Variegated Flax Lily

Variegated Devils Backbone

Jewels of Opar

The White Garden is popular for many folks who want to enjoy their garden in the twilight and evening hours. This is especially needed in the shorter days of fall, winter and spring when the weather here in paradise is why we live in Florida and enjoy it so much .Variegated Flax Lily, Devils Backbone and Jewels of Opar are three of the most dependable Florida Friendly Plants you can use in your garden. They live from year to year with few pests. Use them with repetition in your design. Plant individual plants, clumps of the same white plant or drifts of the same if you have a large area. The white areas will glow in the twilight as you stroll from patch to patch when colorful flowers in between will not show up.

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 White and Ivory Fountain Grass also add movement, height and bright flowers to the white garden.

Livingstone Daisy Mezoo Red works as a drought tolerant groundcover to give you the white garden effect.

White Pentas standout in the twilight in the White Garden and do double duty as perennial favorites in the Butterfly garden.

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White flowering annuals like impatiens, begonias, petunias, vinca and others can be used for the same effect. If you spend most of your time enjoying your garden in the evening then white plants and flowers may be just the ticket.

Ray White Petunias. The best petunia for Florida. Read more here.

Cora White Vinca. Disease resistant variety that made growing Vinca in Florida possible again.

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Did you ever go into a garden center and were so overwhelmed with choice that you couldn't decide on anything? Here is an interesting video that might shed some light onto garden center shopping dilemmas and happiness.

The Paradox of Choice Video introduction

With so many choices at the garden center these days how do you decide what to plant in your flower bed or garden? Successful gardeners usually rely on some past experience and couple that with recommendations from various sources. A common reason for choosing a plant is a reaction to seeing one successfully blooming in your area. You choose to have that plant in your yard too. When the plumbago is heavily blooming many people come to The Home Depot and ask for the blue flower they saw across the street at the neighbors.

Often choices  are made from what is available in the garden center the day you are there. The Home Depot tries to have it all. According to the Paradox of Choice video, they have too much?

Choose Success. Choose Florida Friendly Plants at The Home Depot that will perform to your expectations. Learn from your mistakes and the mistakes of others. Every day people plant vegetables that are out of season and flowers that won't grow in the place they are set. Ask questions at the garden center because this knowledge has to be learned for you to succeed. The Home Depot wants you to be successful in every purchase and will gladly give you back your money if you are not satisfied. While you are here, bookmark our Database Search Engine so when you are looking for that Right Plant for the Right Place you have a place saved to come back to.

"Consult the genius of place in all" to quote Alexander pope. Check out the free and easily accessible  U of F Cooperative Extension Service.

You are here reading this so you rely on the web for the correct Florida gardening information. Click on the Pass it on Florida tab at the top of the page to share success with friends, family and neighbors (another choice). While you are at it click the subscribe tab for regular updates on gardening success in Florida. Also check out our blogroll for some timely tips and interesting facts and images. I highly recommend Hoe and Shovel for accurate first hand Florida experience and the outstanding pictures that show Meem's success and learning experiences. You can't go wrong following Meem's blog. You are sure to see something growing there that would be right for you. The Dirt has plenty of timely tips and advice too. Make a plan. It could be as simple as I need a plant that is right for this spot in my garden. Choose to be successful.

George Washington Carver invented 108 ways to use the sweet potato. Sweet Potato Products

Plant Breeders today have found sweet potatoes can be very useful as sturdy landscape perennial color components. You can eat the ornamental varieties but once you taste them you will go back to the traditional and much more delectable garden varieties suitable for Florida. Maybe you want to have your cake and it eat too. Alternate your favorite color of ornamental sweet potato with edible varieties to create a pleasing and extensive ground cover to replace thirsty turf while enhancing the view in your landscape. Focus the water on the plants in rows using highly efficient drip irrigation and you will use a fraction of what it takes to maintain an equivalent lawn area. Mulch the entire area with free oak leaves from your neighbors that they leave at the curb or buy some Florida Friendly Melaluca or Eucalyptus mulch to keep the weeds down. If you interplant edible and ornamental types, as you harvest your edible tubers the ornamental vines will keep the view looking beautiful and quickly cover where the edible tubers vines are harvested. Her are some good reasons you might Eat the View.

Ornamental Sweet Potato tuber of Sweet Potato Vine 'Margarita'

Today, colorful hybrids are readily available in gallon containers and in 9 count Classic Selection trays at most Florida Home Depot stores.

Ornamental Sweet Potatoes are easy to plant and thrive in Florida.

They make an excellent spreading ground cover and make the color of the other plants in your garden stand out. Think of ways to use the prolific and easy to care for plants as complementary components in designing with color. They can also be used dependably as SPILLERS and FILLERS in container combinations.

For the 11th year, FNGLA will participate in the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival with an all-new concept and theme: Green Gardening for the family.  Focusing on two typical households, the garden will focus on two “families”: the I.B. Green household and the R.U. Wasteful family and the common practices of each.  
 

The “Green” family will showcase the concepts of “Right Plant, Right Place,” composting, water conservation, gardening for consumption and will include an area focusing on bio-fuel plants while the “Wasteful” family will highlight some commonly found non-green practices such as improper use of plant material, excess recyclable waste not being recycled and the like.  This new, cutting-edge, contemporary theme showcases FNGLA as a leader in the green sustainability movement bringing easy-to-implement green practices, focused on plants.

Opening Day is March 18 of the 10½ week festival ending on June 1. We will be volunteering along with other Florida Nursery Growers and Landscape Associate members to share the wealth of knowledge available to go "Green"

1. Identify entry points and locations where color and texture would give your home the most impact. Start with planted containers that you can move around until you get a feel for what works. Experimenting with container plants is easy and inexpensive.

2. Determine which plants have the greatest appeal to you and your color scheme. Make sure they’re adapted to the light levels of the spots you want to “colorize.”

3. Start with focal plants that will anchor your design then experiment with other plants that compliment their colors and textures.

4. Fill in the spaces and enhance the containers. Use the Thriller, Filler, Spiller design concept to add interest and pop to your container and bed plantings. Start with plants you like and change or add to them as you find more colors and textures that add excitement to your design.

5. Use Repetition in your design. Repeating the same plant or plants across the design adds continuity and harmony to the landscape. Avoid a hodgepodge of one-of-everything that looks like a plant collection out of control.

6. Determine your water source and the needs of your plants and design before you begin to plant. Incorporate low volume irrigation systems into your plan.

In future posts, watch for ideas on how to create combination planters created from gallon pots, and our Classic Creations TM, Classic Selections TM and SausEdge TM. This will be an ever-changing part of this blog as warm season annuals and perennials come to the market.