Landscape Ideas

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community-landscape-tampa

Adding annual flowers to your landscape is a great way to bring fabulous bursts of color to your garden, even though they are usually temporary.  Annuals are seasonal plants, that are sometimes called bedding plants, and they are narrowly defined as plants that grow, and  reproduce (which means to flower) and die, with a one year time frame.  In the landscape world, then, when they are flowering, they are at the peak of their life when you buy them, and will only live for a few more months, in your garden.   Most annual plants are designed to live for 3 or 4 months after purchase, with the expectation that they will be replaced out, seasonally, with another annual of a different type, that prefers the new season.    With that in mind, adding annuals to your landscape can bring a wonderful pop of color, seasonally, with an expected rotation of changing them out 3-4 times a year, given their limited lifespan and preferred season.

Adding annuals to your landscape can bring  a wonderful and changing variation to the look of your landscape, but it is not for everyone.  While some annuals can be low maintenance and seem to free-seed and live on their own, others can require dead-heading of old seed pods and pinching back when they get leggy and spindly.  More so, most annuals have a preferred season, and do require a rotational change-out.  However, if you are willing to do the work, no matter how large or small the designated area for planting, you will rarely find the colors to add to your landscape, that annuals can bring.  They bring vibrant colors in a big way on a small scale, that no other plant can do!

If you do decide to add annuals to your landscape, here are a few tips:

  • Annuals always will need a bed of fresh potting soil to be planted in.  Do not plant them in regular Florida soils and expect success.
  • If you want to mulch your annual bed, do not mulch the annual.  Leave a 1" clearance around the stem of annuals, and only lightly mulch the soil bed, as most annuals are very sensitive to materials around their stems and can die from root rot or too-deeply planting.
  • Know the preferred season for your annuals.  Many nurseries and almost all box stores sell annuals (and vegetables) out of season.   A smart man told me recently that he simply watches for what annuals are planted at the subdivision entrances and  commercial buildings, and he follows suit.  He is absolutely right and this is an awesome way to get it right the first time.  The pros are not guessing about the right season/ right annual.
  • Some annuals are more prone to insect and fungal problems, so if you opt to select those plants that are, stay vigilant with your pest control, for ultimate success.
  • Lastly, as always, have fun with your landscaping and don't give up!   I don't believe in black thumbs, and some plants just have rules or natures that have to be followed.  Follow them! and you will be successful.

As a note, and as a landscaper, I do not install many annual beds, but when I do, this is my philosophy:

  • Keep the bed small, within 1-2 trays of plants, always in a bed of potting soil
  • I prefer a 3 time a year rotation:  Begonias in the spring, as they can handle the heat, but hate the rain; Coleus in the mid-summer as they love the rain and the heat;   Petunias in the winter, as they can handle some heat but love the cold.

There is so much to know about gardening and landscaping, and IFAS is the source.  For more information about annuals, and seasonal tables, click on this link:

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/mg319

Let's get gardening, Folks!

Donell

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St. Patrick's Day is the day that we show off our green!   We wear green, we drink green beer, and we eat cabbage....and we write Limericks to celebrate Ireland, also know as the Emerald Isle!  So, we should be talking about plants with Emerald green leaves, but instead, I am going to talk about plants with Lime foliage, my little twist on "Lime-rick"!  I know, it's a stretch, but what better day to talk about plants that bring something different to the garden?

When designing your landscape, you can add interest to the final plan by including plants with varying textures, flowers, mature height, and foliage color.  There are an endless number of plants that have various hues of green, all the way from a dark emerald green to almost a bluish-silver hue.  And, surprisingly, there are a handful of plants that offer a shade of lime green that will make your landscape pop, especially when paired with other plants that help them stand out and shine.

If you are considering adding some lime green foliage plants to your landscape design, be sure to place them next to plants that will highlight their uniqueness.  Lime green foliage can really pop when planted next to dark greens, reds, and oranges.  Conversely, it can be lost or washed out when planted next to a white or yellow house paint, or white and light colored green foliage plants.   If you are uncertain as to what will work in your plant combinations, try a few pairings at your local nursery before making your final selections.  Ultimately, you want all of your plants in your design to compliment each other, to bring out the best features of each individual plant.  As always, half of the fun of gardening is experimenting, and going bold can bring a delightful result!

