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"Possibility and promise greet me each day as I walk out into my garden. My vigor is renewed when I breathe in the earthiness and feel the dirt between my fingers. My garden is a peaceful spot to refresh my soul." Meems






Welcome to my Central Florida Garden Blog where we garden combining Florida natives, Florida-Friendly plants, and tropicals.

Friday, July 31, 2009

Helping Hands in the Veggie Garden


This job should have been done a few weeks ago. It's not one I've been eager to tackle. Not to mention I've been a little distracted with other projects. But in order to get the soil ready for the fall garden the time table can't be put off any longer.

It's interesting to note that sweet peppers are still being harvested. Sometimes the branches so full they break under the weight of the fruit.

Let's see now... where to begin in this messy place?

A quick perusal of what's become of spring's vegetable garden will quickly reveal only a smattering of food. What has happened is Scarlet Sage or Salvia Coccinea and Blue Porterweed, Stachytarpheta cayennensis have self-seeded in so many places. The tomato plants are dreadfully wilty and the beans and peas are dried up vines on the trellises. What a difference a couple of months and about 20 degrees increase can make.

Today my littlest helper (and most willing one to boot) and I got out very early to make a dent in the task of dismantling the veggie garden.

There are still carrots to pull out. They will be too bitter to eat at this late date.The heated temps of summer have stolen their sweetness. But there was good reason to leave a few in the ground.

They are one of the host plants for Black Swallowtail butterflies. Barely any stems left on them since the larva feasted on them to their hearts' delight a few weeks ago.

Our first task is to clear the remaining carrots. A perfect job for curious and busy hands. He gets the biggest thrill from reaching to the root and pulling up carrots.

The Salvia guaranitica, 'black and blue' will stay in its container pot and keep blooming through the fall.

Digging up the Blue Porterweed and Salvia Coccinea to pot up for placement elsewhere is the second order of business. We can't let all of those self seeded plants go to waste and yet they do need to come out of the veggie beds.

My little guy uses his kid-sized John Deere trowel and hand rake to help with the task of tilling the soil. At least that's what we say we're doing. It's more like making holes and throwing dirt. What abandoned fun he has discovering the earthworms all tangled up with each other in that fertile soil. He doesn't mind handling them gently as we talk about how God gave us the earth to take good care of.

As a three year old will often do ... he makes up his own plan as we go along. Hmmm... let's deposit some of this dirt in the rain gauge. No harm done. As long as he is having fun ... I'm having fun.

And there's that birdbath he can't resist splashing in like a happy little bird.
It was getting hot outdoors very fast. Who am I kidding? It started out hot ~~but temps were increasing quickly as the sun came up over the trees.

It's probably true we didn't get a lot accomplished. It was a start though. Sometimes just getting started on an unfavorable task is key. And most importantly... happy times and good memories in the veggie garden.

When I return to that job again tomorrow ... without my little fellow... I'll remind myself of today and with a smile on my face I'll go at it again.

Soon the entire veggie garden will be dismantled, tilled, and amended with some bone meal and mushroom compost. Seeds need to be sown soon.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Perk Up Container Plants with Caladiums


Freida Hemple Caladiums with blazing red centers and a bright green border are striking in the summer heat.

Container plants are a creative way to express your gardening design imaginings. They are like mini-gardens within the garden. When creating them I kind of think of them the same as I do fresh floral arrangements only with roots and placed into soil instead of water.

Planter on back porch with Freida Hemple Caladium, variegated Liriope, Boston Fern and Palm.

In Florida our container plants flourish year round much like the rest of our garden. The Freida Hemple Caladiums above were planted over 5 years ago. They just keep coming back year after year. The fern seeded itself from my neighbor's massive planting of them. NTS: need to pull it out before it takes over.
White Queen and Red Flash Caladiums planted in a container (to the left in the photo above) raise up a level higher than the same Caladiums planted in the ground surrounding the container. Creeping Jenny and Purple Queen are spilling over the bottom of the container (14" container not visible).

If you have been reading this blog for any time at all you'll probably remember how this gardener is a big fan of placing container plants right smack in the middle of the rest of the vegetation in the garden. At times I like to blend them in the planting beds with like plants. Other times I'll use them as a contrasting mini-garden.

