Monthly Archives: June 2024

Designing the Flower Garden

Spring is here, and gardening is on our minds. Flower gardens are exhilarating, bringing color, scent, and nature back into our lives after a lengthy and dreary winter. A well-planned flower garden can provide beauty from early spring straight through to late fall.

SELECT A SITE

As you dream and scheme your new flower garden, there are several important factors that you will undoubtedly want to take into consideration.

  • View. Where will the garden be most viewed from? Will it be from a window, a porch or deck, front, back, side yard, or somewhere else? Determining your view will help you decide where to place plants so that the primary view is not blocked.
  • Light. Observing how much light your selected site receives will help determine whether you will incorporate sun or shade-loving plants.
  • Moisture. Is the site particularly moist or dry? Awareness of this will also aid in selecting flowers that will do well in either of these situations.
  • Soil. Dig in and have a look at your soil. Sandy soil has difficulty holding on to water and nutrients. Clay soil holds too much water and provides reduced air space for healthy root development. Most plants prefer loam soil. To amend your soil to achieve the quality most plants require, turn a generous amount of compost into your native soil. Not only will this exceptional natural and organic modifier increase the nutritional content of your soil, but it will also increase drainage and the soil’s water-holding capacity. In addition, it is a delight to plant into! Adding a fertilizer recommended for flowers into your bed at planting time and then again monthly throughout the growing season will ensure happy, healthy, vigorous plants with lots of blooms!
  • Hardiness. Familiarity with your USDA Hardiness Zone will allow you to select plants known to survive and thrive in your area of the country.

SINGLE OUT A STYLE

After considering site selection, the next step is to decide which type of garden style you would like to replicate, and there are many to choose from, such as…

  • annual, perennial, or bulb gardens
  • mixed beds and borders
  • cutting garden
  • rock garden
  • woodland or wildflower
  • formal or informal
  • native garden
  • sun or shade
  • tropical style

and the list goes on and on.

Singling out a garden style before choosing your plants will help narrow the selection down and ensure the design is cohesive.

LAYOUT YOUR LOOK

Once the garden site and style have been identified, it is time to lay out the garden. Doing this on paper before investing time, energy, and money into the final project is a good idea. The selected style will determine the garden’s shape. The size will be determined by how much time and energy is available to invest each week in garden maintenance.

Once the garden perimeter is decided upon and drawn, fill the interior with a proposed plant plan.

  • Consider Diversification. Annual flowering plants last just one season. Annuals, planted after the last frost in the spring, will continue to bloom until hit with the first frost in the fall. Annuals must be replaced each year but are inexpensive and can provide the opportunity to change the look of your flower garden each year. Perennials will return year after year, often spreading or reseeding, making them very useful in the garden. Perennials, however, can be costly and have a limited bloom time with most blooming for just a couple of weeks during the growing season. It’s a good idea to select perennials with attractive foliage that will still look good in the garden when not in bloom. Hardy bulbs are another great addition, with most returning year after year but, as with perennials, they possess a limited bloom time. A well-planned garden, delivering a long bloom time, will include a mix of annuals, perennials, and bulbs.
  • Consider Plant Color. Add bubbles or circles to your paper plan to represent the flower color you would like to use in that area. Colored pencils are helpful in this step. Make sure that the selected colors look good next to each other. Silver-leafed plants make a great transition between colors that do not look particularly well up against one another.
  • Consider Drama. Large sweeping drifts of color add awe and drama to the flower garden while simplifying the design process using lots of flowers but less variety. Drifts are best planted with an odd number of plants to prevent the garden from becoming symmetrical.
  • Consider Repetition. Repeating plants and colors throughout the garden gives it a soothing and consistent appearance.
  • Consider Plant Size. For beds and borders predominantly viewed from the front, tall flowers will be selected for the back of the garden, with medium height in the middle and short plants toward the front of the bed. For island beds viewed from all sides, tall plants will be placed in the center of the bed, surrounded by medium-height plants and low ones around the perimeter. Be sure to leave enough room for each plant to grow to its full potential.

SPRING SUPERSTARS

Annuals
These spring-blooming annuals will provide exceptional early-season color in the flower garden and may be planted while there is still a chill in the air.

