by hoot-admin | Jan 31, 2017 | The Year in Flowers
Walter’s viburnum is a dense shrub suitable for hedging. Left to its own growth pattern, Walter’s viburnum becomes a beautiful shrub with a dense, rounded form, eventually developing into a small tree with a broad spreading crown. A group of Walter’s...
by hoot-admin | Jan 30, 2017 | The Year in Flowers
If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere. – Vincent van Gogh But you don’t have to look very hard to see the beauty of orchids. This Golden Glow Orchid, Laelia Canariensis, is bursting with yellow flowers. Beautiful!
by hoot-admin | Jan 29, 2017 | The Year in Flowers
While there are thousands varieties of bananas around the world, only the Cavendish variety of Chiquita Banana fame make it to the produce section of the grocery store. Cavendish bananas are harvested before fully ripe, and ripened with gas in a container while en...
by hoot-admin | Jan 28, 2017 | The Year in Flowers
Easy to grow and fast, too, arugula is a tasty addition to our winter garden. It is ready for harvest just three to six weeks after sowing the seeds, adding the perfect, tangy flavor to our salads. The flavor can get a bit too tangy once it starts to flower, so we cut...
by hoot-admin | Jan 27, 2017 | The Year in Flowers
I thought we had a ring of clover around our outside shower. I sometimes squat and look for the four-leafed wonder among the hundreds of three-leafed clovers growing there. Turns out these clover impersonators are not clovers. They are Yellow Woodsorrels. The leaves...
by hoot-admin | Jan 26, 2017 | The Year in Flowers
Pink woodsorrel is considered a major pest by gardeners despite the gorgeous pink flowers that blossom year round in Florida. All year, clusters of pink flowers grow atop heart-shaped leaves. Because the leaves resemble shamrock, pink woodsorrel is also known as false...
by hoot-admin | Jan 25, 2017 | The Year in Flowers
Our Southern Blush mango trees are in full bloom in the nursery. Southern Blush produces large, sweet mangoes with a moderate amount of fiber. The fruit is ready to pick when yellow at the base. We have several varieties of mangoes in 15-gallon pots. Call Tim if you...
by hoot-admin | Jan 24, 2017 | The Year in Flowers
Just a few days after posting about the lilac tasselflowers around our outside shower, the blossoms transformed into seed heads with white, fluffy, wind-borne seeds. Once pollinated by bees or butterflies, the seed heads develop filled with many seeds topped by white...
by hoot-admin | Jan 23, 2017 | The Year in Flowers
Cassia trees have showy, bright yellow flowers that bloom in the fall when few other trees are blooming. They’re also host plants for three types of Florida butterflies. Salt-tolerant, this showy, warm weather tree likes a sunny location with well-drained soil....
by hoot-admin | Jan 22, 2017 | Garden to Table
Our Matt’s Cherry Tomato Vine is prolific right now with dozens of tomatoes turning red every day. We picked a bowlful this morning along with garden-fresh basil. We sautéed the tomatoes and basil with a little garlic, and mixed in a 1/2-pound of spaghetti. A...
by hoot-admin | Jan 22, 2017 | The Year in Flowers
We have one clump of blue mistflower growing in the lane to the backyard. It took some digging to identify this native wildflower. I finally found it on the Florida page of uswildflowers.com. Blue mistflower is excellent for pollinators, especially native bees. It...
by hoot-admin | Jan 21, 2017 | The Year in Flowers
Backyard raspberries aren’t just for northern latitudes. The Mysore raspberry thrives in our Forida backyard. We keep ours pruned throughout the summer to encourage the first blooms to appear in January and prouduce fruit from February through April. When ripe,...
