Adam from Winter Park

January 2007

It's been way too long since I've added a new Guest Gardner. I'm happy to introduce you to Adam who lives in Winter Park where he bought his first home in 2005. "I care very much about my landscaping," Adam reports and he sent pictures to prove it.

Pictured at right is a recently thinned graceful areca palm.

When I asked Adam what fertilizer he uses, he said, "Espoma." I'd never heard of it. But, Adam wants to garden naturally and he first noticed it at Blodgett's Nursery on Edgewater Drive. "It's non-toxic, my dog even ate some and he's OK."

To find out more, I Googled 'espoma' and found their website. If you're interested, it's at www.espoma.com. According to Adam, "it's great for the soil and won't burn your plants." He does admit, though, that when wet, it sort of activates the poo smell!!

Adam uses his sprinkler system sparingly, preferring to water by hand with a garden hose on a daily basis. He admits to having lots of "chickweeds, crabgrass and other weeds" in his yard, but he won't use any herbicides and handweeds his flower beds. Calling his weeding activity a work out, he uses a shovel to get under the root system and then breaks apart the huge scoop of earth, making sure he gets all the roots.

And, he grows spoon tomato plants. I also have never heard of spoon tomato plants. Adam said, "They are just about the smallet tomato cultivar you'll find. They ripen quickly and they don't split, like other tomatoes."

He found seeds for this tasty tidbit on eBay and now has four large plants growing in pots. "They have hundreds of garbanzo bean-sized tomatoes." Yellow spoon tomato flower pictured at right.

Adam also grows blueberries. Cultivars are Windsor and Emerald. That's Emerald's flowers pictured at left. He found his blueberries at Luka's Nursery in Winter Springs (one of my favorite places to shop).

He mentions that they are very expensive plants from the University of Florida, genetically engineered to do better in our warm and humid state. For more info on UF's blueberry expertise, check out their website edis.ifas.ufl.edu/HS215.

His third blueberry plant is Darrow's, which he got in the Wekiva area, at a friend's home near the woods. "The leaves are very small for Vaccinium, the fruit production seems to be high and the plant is drought tolerant. Never heard of Vaccinium? Not to fret. I Googled that, too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccinium.

He added that the plants grow abundantly in "sandy, acidic, well-drained soil, in sunny or partly shady spots." Adam feeds all his edibles with Espoma. He does say he has not really had a harvest yet, getting about 10 berries last year. "But, this year the yield seems to have increased by about six times."

Most of us who grow milkweed (asclepsia) (left) to attract butterflies know that this is a familiar sight.

One of my favorite methods to control this problem is to use two tablespoons of Pine Sol in a gallon of water. Mix well and spray. This is a contact spray, meaning it kills on contact.

Adam doesn't like to use herbicides and I don't always either, but I don't consider this an herbicide.

At right is a red Admiral butterfly on an echinacea or coneflower. You can find out more about echinacea here.

Also gracing the landscape is a very large camellia that came with the house. It is near two large citrus trees in sandy soil with part sun. Adam said it never get fertilizer. But, judging from the picture he sent, it doesn't look like it needs it.

Shirley from Zellwood

May 2002

Shirley lives northwest of Orlando in Zellwood, which looks to be about halfway between Apopka and Mt. Dora. She contacted me after checking out the flowers on my web site and realizing she has a couple in her garden that I can't grow because of their size.

Shirley says the white bird of paradise has "pure white flowers with a blue bract and light blue stamen." Plus, it has a slight pinkish tinge at the base of the flower. The large flowers are about 6 inches long with an 8 inch bracht and the leaves reach a good 10-12 foot in height.

The plant does best in semi-shade with good drainage. Shirley says it needs to be planted in a sheltered area in order to keep the leaves looking nice. She also said that while it is not as colorful as the orange and blue variety, it looks very tropical and resembles a banana plant, which makes sense since it is related to the traveler's palm and the bananas.

Shirley adds that her plant multiples well, but is not invasive. (I have read that to keep your plant attractive and to keep it under control, growers should keep anywhere from 3 to 5 stems growing and then remove the rest of the baby stems at ground level as soon as they surface.)

Hidden Ginger, Curcuma elata, reaches a height of 4 to 6 foot. The leaves last all summer and then die back, Shirley said. "The flowers bloom first in the spring, lasting about a month." Then the lush, dense foliage takes over and covers up the flowers, hence the name hidden ginger.

Shirley's ginger is in a south location with shade in the afternoon. The plant likes water, but not a soggy soil because it grows from a rhizome and with too much wet soil, it will rot. This plant goes dormant with a week of consistent night temperatures of 40 degrees. The plant turns bright yellow in fall/winter.

According to www.plantforlife.org, two varieties of this plant have been named as Plant of the Year for 2002. They are giant plume ginger, Curcuma elata, and hidden ginger, Curcuma zedoria.