Considered any of these lime green foliage plants to add to your landscape.  All of them are low maintenance and easy care plants for our Tampa landscapes:

  • Foxtail Fern, added bonus of unique texture
  • Coleus, available in many varying leaf colors with limes, yellows, and reds (in picture above)
  • Potato Vine
  • Gold Mound Duranta (in picture above, with Coleus)
  • Ti Plants, either Kiwi or Lemon-Lime varieties

So, let's get growing, Folks!  This St. Patrick's Day, let's really show of our greens.....with Lime greens!  You just can't go wrong, and you will be bringing something new to table, so to speak!

Donell

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memorial-bench

It is in our nature to commemorate the passing of our loved ones, and we do it in many different ways.  Not only do we want to share our love, respect, and reverence for those that we have lost, we want to remember them, and to be reminded of their past presence and impact that they have had on our lives.  One way to do that is to memorialize them through landscaping and landscaping concepts.  It is a lot easier than you may think.

Memorializing a passed loved one can be as simple as planting a tree in their name at a local church or county park, to adding a bench by a lake in your community.  You can even have a small stone engraved and set on a public wall, or take the same stone and cast it into the river at a place that you both loved.  You can even create a garden at your home, that will not only add to your existing landscape, but can also create a warm and comforting space for you, family and loved ones to reflect and remember your lost loved one.

A memorial garden is not intended to be a sanctuary for the dead, but instead, a living, vibrant remembrance for the living to reflect upon the life and love and presence of those that have passed.  With that in mind, I suggest that the design of the garden should be driven towards the desires of the living, with a few touches of the personality of the deceased.  It should be a place of comfort, that fills the senses of sight, sound, and smell, at least, and It should be a place of life, that commemorates the lives of those that are now gone.

The garden layout and design does not have to be grand or of large scale, it can simply be a courtyard, or a small patch of land, or even in pots on a balcony.  It needs to incorporate flowers and plants that you love, that remind you or inspire you to reflect on your loved ones, both here and gone.  Considered adding flowers that attract butterflies, or have scent, or unique foliage that glisten by either sunlight or moonlight, or whistle in the wind.  Add whimsy to your memorial garden with statues, glass globes, chimes, decorative pots, bird baths, benches,  and more.  Tailor your memorial landscape design to your unique tastes, and for those that you are memorializing.   A memorial garden is unique to only you, and it should reflect that.

As always, Let's get gardening, Folks!

Donell

 

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van-gogh-roses

Roses have been an important part of mankind's psyche and cultural mores since time memorial.  Throughout various ages, the Rose has symbolized many things to many societies, but almost universally it represented the emotions of love, peace, harmony, and unity.  Even today, the Rose remains a strong representative of mankind's better virtues, and the language of a Rose still speaks volumes, without a spoken word, through it's simple yet powerful symbolism.

Roses, and in particular the various colors of Roses, have come to represent the following sentiments:

  • Red:  deep passionate love, romance, romantic love, sacrifice
  • Pink:  grace and elegance, appreciation, enduring love that is not passionate or romantic
  • Yellow:  warmth, happiness, joy, friendship
  • White:  innocence, purity, peace, unity, remembrance

There is no better example of using Roses to exemplify their timeless symbolism for mankind than in the International World Peace Rose Gardens.  They are found in five major cities in the world:  Sacramento, Pacific Palisades CA, Mexico City, Assisi Italy, and Atlanta (the M.L. King Jr. National Historic Site).  Each garden has a specific theme that is dedicated to a concept or movement towards world peace (Atlanta's theme is "I have a Dream").  Each garden uses design and roses and color to create a message of peace, world unity, and understanding amongst us all.  In fact, their mission statement is "to advance peace and understanding amongst all the nations, cultures and religions of the world through the creation of rose gardens that become magnets for community activities".  It is a beautiful concept, worthy of the Rose itself.

To learn more, click here:

http://worldpeacerosegardens.org/

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angeltrumpet

A well designed landscape attempts to stimulate our five senses of sight, smell, touch, sound, and taste.  With that in mind, adding scented plants to create a fragrant garden can be the most surprising and rewarding of all garden design, by tickling our sense of smell.

