Winter's Mild Disposition

This winter reminds me of Florida winters of long ago. Winter has been kind to us. No significant damage in the garden from freeze or frost. In keeping with Winter's mild temperament and ample sunshine the garden calls for attention during this season.

I love the constant quest for placing the right plant in the right place always keeping in mind the specific microclimates within the microclimate that is my garden. These things fuel the creative me.

One of the downsides about transitioning my garden into a more naturalistic style is the tendency this style can have to get cluttered. Untidy happens when sections run together without some delineation. It might be caused when branches intermingle excessively or fall over onto one another creating confusion to the eye, or when seedlings drop where they will to impede a walkway or seating arrangement.

I don't like messy. That's just me. If you like messy don't hate me. I'm good with your messy. It's just not me.

The challenge to mix in Florida-Friendly plants with natives and tropicals in a pleasing arrangement for my eyes AND to also benefit wildlife is both satisfying and inspiring.

In any intensely planted areas messy can happen. Which takes us back to right plant, right place. When planning these crowded spaces it's even more important to take into consideration the mature size of the choices we make. We want to minimize the burden of increased maintenance when the goal is to keep that foresty, tropical-ish, naturalistic look without constant pruning.

Occasionally it is necessary to purge these crowded conditions along the narrow places. Otherwise all sight of navigating abilities through the central garden is lost. As you can see from the above before and after photos, it was mostly self-sown impatiens impeding the route.

Love seeing the rocks on the side of the pathway now that most of those impatiens were extracted.

With all that 'messy' out of the way the mondo grass that is slowly crawling its way around the flagstones is visible. I adore those indestructible tufted mounds of deep green.

The tropical plants are showing little sign of retreating this winter. I'm happy they are hanging around this winter.

Taking a look down the tropical pathway it is difficult to discern that we are in the middle of winter. I'd like to give a big hug to winter for gifting us with so many beautiful days. Fingers are crossed for Florida's winter splendor to remain.

Happy gardening... Meems

Blue Sage

This is the first winter in three we've gone this long without freeze or frost damage. I know some of my Florida friends took some hard hits in the beginning of the month with temperatures in the twenties.

Again, the canopy of oak trees in my garden protected my shrubs, tropicals, and perennials. I lost some coleus, impatiens, colocasia, and sweet potato vines that were exposed out in the open. No big deal.

This is also the first winter my blue sage (Eranthemum Nervosumor Eranthemum Pulchellum) shrub (above) didn't get knocked back before coming into full bloom with its true-blue clusters of loveliness. It sits on the perimeter of the central pathway and the circle garden in the back yard.
You won't find blue sage in a garden center. Susan from Simply Susan gave me my first cutting. {I've made many additional ones from this shrub since then~~they root easily.} I knew blue sage preferred partial light so I placed it on the edge of the west side of the oak canopy in the back garden. I soft pruned this one back at least 3 times this summer. It made it thicker and bushier than the others I didn't trim. It was an experiment as much as necessity to keep it a proper size for this spot. The latest prune was in September and it still bloomed. You know what that means? I'll be trimming all the others as well this year even though they are more inconspicuously planted among the deeper shade plants.
I made mention of the first Red Admiral to be seen this year on my Hoe and Shovel Facebook page this week (If you haven't visited there yet~~hit the LIKE button to join the conversation). The pretty little thing was happily skipping around from flower cluster to flower cluster.

The large, veined leaves are deeply hued of almost blue-green. In summertime the foliage is all that graces the garden. As autumn nears the end and winter begins this shrub takes on another dimension. Do you see the veined green and white bracts on the ends of the clusters that form prior to the flowers? I just love them. And they will remain even after the flowers fade.

Do you have this Florida old timer in your garden? Happy gardening, Meems