A Florida Wildflower Garden

Recently I had the joy of visiting a private garden in Plant City with my fellow Hillsborough County Master Gardeners. The owners have created a remarkably extensive wildflower garden in the area surrounding the house on their 8+ acres of open woodland. It was one of the most unique gardens I've ever had the pleasure of walking through.

Patches of golden yellow and bright lavender flowers from wild phlox and (Rudbekia) black-eyed Susans created flowing waves among the fields of grass.  

Winding pathways made from brick pavers and some of crushed shell meander through the front garden. Florida-Friendly foundational shrubbery like neatly trimmed Ilex Schilling contrast perfectly with lanky yellow native Rosinweed that blooms profusely in spring. Every space in between was a mix of Gaillardia, Narrow-leaf sunflowers, black-eyed Susans, Pentas, coonties, frost weed, gardenias, milkweed and many more. The huge, ancient live oaks with their broad, long limbs reaching into the blue sky act as strong architectural features around the perimeter. As the day progresses the shifting shade they provide creates a canopy of relief.

Relief the wildflowers don't need. They are quite happy to thrive beyond the oaks in the wide open heat and sunlight.

A pergola in the front garden is well placed along one of the pathways.

Every part of this garden was artfully designed by the owner. The butterly bench! Wow.

More Rudbekia along the side garden.

Butterflies everywhere.  This one, a permanent and perfectly hovering structure.

The back was an open field with wildflowers thickly planted in a huge bed and heavily mulched. Beyond the tended beds are self-seeded mounds of golden Rudbekia that draw your eye toward the horizon.

A mix of sun and shade is a blessing in any garden. In this one it seemed to be perfectly distributed. In truth, it was this wise gardener who used her sunlight and her shade to the best possible advantage. She put her signature on her land by installing the right plants in the right place and created an amazingly artful and beautifully designed one-of-a-kind garden.



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A Thrown-Together (Wildish) Flower Patch

There are very few (if any) adequate places for profusely flowering perennials that require a good dose of ample sunshine in my garden. The maximum amount on any one location is FIVE hours and that doesn't exclude the edible garden.

Last year we removed the remarkably broad drake elm located almost dead center in the back yard. The disappearance of its lengthy shade limbs created a drastically changed scenario in the perennial garden bed closest to the back patio. Unhindered rays from midday's hottest sun opened up a brand new set of considerations.

After that the Miss Muffet caladiums returned and the established Purple Lantana (montevidensis) were left on their own to live or die in their new climate. It turned out to be a less-than-stellar scramble with a tossed-in sweet potato vine sprawling over each other.

But I didn't care because there were so many other areas I was working on. Besides I wanted to observe it for a full summer season to judge accurately just how much light it received and moisture it retained.

Isn't that Gaura lindheimeri 'Siskiyou Pink' brilliant with morning's first rays illuminating her airy blooms!
Purchasing a tray of 4" plants from the garden center in February and putting them in containers was well thought out. But placing the remainder of them in the ground around the drake elm tree stump was done on a whim.

I've always loved the 'Siskiyou Pink' variety but until now didn't have a suitable enough sunny place for them. They can withstand lots of heat and dry ground. That's great to know for some of you with sandy soil and full sun gardens.

Then without too much deliberation I dug up some gaillardia seedlings that were taking over the edible garden and moved them to cozy up as good neighbors to the guara. While I almost always over-think these types of actions ~~ doing this was quite nearly the most haphazard thrown-together planting bed I could say I've created. I use the term 'created' loosely.

It's a bit loud as a color combination, too. The deep pinks of the guara with red stems are bold all on their own. Mixed in with yellow, orange, and red gaillardia (blanket flower)blooms cranks up the bold factor a few notches.

Mix that in with trailing purple lantana (which by the way has been in that same spot ~~ same plant ~~ for 18 years) and it is hollering out loud.

But do you want to know something? The view is a straight visual shot from my kitchen window and my back lanai. All those bright colors waving in the breezes are bringing me gardening joy.

While I'll always love my foliage gardens it's been kind of fun (and very different) to enjoy this willy-nilly planting of bright colors as the entrance to the circle garden.

Home

Getting away for a little break from routine is always a treat. It's restful, refreshing, and good for the soul.

But no matter where we go or for how long there's nothing like returning home.

As is the way with most gardeners, I suspect, the garden is the first place we go to have a look around. Make sure all is well. Do a little picking and pruning. You know the drill.

Blue plumbago is a perennial shrub I'm quite sure I take for granted. I expect it to perform well and I hardly notice it most days. But with fresh eyes, after being gone, it looks particularly blue and particularly appealing in September's morning rays.

My favorite caladiums, Miss Muffet, with her limey green leaf and adorable magenta freckles rests at the feet of plumbago in the raised bed bordering the tropical pathway.

It's good to see the White Queen caladiums still perky and livening up the back gardens in so many places.

Oh, and that wonderfully fresh fragrance from the butterfly gingers draws me to her. So glad I haven't missed her blooming.

The rains we were enjoying regularly have stopped for the past couple of weeks making it necessary to run the irrigation system for the first time in ages. Musa acuminata 'Sumatrana' (Rojo) banana leaves hold onto some left-over drops.

Easily charmed by insignificant details the papery brown petals of fading oakleaf hydrangea make me smile and remind me of simple pleasures.
In the way-back naturalized part of the garden plump beautyberries are weighing down elongated limbs.

Looking so bright and cheery and ready to be devoured by the wildlife that will soon discover them.