A closer view and a more straight forward angle ... notice the pot is hidden by the border of variegated liriope.

Click to enlarge any photo**
Behind that pot and situated in the center of White Queen and Red Flash Caladiums planted in the ground is a 16" pot with Cordyline 'Red Sister', Bloodleaf Iresine, Jewel of Opar Talinum paniculatum, Angel Wing Begonia, and White Queen Caladiums.

In the same planting bed but on the other side and next to a walk-through path is a container with Scarlet Pimpernel Caladiums (visible in the foreground of the above photo). It is grouped with self-seeded Impatiens that I love to hate. They grow like weeds and add spots of color around here but they are too thirsty for my liking.

My all-time favorite cultivar is 'Miss Muffet'. She has lime green, small to medium leaves, with strikingly contrasting deep magenta freckles and veins. She brightens up the scenery wherever she is planted. And she's been given much ground here at Hoe and Shovel.

It's so easy to bury a few bulbs in existing container plants no matter what is already growing in them. During the summer Caladiums add a bright and cheery element to almost any of the already crowded mini-gardens.

An absolute benefit of container plants is their move-ability (yeah- that's not a word). Until last month the pot, shown above, was in the vegetable garden. When it got too hot, causing it to droop daily, it was moved to a shady spot at the corner of the pathway and across from the Pagoda Flower. Whew... now it only needs to be watered every other day... what a break! :-)

The White Queen Caladiums above are shading the impatiens below in a container positioned in an empty spot between variegated Shell Ginger and Bromeliads.

Another angle reveals its place next to the flagstone pathway that curves its way through the large planting bed.

This year I tried a variety called Gingerland Caladiums. Never having seen them in person they intrigued me with their creamy background, deep green edges and rosy-red colored spots. I've got mixed reviews about this one. It's not that I don't like it. It's just that I don't really like it. Maybe it is too similar to my favorite Miss Muffet. Similar but ... not as pretty and not as distinct in its coloring. The Miss Muffet blends in better with her neighbors in my opinion.
Not knowing how I'd like Gingerland, I only ordered 20 of them. All of them went into containers and none in the ground.
Even though I know they'll return in the pots they're planted in now, at this writing, I'm inclined to say I probably won't order them again. But I've enjoyed experimenting with them this year.
There are six container plants situated in the above planting bed. Since the overly crowded plants spill over the pots and the plants in the ground squeeze into each other, the actual containers are not even visible. The effect is the tropical lushness we are trying to acheive in all our beds.

With over 50 container pots at Hoe and Shovel, you can see why it takes me way too much time dragging the hose around to each of them when we are lacking rainfall. (Like this week... sigh).

Even if Caladiums are not the main focus in some containers they make a nice accent. In the front bed is one of my favorite container gardens (above center). It is a shallow 38 inch bowl located in one of the front planting beds. Choosing to plant in the 12 inch deep pot rather than in the ground elevates the grouping and creates a garden, that can be micro managed, within the garden.

Alocasia Plumbea 'Nigra' is the beloved Taro towering in the center of the pot. (I love that plant). The Alocasia is accompanied by Lemon Lime Draceana (to the left), Lotus Begonia (in front), Anthurium (not visible), Persian Shield (in back), (self-seeded) Impatiens that I consistently pull out (water hogs), and White Queen Caladium squeezed in for a quick hint of summer brightness.

So dig some holes in your soil and pop in a few caladiums to make any container plant come alive. It works for me.
Happy summer dear readers,
Meems

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Caladium Bulbs for Florida Summer Color


It was discovered many years ago that Florida shade can be a challenging place to design with color. Flowers, in general, can be fickle and demanding at best in this humidity.

There are many alternatives to blooms offering us splashes of highlights and spots of color using foliage. With varied textures, forms, and hues of light and dark contrasts we've chosen other available resources to lend a lush, tropical effect here.

