Mums are one of the most hybridized flowers you can grow other than the many orchid hybrids among their species. Hybrid chrysanthemums have been popular since Victorian times. We even have antique stereoscope cards showing 3D greenhouses full of flowering mums in production from the 1890’s. The Chinese have sculpted chrysanthemums into plates and vases during the Ming Dynasty.

We usually have cut flower bouquets in our kitchen and dining area and mums last longer and offer more diversity than most flowers we buy. Certainly they are one of the best values in adding fresh color and changeable interest to your home.

Bouquets of mums add cheer to our home and we enjoy mixing the colors and new and unique types with the standards and pompom types. Check out this link on Wikipedia on the 13 type classifications. Here is the link to The National Chrysanthemum Society if you get a bug to grow these dynamic living works of art as a hobby.

Garden Mum Varieties from Ball Seed available to growers can be studied at the link.

New varieties are introduced each year that perform better and hold their vivid color longer as you will see in the descriptions.

Cypress Gardens is just a fond memory now. Now that it is going to be a Legoland, the focus will not be on floral displays. I always enjoyed the mum festival.

Text and images below are from NYBG  http://www.nybg.org/kiku09/

This marks the third and final year of the Botanical Garden’s elaborate presentation of kiku (Japanese for chrysanthemum).
Celebrate the ancient horticultural traditions and brilliant autumn color of chrysanthemums and Japanese garden plants. The Enid A. Haupt Conservatory Courtyards are transformed into a setting that evokes the designed landscape gardens of Kyoto, Japan. Scarlet Japanese maples glow against Japanese black pines, and golden bamboos flash against other emerald conifers. Undulating masses of ferns and perennials echo the complex topography that is a hallmark of Japan’s classic gardens, while beautifully handcrafted pavilions, known as uwaya, constructed of Douglas fir, bamboo, and reeds and evocative of Japanese garden gates and tea houses, showcase kiku meticulously trained into amazing floral sculptures.
Kiku in the Japanese Autumn Garden beckons visitors to indulge in fall’s fleeting beauty. The combination of maples, ranging from scarlet to electric orange, and pink, yellow, and white chrysanthemums in spectacular flower transport viewers to the magnificent autumn gardens of Japan.

Follow this link to learn about Chrysanthemums in Pakistan. Here you will get a different and positive sense of a peaceful people. Our media talks only about Pakistan as combative with India and a government in turmoil and at odds with the US government. Surely there is more peace and happiness there than war and turmoil as this link suggests.

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Succulents are easy to grow in Florida and make especially beautiful arrangements for a sunny patio. Succulents require little water and can survive on rainfall alone. One important key is a well drained soil so the container does not become soggy when we do get a lot of rain. Use your standard potting soil and add 25% perlite to the mix so it drains quickly and you don’t ant to buy cactus and succulent soil which also is ideal.

Succulents are the perfect plant to give and share. They last a long time so your friends can be successful even if they do not remember to water. Classic Creation Succulent 9 packs are exclusively available at most Florida Home Depot garden centers.

Low bowls are ideal for making mixed arrangements of succulents.

Strawberry jars are ideal for sedum and succulent collections.

Sedum Florida Friendly Gold is the hardiest Florida sedum available for outstanding performance throughout the state in containers and in the landscape. It is heat, rain, humidity and freeze tolerant and available at most Florida Home Depots in Gallon Florida Friendly Perennial pots and in an economical 9 count Classic Selection tray.

Flickr Hive Mind, almost certainly the best search engine for photography on the web that can display targeted images like these Container,Succulents and you can mouse over for text and tags.

You can make your own Hypertufa Container. For a classy way to display a succulent garden and you will enjoy this set of Hypertufi.

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In a December post, Remembering a Great Horticulturalist, I wrote about the loss of a friend, Tom VanWingerden, who inspired me, very early in my career. Before his recent accident he had just returned from one of his monthly visits to his families' project in Haiti, Double Harvest. I had requested you consider a donation for their efforts then in Tom’s memory for all he had done. Now, more than ever, Haiti needs your dollars and Double Harvest is there on the ground. Listen to John VanWingerden in this interview and you will learn more about what is really happening in Haiti and how it is different from what the TV news is showing to drive their ratings.

Give now to:

Double Harvest – Haiti
55 South Main Street
Oberlin, OH 44074
www.DoubleHarvest.org
440-714-1694

Pansies are ready to plant and in many parts of the country you will find VanWingerden Greenhouse grown pansy plants like these at major retailers. This is the “Generator” John talks about in the interview. I hope you get a real perspective of Haiti from his words.

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1. Hardy Perennials – Gardeners are asking what plants thrive both frost and hot summer temperatures. These plants tolerate frost quickly recover after cold weather. These popular plants are what customers will have the most success with and will remove some fear of planting. Plant success!

                           Sedum Florida Friendly Gold

                                             Blue Eyed Grass

                                 Bulbine – Jelly Burn Plant 

                                            Dianthus Firewitch

2. Drought Tolerant Grass and Accent Plants – Gardeners looking for long lived, easy care plants that will survive the typically dry spring and fall growing seasons will be successful with these plants. For the Top 20 Drought Tolerant Florida Perennials go to http://floridafriendlyplants.com/

                  Purple Showers                                       Purple Queen               

                                              Variegated Flax Lily

3. Butterfly Plants – For success in attracting butterflies to your garden you can use both the nectar host plants and the larval host plants. Plant them in a sunny site them in the landscape. Refer to the Home Depot tag information for suitable planting conditions.