Red pentas fill out many places in this garden. My only complaint is they get too tall. Otherwise they are an all-time favorite.

Oh, and there is one of those containers of Christia Obcordata 'swallowtail' looking ever so light and airy this early morning. A big hug and thanks to my dear neighbor for hand-watering some of the thirstiest containers while we were gone.

Large leaves. No, extra large leaves. So very fun mixed into the tropical pathway.

The blackberries have all started to pop out on the blackberry lilies since we were gone. What a wonderful plant. First the prolific flowers bloom for months, then turning to seed pods that a few weeks later burst open revealing the blackberries.

What a nice addition the polly alocasia turned out to be in the tropical pathway this summer. On returning to the garden they are looking especially appealing to me.

Such a nice surprise. Finally. Bud stalks on the Queen Emmas.

Until now Lubbers have literally eaten every single one. Here's hoping the new ones will survive to bloom.

Mona lavender is blooming its head off these late summer days. An entire bed of them sits at the feet of the cassia senna. A sun lover, the cassia is, while it protects and shades the mona lavender.

In the sunnier, more exposed side of the same bed the goldenrod has burst into bloom while I was away.

It is what I deem the wildflower garden. Although I must admit I'm a hopeless failure at growing wildflowers. It's a good thing I've evolved toward a more naturalistic garden. This back side of the south gardens is looking pretty wild.

Not just this day, but everyday, the pretty blend of foliage that makes Stromanthe tri-color a great Florida-Friendly plant lures my lens to capture the sunlight streaming through once again.

It's nice to see black and blue salvia return her blooms after being severely trimmed only a few weeks ago.

Mr. Meems and I had a wonderful vacation but truly there's nothing to compare with being home and back in the garden.

Roses and Beyond

The options around Hoe and Shovel for sunny locations adequate enough for standard roses are scant at best. This consideration along with a dose of apprehension for the care they typically require is my excuse for not collecting these lovely specimens in the past.

For many years the shady parts of this garden have increased steadily as trees have matured and subsequently shielded almost every bit of direct sunlight. High shifting-shade that, I should note is decidedly appreciated in almost every instance, serves as the overarching environment and thereby provides the basis for choosing the permaculture.

When the very large drake elm was removed in late winter it became anyone's best guess as to how the loss would fully effect the exisiting underplantings once the daylight stretched into summer's longest hours.

One thing was for certain ~~ there would be some surprises and some adjustments to be made.

In May I surprised myself by taking a chance with the purchase of a Knockout Rose Tree. It wasn't in great shape, as it was left over from the fall, and was looking a bit bedraggled. Tied to a pole to hold it upright at the garden center it was evident it needed a good home.

That one lone rose tree found its new resting place in the sunniest spot of the back garden where the drake elm used to keep everything nicely sheltered in the shadows of it sprawling limbs.

All the branches on that pitiful rose tree were pruned right away to an ugly, small sphere. Organic nutrients of blood meal and bone meal were added to the soil and it was watered sufficiently.

Almost two full months later it is finally resembling a real rose tree. Sited prominently only 20 feet beyond the back lanai and visible from the kitchen window I'm thrilled it decided to become recognizable.

We guard against getting too overly excited until we measure how well a plant fairs through a few seasons. In this case the test will be summer through winter. Once it decides to stick around for a while and also performs well then we are more than obliged to pronounce all accolades due its achievements.

Depending on which direction you gaze, if you allowed your eyes to wander beyond the rose tree to the east, the circle garden would be almost in full view. Following the circle garden leads one to the tropical pathway which can be seen partially to the upper middle/right in the above photo.

From the circle garden there are more trailing pathways to the wildflower garden, butterfly garden, and the back "20" as well. All that sounds like more than it is but those are the names we've come up with to identify the borders and planted-out areas.

Serving as the hub of the circle garden is the very large container planter now being over taken (in an acceptable way) with Euphorbia leucocephala 'silver fog' and ornamental potato vine, Ipomoea batatas 'Margarita'.

Being it is impossible to capture the widest views on camera it will hopefully suffice to have a look around in segments.

It has been drizzling rain off and on for the past many days. No complaints here... we are loving the natural irrigation and a break from dragging hoses around.

The Gaura lindheimeri 'Whirling Butterflies', are just on the other side of a short walk-through, marked by stepping stones, from the rose tree. I'm loving their wispy, airy habit crammed in between flax lilies that border them. The flying insects are perpetual visitors to the consistently blooming flowers.

To the south and at the feet of the rose tree is a large planted out border with mixes of variegated liriope, agapanthus, dragon-wing begonias, variegated schefflera, container plants, a ligustrum tree, mexican petunia (boo), jewels of opar, and caladiums.

It seemed like it took forever for the caladiums to come back this year. Hundreds more have been newly popped into the ground for increased impact and summer bursts of color. Those have not yet made an appearance.

While we're talking roses it's worth noting that there is one other rose growing here. The Louis Philippe Antique Rose was first spotted at the Florida Native Plants Nursery in Myakka, Florida growing in the midst of winter wildly up through another tree in a partially shady spot. It peaked my interest with possibilities so that I was certain it was the rose for me and kept my eye on the lookout for it after that.

Again in my cautious fashion only one was decided on several months later. That one planted almost exactly a year ago. It has grown from 18 incles to 5 feet in that short time. It is a keeper and one I will add more of to the garden ~~ at some point.

It's been said that a Texas statesman, Lorenzo de Zavala, collected this rose during his 1834 stint as Minister to France and planted it at his home in Lynchburg.
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God bless America! Happy Birthday, sweet land of liberty.