Above: Shiny dark leaves of bromeliads hugging the base of the roughly-barked oak trees is a favorite combination. And tucked in between the Lilyturf, Liriope muscari variegata border is a jammed-packed layer of White Queen caladiums. Even further in the background are the yellow and green leaves of Variegated Schefflera, arboricola shrubs and Purple Queen, Tradescantia pallida spilling over a barrier wall. No flowers except for randomly scattered self-sown impatiens.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE flowers. The Agapanthus towering over the caladiums beneath them should be one of the seven wonders as far as I'm concerned. If only there were more choices of such hardy sorts that are happy in shade or sun. They are a rare breed for certain.

Click to enlarge any photo**
You can find Caladium plants in all the nurseries as well as big box stores right now in our area. Buying them that way could get costly unless you are looking for only a few.

Around here hundreds of them go into the ground each year so it proves to be more cost effective to purchase them in bulk. Typically I order my bulbs in February but don't have them shipped to me until the end of May.

After all these years of experimenting with many different varieties my (almost conclusive LOL) favorite is the dwarf strap leaf Miss Muffet. It probably has something to do with my desicive affection for chartreuse. The speckled magenta splashes and center vein are just the right combination surrounded by that perfect shade of lime green.


I find it is quite effective to plant caladiums in large groupings of the same kind but sometimes they are mixed in with other varieties. In this case some past choices of Fanny Munson and Carolyn Wharton are continuing to pop out of the ground each spring. They make their way in between the Xanadu, Pentas and the Oakleaf Hydrangea tucked up under the Saw Palmettos in the front garden.


A concentration of White Wing caladiums at the feet of variegated Shell Ginger, Alpinia zerumbet are a stand out especially in the morning and evening light.


The tall and extra large white leaves are June Bride. Since they get a bit too large for my liking the choice had been made not to add any more of them. There are several that keep coming back each year and we don't mind.

Click to englarge any photo**

One of the best benefits of planting caladium bulbs in this climate is the fact they can be left in the ground all year. Most of them will return every spring for many years over.

I don't really follow the planting rules or recommendations. All my bulbs are planted very closely together and never in a straight line.

Caladiums will last all summer long and even into the fall season given the right conditions. They require no fertilizing either. In fact, fertilizer can alter their coloring in some cases.


Caladiums are just so easy to take care of that sometimes it feels like I'm cheating when it comes to my summer Florida garden.

This year I added Red Flash behind the ribbon of Agapanthus and Miss Muffets in the center island. I am happy with their height being a little taller than the Miss Muffet and the leaf face is a little broader than most varieties. AND if you're looking for a caladium that is sun tolerant Red Flash is one that will do well in sunny places as well as partial shade.

Scarlet Pimpernel is green with a deep red center and veins. I've noticed the green varies with the amount of sunshine given this variety. They are so hardy I have some that have returned for over ten years.

The only pink variety at Hoe and Shovel is Rosebud. It was a substitute for a first choice Caladiums 4 Less ran out of this year. They refunded my money and sent me this alternative. All of my bulbs come from them or Caladium World. Both grow all their bulbs in Lake Placid, Florida.

The Rosebuds have worked out quite nicely tucked in with the pink pentas and the pink coneflowers over in the 'wildflower' flower garden. My wildflower attempts haven't been too successful... but that's for another post.

In a climate where tulips and alliums are not an option, caladiums have superior performance qualities for long lasting affects and durable summer foliage. They were listed as one of the six plants I can't live without that Steve Bender of Southern Living hosted in April.

While you're at it check out Gardening Gone Wild's July Design Workshop for some great photos of garden designing with bulbs.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Progression of a New Planting Bed


It is July (you knew that) and for some reason I have never gotten around to sharing the changes that took place in the back garden this spring. While I'm working on the front lawn project let's back up a few months and have a look at another planting bed I created this season.


As far back as last fall it was decided there was a need (don't laugh, family & friends- I did need it) for an additional planting bed in the back garden. The need came in the form of balance. The north side of the back garden was lacking its very own planting bed which would aid in carrying the eye all the way across the garden from south to north. I'm definitely guilty of overplanting the views I see most from the kitchen window and the back porch.


Thinking ahead and in anticipation of the time involved in expanding the veggie garden we got started on the new project in January. First things first... the grass around the oak tree must be removed. Arrrrggghhhh ... sod removal.