  • Bachelor Button
  • Calendula
  • Icelandic Poppy
  • Sweet Pea
  • Larkspur

Perennials
Perennial plants will bring the earliest color to the spring garden while also providing unique blooms.

  • Baptisia
  • Bleeding Heart
  • Columbine
  • Hellebore
  • Peony

Bulbs
Favorite bulbs for the spring garden should be planted during the previous fall season.

  • Blue Bells
  • Daffodil
  • Fritillaria
  • Hyacinth
  • Tulip

Sometimes planning a flower bed for long-term beauty and enjoyment can feel overwhelming. There’s no reason to worry! Driftwood Garden Center is available to assist with knowledgeable staff, an outstanding selection of flowering plants, and everything necessary to grow the perfect garden.

Top 10 Florida Natives

We are fortunate in southwest Florida to have a wide variety of gorgeous native plants to choose from, and it can be hard to pick just the right plants for your yard. This top 10 list of choice Florida natives is a great starting point for your Sunshine State landscape.

Why Choose Native Plants?

Native plants are uniquely adapted to the challenges of our 10b hardiness zone with the high heat and humidity during extra long summers, the year-round growing season, sandy soil, ocean spray, coastal flooding, torrential tropical rains, and the occasional hurricane. Florida native plants can tolerate many of those conditions and still flourish with lush foliage and beautiful blooms. Furthermore, native plants nurture wildlife and can better resist regional pests and diseases. As an added bonus, they are typically lower maintenance and can look their best even with minimal care.

Top 10 Florida Native Plants

It is important to note that not every Florida native plant will thrive in the southwestern part of the state, as the growing zones vary dramatically from north to south and from central Florida to the coast. Each of these plants, however, is uniquely suited to zone 10b and can be a beautiful choice for your yard or landscape.

  1. Beautyberry
    The brilliant purple clusters of berries in late summer and fall make beautyberry a surprising stunner in the yard. These shrubs grow to 9-10 feet tall, making them perfect as a privacy screen or to fill in larger spaces.
  2. Firebush
    The long, tubular flowers of firebush add a bright red pop of color in the yard and attract both hummingbirds and butterflies. This makes them a great addition to nurture wildlife, and the berries the bushes produce in fall will also feed other birds.
  3. Railroad Vine
    Also called beach morning glory, this vigorous vine with its bold blooms can serve as a groundcover, especially across dunes, and is also a hearty climber when provided support through a trellis, arbor, or fence.
  4. Gumbo Limbo
    A unique, beautifully shaped tree with copper-colored, papery bark, the gumbo limbo is an iconic south Florida tree and remarkably wind tolerant, making it ideal in areas subject to tropical storms and hurricanes.
  5. Black-Eyed Susan
    These nostalgic flowers with their sunny yellow petals and dark centers thrive in full sun and will bring cheerful color to a Florida landscape. As an added bonus, they are great flowers for butterflies and plenty of beneficial insects.
  6. Blanket Flower
    The bold red, yellow, and orange blooms of blanket flower can easily blanket a yard. Butterflies and hummingbirds love the nectar, while other birds will enjoy the seeds produced later in the season from these salt-tolerant flowers.
  7. Passion Flower
    The intricacy of passion flower is immediately eye-catching, and the beautiful blue, purple, yellow, and white of the flowers is a relaxing and lovely color palette in the These perennials are great climbers to hide a fence or fill in a trellis.
  8. Coontie
    This palm-like cycad shrub adds a great tropical vibe to any landscape, and is a versatile option that can grow well in any level of sunlight, from full sun to full shade. As a salt-tolerant plant, it’s also a great choice for coastal yards.
  9. Muhly Grass
    For ornamental grass in southwest Florida, muhly grass can’t be beat. Perfect for borders or filling in beds, the fluffy, cloud-like blooms in fall come in shades of delicate pink, purple, and white and add both color and motion to the space.
  10. Sabal Palm
    No Florida landscape is complete without a palm tree, and the sabal or cabbage palm is an iconic choice. These trees grow 40-50 feet tall, so be sure they are planted in a space where they have room to reach their height without interfering with anything overhead.

These are just a few of the amazing plants that are native to southwest Florida and can be beautiful in the landscape. Check with your local nursery or garden center for more varieties throughout the year, as new options are always available!