                Lantana                              Pentas                               Milkweed

For the Top 20 Drought Tolerant Perennials and the Top 20 Florida Butterfly Plants go to http://floridafriendlyplants.com/

SausEdge^TM is an innovative way to save money and time and get instant results in your garden. Several popular varieties make an instant border in your garden.

http://floridafriendlyplants.com/Sausedge.asp

See the video at http://www.youtube.com/profile?edit=1#p/u/5/E1MObn0HqQc

or search Sausedge on Youtube

                              Cuban Gold Duranta from SausEdge^TM

                                          Lantana from SausEdge^TM

Classic Selections are an economical way to plant perennials and use less plastic.

Classic Creations give instant results for combinations in your own containers.

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About 30 years ago we had a chance to visit the Fakahatchee Strand on a hiking tour through the swap and hammocks with the Florida Native Plant Society. It is located in the Big Cypress Swamp on this map.

We hiked with Dr. Richard Wunderlin who pointed out local native plants, many of which were only found in the strand. Dr. Wunderlin is the driving force behind The Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants. We saw snakes, alligators, birds and ghost orchids, to name a few, while wading in up to waist deep water in this part of the Everglades. It was a trip we will never forget.

The Southwest Florida Green Directory is a place where you connect with Southwest Florida's green businesses, green products, green services, green organizations, green events, green news, and green places to go. The group is visiting Fakahatchee Island. You can join them for what will be a trip you will always remember. Click their link for details. Friends of the Fakahatchee Stand also has trips through the strand and leads the coastal cruise.

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Each January growers get together at the Ft Lauderdale Convention Center to showcase the newest innovations in Tropical Plants that are available to ship to garden centers throughout the country and Canada. Check out some exotic beauties coming to a Home Depot garden center near you.

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Fine Gardening article by Billy Goodnick “When Bad Taste Meets Power Tools”

You don’t have to look far to see horror stories in your own neighborhood. The aesthetics of garden design are more open for personal touch and interpretation than the design of our home interior and exterior. Often our homes in our communities are built to comparable size, setback and style and the landscape is left for personalization buy the owner or tenant.

If you study neighborhoods and landscapes you can see how first impressions of landscapes can turn your eyes away and influence the real value of properties. A study indicated here in this post; 

Increase the Value of Your Home and Enjoy Doing It 

gives you a true sense of the facts and figures on improvements you need to make.

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The weather outside is frightful… By Florida standards anyway. At the nursery, we cover acres of plant with Frost Cloth every time a freeze threatens. This works very well except when the wind blows the cloth off your plants. At home I use a different method I developed called Pot-in-Pot Landscaping.

I use an empty pot as a sleeve. It is the same size pot as the pot of the plant I am installing

and I drop it in for a finished job. When the frost threatens, I lift the plants and park them in my garage for the evening.

The method has many reason for you to consider using it in Florida. Follow this link to 21 reasons for Pot-in-Pot Gardening. This works also well for larger containers and combinations too.

Using this method in combination with a drip irrigation system save water and improves plant quality and longevity. Pot-in-Pot is also ideal for using tender plants within large containers as shown here.

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Temple Terrace, located on the East Side of Tampa,  is designated by the Arbor Day Foundation as a Tree City USA. Some of our Florida Native Trees are the best choice for longevity and structure.

Trees make gardening in Florida much more enjoyable. I can’t imagine gardening without the partial shade of trees. Plants growing in the full sun all day require so much more water to look their tropical best.

Trees create a micro climate as we see on days like today after a freezing night like last night. Trees prevent some radiation heat loss. As you look around your neighborhood this week you will see how much better plants growing under the trees survived this extreme cold snap of 2010.

The Temple Terrace Garden Club, the city of Temple Terrace and Tampa Electric Co. have produced a full-color Temple Terrace Tree Guide That is available with in formation on how to select the right tree for the right spot.

The guides are at the Temple Terrace Public Library, 202 Bullard Park way, and Temple Terrace City Hall, 11250 N. 56th St. Similar information can be found on the web at:

Tampa Electrics Florida Tree Planting Guide

TECO also has information about tree trimming. Learn much more about all the Florida Trees at this University of Florida Extension Service site.

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A few years ago we visited London and The Kew Botanical Gardens. This first slide show features the grounds near the entrance and the Palm House and Tropical Rainforest collections. I will post other sections later. The Conservatory was completed in 1848 in the Victorian Era. These showcase Gardens have been on my list of places to visit since I first heard about them as a teenager. It is a trip I will always remember. Most of the palms and tropical plants are species we can grow here in Florida.

Kew has the greatest collection of plants in existence and has them cataloged with many species accessible for study. You could spend a day in the grass garden or climb the alpine section exploring the rocks for a week. Think you know most of the salvia species? Take a look at the salvia garden and think again.

Kew offers many educational opportunities for all ages and all levels of gardeners. The Brits are over the top with gardening. I could spend a summer there traveling to British gardens and estates. Make that 2 summers. I hope to visit the Cornwall region in southwest England and the Eden Project, Cornwall’s most visited attraction. Cornwall is also where they film my favorite television series, Doc Martin.

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