It is as simple as 1) mark off the shape desired and 2) start digging.

With get-her-done resolve initially, the digging began... at the same time the veggie garden was tripling in size and I was expanding a bed on the south side. Then we had two freezes that month that not only took the wind out of my sails but they caused me to do some re-thinking in terms of what I would plant here.

The plants originally determined for use here with cuttings and divisions I had cultivated in the fall were not going to work for this northern exposure if it was important to factor in future occasional freezes. And after this year... it IS important.

Variegated liriope was divided and planted (112 of them to be exact) as a perimeter border. I don't usually do the border first but I was removing these plants from that other bed I was expanding and they needed a new home.
The next thing that went in came from the front garden. Well, initially they came from my dad's garden. I've been dividing them and moving them to the back in order to multiply as many as I can. A very hardy bromeliad with a favorite purple berry-like bloom that lasts for months and months.

I especially like the red foliage and when the sun shines through it - it is especially showy. By February I was deeply entrenched in the vegetable garden and the second bed I was expanding to make room for wildflowers and natives.

At this point there was not much being done to finish this project.

The native plants purchased as quite small specimens for very reasonable prices in March were planted out in stages as time allowed.

That native plant list included:
5 Saw Palmetto, Serenoa Repens
4 Coontie, Zamia floridana
9 Blue-eyed grass, Sisyrinchium angustifolia
9 Spider Wort, Tradescontia Ohiensis
3 Coral Bean, Erythrina Herbacea
2 Stokes Aster
1 Oakleaf Hydrangea

Coontie plants will not freeze, they are drought tolerant and they are slow growers. You can't beat that in Florida!

The morning sun filters through the trees giving the plants partial sun status. Then again in the afternoon the setting sun gives it another couple of hours of dappled sunlight.

By April the veggie garden was well underway and more time was allowed for this project. The bed was filling in with plants. I had done my best to allow for growth when placement decisions were being made. But it needed more of something.

I am happy with the way it shows up in photos at a distance now. And you know that is an essential element in the design of a garden. :-) Can you see it in the distant background to the left? No need to mention to Mr. Meems the nonsense I just said about photos and what shows up in the background and such... he's better off not knowing some of the thinking behind my digging and planting.

Turns out... in May when that cold air that killed so many things back in January was a distant memory I went right back to my old ways. I picked up some flowers and plants that will freeze and poked them in the spare spaces left for maturing natives.

Pentas are considered perennials here. They will come back after a freeze. That makes it more logical now doesn't it? Did you know butterflies are especially attracted to red pentas?

And no planting bed at Hoe and Shovel would be complete without some caladiums to brighten the view during the long summer months.

A ribbon of them winding through the longest side was planted with Scarlet Pimpernel and Red Flash accented as a sort of bow in the center of them.

The run down of plants in this bed excluding the natives already listed:

112 Variegated liriope ~~divisions from my garden
3 Variegated Shell Ginger~~divisions from my garden
7 Bromeliad ~~ divisions from my garden
1 Persian Shield - Rooted from my garden
8 Red Penta
2 Pink Firespike~~ rooted from my garden
1 Wild Violet (my neighbor just gave it to me- woo-hoo)
42 Society Garlic ~~ all divisions from my garden
11 African Iris ~~ all divisions from my garden
3 Holly Fern ~~ divisions from my garden
5 Variegated Schefflera ~~rooted from my garden
6 Pseuderanthemum, 'Black Varnish'
50 Scarlet Pimpernel Caladiums
8 Red Flash Caladiums
7 Gaillardia ~~ from seed
29 Giant Liriope ~~ divisions from my garden

All this detailed information is more for my records. I don't mind if you just look at the photos and let me know what you think.

By this time next year I may have to take a few things out to make room when everything fills in and matures.

It turned out to have mostly reds and purples for its color scheme. Which I admit wasn't a scheme at all ~~~When I look around my garden it is fairly obvious I am very drawn to those colors in the garden whether it be foliage or flowers.

September 2010

Back Garden: October 2010

Louise Philippe: Antique Rose

Tropical Pathway