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bee-on-sunflower

Today is the first day of Spring!  Please, enjoy this beautiful Ode to Spring, by Elizabeth Bentley:

 

Elizabeth Bentley 
Ode To Spring

WELCOME, sweet season of delight,
What beauties charm the wond'ring sight
In thy enchanting reign!
How fresh descends the morning dew,
Whilst op'ning flow'rs of various hue
Bedeck the sprightly plain.
The artless warblers of the grove
Again unite in songs of love,
To bless thy kind return:
But first the lark, who roaring seems
To hail the orb of day, whose beams
With fresh refulgence burn.

The limpid brook that purls along,
The tuneful blackbird's joyous song,
The softly-whisp'ring breeze;
The mossy hills, which now invite,
These with the verdant meads unite,
Th' elated mind to please.
The mind with thoughts of good possest,
With innocence and virtue blest,
Untaught in vice's ways;
May taste those joys by nature giv'n,
May lift th' enraptur'd eye to heav'n,
And their great Author praise.
Stern Winter's gloomy season past,
We see fair Spring advances fast,
With Summer in the rear;
Soon Autumn's shades will interpose,
And a succeeding Winter close
The swift-revolving year.

Of human life an emblem true,
The early morn of youth we view,
In Spring's delightful face;
Meridian life's a Summer's day,
With Autumn fades; its quick decay,
In winter's blast we trace.
Then let us prize each fleeting hour,
Improve the moments in our pow'r,
E'er time shall cease to be;
Then shall our spirits, taking wing,
Be crown'd with an eternal Spring,
From Wint'ry storms set free.

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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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fall-calendar

With our recent slightly cooler mornings, it can only mean one thing:  summer is drawing to an end.  And, with this year's heavy rains, our summer garden chores seemed to be so far from ever ending!  But, alas, they are, and it is with a wistful heart that I write today of the fall yard chores for your Tampa landscape.  Over the next few weeks, there are some end-of-growing season chores to do, to get your landscape ready for the winter.  Use this easy check list to see if you are done with your fall yard chores, or if you still have a few things left to do:

  • Fertilize plants and grass for the last time this year
  • Scout for scale insects on plants, and treat (you may need to do a follow up treatment in 10 days)
  • Scout for grub evidence in sod, and treat (look for areas that are thinned out or go into drought state easily)
  • Treat for weeds in your sod when temperatures fall below 85 degrees
  • Test sprinkler system, make adjustments and repairs.  Be prepared to reduce the amount of irrigation to be applied as temperatures drop
  • Add new sod or plugs to bare patches of St. Augustine, or top-seed with Rye Grass in Bahia
  • Replace summer annuals with winter annuals like Petunia or Pansy when temperatures are below 85 degrees
  • Install cold hardy plants in your landscape
  • Pull weeds in beds and spray weed control, if needed
  • Add fresh mulch to barren beds to help keep down weeds, retain moisture to the roots of plants, and protect cold sensitive plants at their root zone
  • Plant winter herbs and vegetables
  • Do a final trim or cut back of landscape plants
  • Trim palms, hardwood trees, and Crape Myrtles

I like to have all of these fall yard chores for Tampa landscapes finished by mid-November, with Thanksgiving weekend being the last marker date.  With that, you can rest easy, as your beds have their final going through, all plants and grass have fertilizer, insect control, and mulch.  the plants and trees are trimmed, and you can rest easy, to focus on family, holidays, and football!!!

Remember, as always, we will be happy to help you out with any of these chores, with either free advice and know-how, or free estimates to do the work.