm is the (I think the name is something like Red Sisters?) It's a type of palm I think.

Plumbagos (those nice blue-flowered shrubs) do well, as do hibiscus, whether maintained as shrubs or as single flowering trees. Bouganvilleas do very well, but have huge barbs, and grow fast, and get out of control easily - have to agressively keep them trimmed back if you want shrubs or hedges of them.

Re: flowers - you will notice that all the entranceways to the developments feature impatiens and begonias - they love the climate. But need to be watered every few days. I found that the closer you plant them in your flower areas, the better they do - they seem to like their "feet crowded" and shaded by each other. When I've tried to save money by putting them farther apart, they don't get anywhere near as large and covered with blossoms.

All the ornamental spiky grasses do very well and are nice borders along sidewalks or drives or as edgings - Red fountain grass is nice as an accent in flower beds.

Red salvias look nice at first, but then die off. Celosias the same thing. Marigolds and geraniums die off soon, too.

Century plants are great and thrive in the heat, being a cactus type plant, but be careful of those barbs at the end of each spike - they draw blood. I also have filled in in all my flower beds with prickly pear cactus - it just grows crazy! - stick it in the ground, and forget it - before long its several feet high, with nice blooms on it several times a year. Makes a nice contrast to flowers and other shrubs.

I hope I've helped you out - feel free to ask more questions - I think I've tried them all during the last three years.

June