Choosing Native Plants for Your Yard

No matter what natives you prefer, be sure to select plants that will thrive in your yard. As with any landscaping, consider your overall space, sunlight levels, drainage, and soil quality. Also note each plant’s care requirements, as well as pest and disease resistance to be sure you can give it everything it needs to thrive. With a careful choice and proper care, Florida native plants can be amazing additions to your yard that will bring many years of tropical lushness to your landscape.

Salt Tolerant Plants

Salt can wreak havoc on landscaping and gardening efforts in southwest Florida, especially in beach and coastal communities. Fortunately, there are plenty of salt-tolerant plants that don’t mind a bit of spiciness in the air or soil, though their overall tolerances can vary. Which ones will thrive in your yard?

How Salt Affects Plants

Salt can impact plants in different ways, depending on their overall health, natural salt tolerances, the salt concentration they are exposed to, and how they may be exposed to the salt. For example, there is a difference between an occasional salty spray in the air and a storm surge flood or regular inlet tidal changes.

Plants may show salt stress through burn-like lesions on foliage, generally dry appearance, damage to tender roots, dieback, browning, or stunted growth. These signs can also indicate other diseases or pests, but a soil test would be a good step to see if salty soil is a concern. Of course, a beachfront landscape or yard on a coastal inlet is almost certain to have some salt impact, and choosing salt-tolerant plants is a great way to keep your yard looking great, even under such stressful conditions.

Salt-Tolerant Plants for Southwest Florida

Many plants of all types – trees, shrubs, flowers, vines, and grasses – can be salt tolerant and thrive in salty yards. Any landscape within one-eighth of a mile of the coast or a large inlet is a prime candidate for salt-tolerant plants, particularly in flood zones.

Trees can anchor the landscape, serving as centerpieces or focal points and providing shade. In salt-prone regions, more salt-tolerant trees include live oak, southern red cedar, mangrove, Magnolia, native cabbage palms, and saw palmettos.

Hedges and shrubs are great choices for a protective screen or privacy. Different types of like hibiscus, fire bush, plumeria, lantana, saltbush, yucca, prickly pear, sea lavender, juniper, and wax myrtle are all salt-tolerant shrubs, though their overall heights can vary.

Likewise, vines can also provide a great screen if a fence, arbor, trellis, or other support structure is available for vertical growth. Otherwise, they may spread as a groundcover and can be an alternative to turf grasses in salty areas. Railroad vine, sky-blue cluster vine, cat’s claw, Bougainvillea, and coral honeysuckle are all salt-tolerant vine options, though several different species of morning glory vines can be similarly resistant to the effects of salt.

If ornamental grass is preferred, choices such as saltmeadow cordgrass and smooth cordgrass are great for salty areas, as are coastal favorites like sea oats. If planted in thick clusters, ornamental grasses can also have some low screening benefits, though they don’t typically grow tall enough for an actual privacy screen.

Nothing beats flowers for a touch of color in the yard or landscape, and there are lovely and colorful salt-tolerant flowers. Indian blanket flower provides a warm palette of red, orange, and yellow, while beach verbena is a pretty pop of purple. Beach sunflower is the classic brown-and-yellow bloom favored for its nostalgic sunniness, and tropical milkweed is red, orange, and yellow. Lantana is one of the most colorful options for salt-tolerant flowers and comes in shades of pink, yellow, red, orange, purple, and white.

These are just a few salt-tolerant plants that can work well in a southwest Florida landscape. Stop by Driftwood for updated options and new choices in different seasons.

Using Salt-Tolerant Plants in Your Landscape

No matter which salt-tolerant plants you choose, you can use them to great effect in your landscape. Ground covers, vines, grasses, and flowers can help stabilize dunes and minimize erosion, while larger shrubs and trees provide windbreaks and privacy screens. The tallest trees can also eventually grow to be amazing shade. Shrubs and flowers also add color and texture to the yard, helping personalize it to your own style without sacrificing the quality of healthy, vibrant plants.

As with any plants, however, select ones that will thrive in your soil quality and sunlight levels and provide the proper support, watering, wind protection, frost protection, fertilization, pest control, and other resources each plant may need throughout the year. With appropriate care, salt-tolerant plants can give you many years of enjoyment, even in more challenging landscaping conditions.