Some plants, such as Gardenia and Roses, are universally known for their beautiful fragrance, and are added to gardens for just that reason.  Others, such as Crinum Lily and Angel's Trumpet, are not as well known, but can bring as much pleasure as their better known garden mates.  As well, most scented plants do not provide scent year-around, so to create a fragrant garden for almost all seasons, one must plant a variety of scented plants.  With that, not only will your landscape be diverse in scent and texture (touch), you will also have the added benefit of flowers (sight) and possibly taste (with herbs, like Rosemary and Mint).  As an added bonus, plants like Loquat, Citrus, and Magnolia provide a food source for birds and wildlife (sound), after their scented flowers have passed.  Why, one might even say that the beginning of a full-senses garden experience begins with scented plants!

Selecting scented plants for a fragrant garden is easier than you think.  As always, you must take into consideration the plants preferred planting sight (sun, soil, etc.) as well as it's size at maturity, and then simply begin adding them to your current landscape.  Alternatively, you can build and design your landscape around scented plants, selecting ones that bloom in different seasons.  As always, half the fun in gardening is experimenting, so just enjoy the process and no doubt, you will be amply rewarded!

Any of these easy-care scented plants would make a wonderful addition to your fragrant garden:

  • Carolina Yellow Jasmine
  • Sumbac a/k/a Arabian Jasmine
  • Confederate Jasmine
  • Night Blooming Jasmine
  • Star Jasmine
  • Anise
  • Loquat
  • Magnolia
  • Citrus, all varieties
  • Crinum Lily
  • Angel's Trumpet
  • Roses, not all varieties
  • Society Garlic (not pleasant smelling to all)
  • Butterfly Ginger
  • Tea Olive
  • Rosemary and many other herbs
  • Gardenia

All of the plants listed above are well-suited for Tampa landscapes (zone 9) and are generally drought tolerant and low maintenance.  As well, some of them provide a heavy scent, while others, a more light and subtle fragrance, providing an opportunity for all gardener's to find the perfect plant, to tickle their senses!

Let's Get Growing, Folks!

Donell

 

 

 

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bell-pepper2

Even though spring is still several weeks away, it is not too early to start preparing and planting your spring vegetable garden.  Whether you have a designated garden area established or need to create one, this is the time of year to add or freshen soil, supplement the soil with compost and fertilizer, design your garden layout, and purchase the plants (or start from seed).  Most of the vegetables that you may want to include in your spring vegetable garden will need to be planted in February and March, so it is time to get plowing!

Today's vegetable gardens have grown in concept and popularity from the days of past.  You no longer have to have rows of vegetables at the back end of your lot.  You can add them to your landscape beds, mixed in with your landscape plants,  or you can grow them in pots on the patio and in the landscape beds.  Growing your own vegetables could never be easier or more fun, just use your imagination!

Once you have determined your vegetable gardening site(s), you will need to select what you want to grow.  Most vegetables do have a preferred growing season, so to be most successful, you will need to choose what will grow best in spring for Tampa, and Central Florida.  Fortunately, there are a lot of options to choose from:

  • Beans (pole, bush, Lima)
  • Canteloupe
  • Corn
  • Cucumbers
  • Eggplant
  • Okra
  • Peppers
  • Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes
  • Squash
  • Pumpkin
  • Tomatoes
  • Turnips
  • Watermelon

So, let's get busy....time is a-wasting!  As always, Johns Palms Landscaping can help you with all or any part of the process, from free advice to set up and installation.  Just call our office at 813-493-3373.

Also, a great resource for any gardening or agriculture related topic is the Institute of Florida Agriculture Services (IFAS).  In particular, an in depth article about creating and growing your vegetable garden can be found at this link:  http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/vh021

 

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front yard garden flowers
front yard garden flowers

What exactly is a landscape ground-cover?  By all that I have ever known in my many years as a landscape designer, it defines any landscape plant that grows under 3' tall. I find that to be a confusing definition, so I am going to discuss a new definition of landscape ground-covers: landscape plants that do truly cover the ground and grow to heights of under 1' tall, more or less.