Michelle from Cocoa

August 2001

Michelle lives across the street and it's a pleasure to look over at her home and to walk through her gardens. She plants many varieties, but roses (and blue hydrangea) are specialties of hers. Dream Weaver is one of the loveliest of pink roses. The three-inch flowers are borne in tight clusters. It makes you wonder how they all have room to open. Michelle's rose is planted next to a trellis because this variety can grow up to 10 feet. The foliage is dark green and shiny and the bloom has just a slight fragrance. If you're looking for a trouble-free climber, give Dream Weaver a try.

An accomplished carpenter, Michelle built this arbor out of freshly cut and still pliable branches. She added the Don Juan rose last December. With the wet summer we've had in Florida, her climbing roses have performed better than expected. In the picture at right, taken about six weeks ago (May 2001), the rose is just approaching the curve. Today it's grown well over the top of the arbor and down the other side. The Don Juan buds are dark red. Blossoms are borne in clusters throughout the entire season. The foliage is dark green and glossy. This rose will probably top out at about 12 feet. That will be more than enough to cover the arbor.

This lovely rose, Melody Perfumee, begins as a plum colored bud, opens to a rich lavender and then mellows to an exquisite silvery shade and reminds one of tissue paper. This is a fragrant rose with a sweet and spicey scent. The plant grows to about 30" tall and 27" wide. The good news: it's completely unaffected by blackspot no matter how wet it gets. The bad news: the rose makes up for it by being an aphid magnet.

Candelabra is a rich salmon rose that will not be ignored! It has an upright growth habit and will top out at about 4 feet. This 3- to 4-foot-tall rose produces a profuse display of four-inch, lightly scented flowers that shine against the dark green, disease resistant foliage. Candelabra blooms repeatedly throughout the summer.

Blackspot is a common problem with roses. To help prevent it, Michelle has changed her watering system so that none of the sprinklers hit the roses. (Remember I said she was a carpenter? She's also an electrician and plumber and sprinkler system expert!) Instead, she snaked a black hose around the base of the roses and waters the ground under them.

In doing some research on this problem, I found a web site that offered the following suggestion: Because blackspot is transmitted by water splash, remove leaves close to the ground (the first 6-8 inches) which are more susceptible to getting water splashed on them. Mulch well to minimize water splashing onto leaves. If a plant had a lot of blackspot the previous year, remove the old mulch in early spring, allow the area to dry and replace with clean new mulch.

You can, of course, spray for blackspot, but it requires much time and effort and you need to spray both the tops and bottoms of leaves, and you can't spray if it's too hot and you can't spray too heavily or you'll burn the leaves and...... well you get the picture. Prevention is far better.

Michelle bought all of her roses from the Jackson Perkins catalog. At the time of planting she used a time release fertilizer that she also ordered from JP. Harking back to Michelle's skills, check out this garden divider she built. She starts with either sticks in a straight row in the ground, or, as in this one, she took some political signs, stripped off the paper and ended up with a stout wire frame in the shape of an 'H'. She put three of those into the ground, then took the branches and wove them back and forth. Weaving holds the branches in place without any string or nails.

And, this little guy is going to grow up and become a gorgeous tree. Jacarandas loose their leaves in the winter time and come spring they are a huge mass of rich, purple blossoms that hang in heavy clusters. This is an ideal tree for summer shade because the sun is able to come through in the winter. Jacaranda is widely planted throughout central Florida, but it can get too large for a home landscape. Michele has four of these plants growing and she is going to give me one. I'm going to put it in a big pot and keep it patio-sized.

One last flower from Michelle's yard is the Clitoria, also called blue pea or butterfly pea. Her plant has double cerelean blue flowers as opposed to the single blossom type. This is a slender trailing or clasping vine. The flat part of the flower points toward the ground unlike most of the pea-family. The leaves are alternate, divided into 3 leaflets. This plant is usually found in the open, in dry woodlands and fields or at the edge of a pine forest. It flowers from July to August. It can be a greedy garden plant, so pruning will be a necessity.

If you want to try this plant, but can't find it, you can purchase seed from Thompson & Morgan, PO Box 1308, Jackson, NJ 08527 (800) 274-7333 (www.thompson-morgan.com), or from Park Seed, 1 Parkton Avenue, Greenwood, SC 29647 (800) 845-3369 (www.parkseed.com), depending on availability.

The seeds of this legume have a hard coat, so place them in warm water and soak overnight. Plant them in any potting soil blended for seedlings and cover the seed about 1/4 inch. Place the flat or pot in a warm location with bright light. When large enough, transplant the seedlings into 3 or 4 inch pots, then eventually plant the young plants along a fence or trellis.

Mary and Sharon from Rockledge

August 2001

Both avid gardeners, Mary and Sharon are sisters living two blocks apart in Rockledge. Mary was my tour guide through both yards.