Growing Mint in Your Herb Garden

Many of us love mint. With many different flavors of mint available at garden centers, it is easy to want to plant one of each. Planning ahead makes this possible to do, but lack of planning may have you tearing them all out.

How Mint Grows
Mint grows as a groundcover. The underground runners spread quickly and are difficult to remove if containment is desired. In other words, mint is often considered invasive and can quickly take over flowerbeds, vegetable plots and even areas of turf near where it is originally planted. Planting in pots placed into the ground prevents its escape, or intensive labor may be needed to help get mint back to its original proportions after it has wandered.

Planting Mint
To help keep mint under control and more accessible for use, many gardeners opt to plant it indoors. Attractive in barrels or pots by the kitchen, mint leaves and flowers can be easily available for cooking or beverages.

To prevent plants from looking rangy, frequently cut or pinch back new growth. Pinching off the flower buds produces more lush leaves and fuller plants.

Mints grow well in sun or part shade, preferring well-drained but moist soil. Although not particular about soil type, enriching clay soil with compost will improve the overall plant appearance and taste. Different soil pH values and organic compositions may also have some minor influence on the taste of different mints.

Most mints grow 18-30 inches tall. Plant at least 2 inches apart to prevent cross-pollination of different varieties and preserve the best flavors. As a perennial, the plant may disappear in the winter, but will return in spring, hardier and more vigorous than ever.

Using Mint
It’s no surprise that mint is an edible favorite. Not only is it popular for refreshing drinks such as mint juleps or mint-infused lemonade, but it is also ideal for…

  • Sauces
  • Salads, especially fruit salad
  • Flavoring for cookies, cakes and puddings
  • Jellies and preserves
  • Smoothies
  • Soups and stews
  • Ice cream, gelato and frozen yogurt
  • Garnishes on meats
  • Freezing in ice cubes for a drink garnish

Mint can be used fresh for a strong, vibrant taste, or it can easily be dried and used all year long. Both fresh and dried mint sprigs can also be fragrant additions to cut flower arrangements, wreaths or other greenery decorations as well. With so many wonderful options for mint, you’ll want to add some to freshen up your herb garden today!

Spider Mites

Spider mites are one of the most common pests in landscapes and gardens and feed on many fruit trees, vines, berries, vegetables and ornamental plants, as well as houseplants. These tiny mites are just large enough to be seen with the naked eye, but may just look like tiny, moving dots. For tiny creatures, they can do considerable damage to plants if left unchecked.

How Spider Mites Hurt Plants
Spider mites cause damage by sucking cell fluids from plant leaves. A small number of mites usually isn’t a reason for concern, but plants can sustain heavy damage if populations are high and the infestation spreads. You may notice a stippling of light or yellowish spots on affected leaves and often the webbing of mites can be seen on leaves and stems. As the damage continues, leaves may turn completely yellow, dry up and fall off the plant.

Controlling Spider Mites
Spider mites reproduce rapidly in hot, dry weather, therefore, keeping plants well watered is a good deterrent to heavy infestations. There are also many natural enemies to these pernicious bugs, such as lacewing larvae and some lady beetles that help to keep mite populations under control. Cultivating these helpful insects may be all that is necessary to minimize spider mite activity unless the infestation has already increased and spread.

Because spider mites are too tiny to pick off infected plants, judicious pruning or trimming of infested plants can help remove these pests. In heavy infestations, it may be necessary to discard an entire plant to take the mites with it. Do not put these clippings or removed plants in compost piles, however, or the mites will continue to thrive and will return to healthier plants.

At times, it may be necessary to use chemicals to deter spider mites. Be careful when using broad spectrum insecticides, however, as these will kill any beneficial insects as well as the spider mites, which can disrupt the delicate balance of a garden’s ecology. Simply spraying plant leaves with a blast of water, taking care to spray the undersides as well, can help to reduce mite populations by physically removing the spider mites. Insecticidal soaps and neem oil are also good choices when dealing with spider mites.

Once the mites have been removed, damaged plants may look bedraggled, but they will generally recover within a season or two, especially if the pests were recognized and treated quickly. Don’t let spider mites catch you in their webs – get rid of them today!