When I think of ground-cover plants, I think of potential sod substitutes, and I want a plant that will cover the ground!  With that concept in mind, there are only a handful of plants that will truly crawl or creep and eventually fill in the bare spots in your landscape.  They are:

  • Minima Jasmine (also called Dwarf Confederate Jasmine, Asiatic Jasmine):  best in full shade or part shade, variegated varieties also available
  • Ornamental Peanut, also called Perennial Peanut:  full sun only, and not deer resistant
  • Mimosa Plant:  full sun only
  • Blue Pacific Juniper:  full sun, part shade, not a true vine runner like the other 3 above

Naturally, there are other plants that will "pup" or multiply, with mature heights of one foot or less, but they will only fill in a small space and cannot be relied upon to cover large areas.  With that, while they may "qualify" as a  landscape ground-cover, they are unpredictable, at best, in their overall potential performance in the landscape, with regards to cover large areas as a sod substitute.  Beyond that, though, they are fabulous landscape plants for any home:

  • Bulbine
  • Aloe
  • Purple Queen and Wandering Jew (those are two different plants, btw)
  • Dwarf Oyster
  • Mondo and Dwarf Mondo
  • Blue Daze, Heather, Kalanchoe
  • Sedum
  • Fireball Bromeliad
  • Dwarf Mexican Petunia
  • Portulaca-Rose Moss

Ground-covers, clearly, are an awesome addition to any landscape, no matter what height the plants grow to.  However, fabulous landscape designs can only happen when we have a better understanding of what plant should go where, based on it's value to the landscape design.  The more we know, the better our landscapes grow, yes?

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winter-color-tampa-azalea

When we have a mild winter season, it is easy to add winter color to your Tampa landscape, as most of the plants that are blooming all summer will continue to bloom throughout the winter.  Plants that are year-around bloomers, such as Bougainvillea, Hibiscus, Plumbago, Dwarf Firebush, Oleander, Ixora and most butterfly perennials will endlessly bloom if the temperatures are above 50 degrees and the sun is shinning.  As well,  variegated leaf plants such as Croton, Shell Ginger, and Variegated Arboricola will continue to provide vivid color through their leaf patterns, no matter the weather conditions.  Unfortunately, though, our winters are rarely mild, and all of these plants are prone to frost and freeze damage or die-back.

The truth is, most plants that provide year-around color through either blooms or foliage are generally not cold hardy.  It can be risky to build an entire landscape on plants that can be damaged, or even killed, in any given winter.  While these plants have their place in a garden, they will never be a fair substitute for  the real show stoppers that add true winter color to your Tampa landscape:  cool season annuals and cold hardy flowering landscape plants.

Annuals are plants that last for a season, although they can sometimes last longer.  Most annuals have a preferred season to grow in, and are replaced out when the season passes.  Some examples of annuals rotation that we use at Johns Palms Landscaping are Begonias in the spring, as they love the dry, hot weather, but hate the rains;  Coleus prefers the summer, as it loves both the heat and the rainy season, but is prone to cold damage; and finally, the winter annuals, of which there is a nice selection to choose from.  A good winter annual can handle both mild and extreme winters, as well as our moderate, but typical winter rainfall.  In some cases, extreme frost or freeze may damage the flower, but not the plant itself, and within days, it will be blooming again.  The winter annuals that we generally use are Geranium, Petunia, and Pansy, as they are characteristically the least fussy, and last the longest.  Just remember, annuals should always be planted in a bed of well-draining potting soil, and when temperatures start to reach 85 degrees on a regular basis, it will be time to replace them out with spring annuals.

Seasonal annuals are not for everyone, and can have a moderate level of maintenance, given the chore of rotational replacements.  Luckily, though, we have a handful of cold hardy landscape plants to choose from, that will add winter color to your Tampa landscape through flowers, that perfectly bloom this time of year, year after year.  These little landscape gems will usually bloom late winter or early spring, depending upon how cold it is, and when the cold weather finally arrives.  No matter when the blooms arrive, though, you can count on them being a winter surprise, just when everything else seems so drab and dull.

To add some winter color to your Tampa landscape, consider any of these awesome landscape plants:

  • Azaleas, many varieties to choose from
  • Brunfelsia
  • Spirea
  • Camellia, many varieties to choose from
  • Daylily, many varieties to choose from
  • Carolina Yellow Jasmine
  • Cassia
  • Tabebuia

While all of these plants have different needs, soil conditions, and preferred growing sites, if your landscape plan and maintenance efforts can meet their specific needs, you will be rewarded in abundance, not only with beautiful flowers but the gentle reminder that the rebirth of spring is drawing near.  And, that is reason enough to add winter color to your Tampa landscape.