We begin with Mary's yard, which is full of plants. She said she likes to place plants close together. This gives her gardens a massed look and is very effective. I would say that Mary has what is called a cottage garden. And, like a good cottage garden, hers includes shrubs, annuals, perennials, vines, bulbs, herbs and vegetables mixed together like a big pot of stew. Stepping stone paths walk you through her backyard. She has an outdoor chair and table under a large tree, cozily surrounded by ferns.

I love cottage gardens and I thought Mary's yards, especially the back, were marvelous with a large collection of plants growing in harmony. She has added accent pieces tucked in with the plants and hanging in the trees. “High Voltage,” (at left) is a hybrid hibiscus. This gorgeous plant has grown in her backyard since September 1997 when she found it at a hibiscus show in Vero Beach.

This pink hibiscus is a large, rooftop-tall shrub. Mary bought it at Rockledge Gardens in 1998 and she has a theory as to why this shrub grew so tall in just three short years. "I have a pond in the yard and when I first put it in, the raccoons would raid it for the feeder fish," she explained. "Once the fish grew large, the raccoons left pieces of them around, uneaten." Mary buried these pieces at the base of the hibiscus shrub. And, that's how you get a really, really tall shrub in a short amount of time!

Along one fenceline, a chocolate allamanda blooms next to a yellow one. Mary found this batch of chocolate at Ace Hardware. (It pays to walk through Ace Hardware's garden area periodically because they sometimes come up with different plants.)

This gorgeous purple flower comes with porterweed. This native plant of the tropical southeast was considered a weed for a long time. However, it has come into its own and is now found at most nurseries. Besides purple blooms, you can find coral and a bright, brilliant blue. The plant tolerates most soil conditions and blooms profusely. When fertilized, it becomes a giant in its own right. (Consider yourself warned!)

In doing research on this flower, I found that it's a wonderful addition to a butterfly garden, equal to the attraction of the buddleia. At Mary's home, it's the main stopping point for hummingbirds. "I'm sure they visit other flowers in the yard, too, but the porterweed is so tall I can see it from the porch. I notice them buzzing that plant the most."

The blooms appear on a spike that can reach a length of ten inches. The plant enjoys full sun. Propagation is easy: slip any stem node in water or perlite for two weeks. Porterweed is, however, blackened by even light frost. You might want to put this plant on your “plants to cover during a freeze warning” list.

Mary is a true gardener as the origin of this beautyberry proves: two years ago she found it as a baby under a bush at the Cocoa library! "The birds like the berries and I love the color," Mary said. Once the birds eat most of the berries, she cuts it back to about six inches tall. "It gets big and full again by late spring." Mary refers to this plant as a mulberry, though, because on a Florida data site, it is listed as a French Mulberry. And, of course, since the Cocoa library is on Mulberry Street..........

And, now we go two blocks south to Sharon's home...First, the creamy yellow frangipani, also known as plumeria. This plant originated in the Central Americas and the Islands of the Caribbean. It's now a worldwide plant due to the many gardeners who grow it. Plumeria will bloom profusely as long as it has enough sunlight, water and fertilizer. It needs at least 6 to 8 hours of direct or nearly direct sunlight to bloom strongly. Sharon's plumeria came to her yard via a cutting from a neighbor. She gave him some geraniums and he gave her the plumeria.

Sharon inherited this unusual hibiscus when she and her husband purchased their home. "It's called El Capitolio Sport," Mary said. They once entered a flower from the shrub in a hibiscus show and it won a blue ribbon. It looks like two flowers melded into one -- a base and a top knot.

The candle bush, also called cassia, is an evergreen shrub with an open branching habit and slightly rounded top that grows to six feet tall. Producing stunning bouquets of gorgeous golden yellow, it likes full sun and grows best with waterings at least every other week.

A general garden fertilizer can be applied in March, June and August to encourage growth. If you pinch the tips of young plants, you get a more compact and better branched shrub. Mary bought the mother plant of this shrub at Ace Hardware in 1997. "It makes thousands of seeds and babies come up everywhere," Mary reported. She gave one of her babies to Sharon. She planted it in full sun where it grows and flowers profusely.

When Mary trims her plants these days, she roots down the cuttings for her son and daughter who are both moving into new homes. "I hate to throw cuttings away," Mary said. "This way the kids will get some nice plants and I will give my plant babies nice homes."

Mary uses a general 6-6-6 fertilizer, but "not on a regular schedule." Sharon makes a special cocktail that they both feed to their hibiscus on the first of the month. (Mary promises to get that recipe to me so we can all share it with our hibiscus.) Sharon also has a big compost pile that she uses throughout the yard, but especially with her roses. Their residential area was once an orange grove, which probably accounts for their good soil. Mary said she has some sandy spots and some places where there are large areas of coquina rock right below the surface. "But, that's what I should expect, living in Rockledge, I guess."

8/20/01
And, here is Sharon's hibiscus cocktail:
1 part manganese sulfate
2 parts magnesium sulfate
2 parts potash
4 parts milorganite
4 parts 6-6-6 w/minors (no ammonium nitrate)
Apply 1 1/2 tsp per gallon per month.