 

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butterflypines

Creating a butterfly garden for your Tampa landscape not only brings additional flower color and interest to a sometimes dull landscape, it beckons the "flying flowers"....butterflies!  As well, butterfly attracting plants are like any other plant in a landscape, and it is easy to incorporate some or many of them into your existing plan.

To attract butterflies to your landscape, you will need nectar producing plants (for the adult butterflies), larval food plants (for the caterpillars) and a water source such as a shallow pool of water, or wet soil, for the butterflies to drink from.  Butterflies tend to prefer full sun or part shade and plants that have flowers with short tubes in the colors purple, red, orange, or yellow.  As well, each butterfly's larvae (caterpillar) usually has a strong preference to the type of plant that it feeds on, so you must take that into consideration if you would like to attract a particular type of butterfly, or a wide variety.  I will list some of the recommended larval foods below, along with the type of butterfly that it will attract.

Designing your butterfly garden incorporates the same design principles as any other type of landscaping design:  leave enough room for larger growing plants (background), allow proper spacing for mid-sized plants, and place the shorter growing butterfly attractors in the front.  If you have a rather mature existing landscape, and would like to add some butterfly attractors, just pick from the lists below and find some that will be the right size to fit in around your current design.  Or, you can designate an entire area, and use both butterfly attracting plants, and non-attracting plants to add texture and interest.

Consider adding any of these low maintenance and easy to care for butterfly attractors to your butterfly garden (listed by growth size):

Larger growing (4' and up):

  • Bush Allamanda
  • Dwarf Firebush
  • Cassia
  • Butterfly Bush
  • Porterweed, red or blue
  • Passion Vine
  • Jatropha
  • Golden Dewdrop
  • Vitex

Medium growing (2'-3'):

  • Penta
  • Lantana
  • Milkweed
  • Golden Shrimp Plant
  • Salvia, many varieties
  • Sunflower
  • Necklace Pod
  • Coreopsis
  • Ixora

Smaller growing plants (under 2')

  • Whirling Butterfly (Guara)
  • Verbena
  • Stoke's Aster
  • Gaillardia
  • Zinnia
  • Cosmos
  • Alyssum

To encourage as many types of butterflies to visit, and perhaps to stay for a while, you will have to add larval plants to provide a host plant for the adults to lay eggs on and, ultimately, for the caterpillars to feed on.  The larval plants will be eaten perhaps completely, or with bite notches in the leaves, but this is their purpose.  Here is a list of more common larval plants, and what butterfly they are a host plant for:

  • Passion Flower (Zebra Longwing, Gulf Frittilary, Julia)
  • Milkweed, Asclepia (Monarch, Queen)
  • Carrots, Parsley, Dill (Black Swallowtail)
  • Legumes (many Sulphurs, Skippers)
  • Citrus (Giant Swallowtail)

By adding either a simple or an expansive butterfly garden to your Tampa landscape, you can bring another dimension to your outdoor living space, as well as an element of wonder as you watch these graceful creatures flit about your flowers.  A butterfly garden is guaranteed to bring joy and serenity to all that witness it's multiple layers of beauty.

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Creating a beautiful landscape is not easy, even for me, and it is challenging.  It requires an understanding of balance and space, and how to use that with plants.  I do consider landscaping an art, and with that, instead of paint and brushes, one has the world of plants and other forms, such as boulders, statues, rock walls, and more, that contribute to the palette of choices to draw from.  I also believe that all of us have an artistic voice or bone that is untapped  within us.  Perhaps some of us have never known our talents , or even knew that we had them, but they will come out once you fall in love with a plant.  A Plant.  When you fall in love with one plant, your heart is lost to all of them.

And, truly, that is all that landscaping is, falling in love with one plant.   With that, there are a few design principles and plant choice principles that you will need to follow, to be successful.

Tomorrow, I will start my Landscape Series, here on my blog, starting with:  Landscape Design For Your Home:  Where to Begin.

Please Join me, it will be worth your time.

Donell