Bedding Plants 101: How to Prepare and Plant a Flower Bed, Part II

Master Gardener Shelly Stein offers the second of a three-part series on how to prepare and plant a flower bed.

In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity. The words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow are perfect advice for most gardening decisions. When it comes to choosing flowers for your garden beds, keep it simple! First consider the layout of your bed, the style of your home and the color scheme.
Bed layout. Done! The best part about planting a flower bed in Westchase is that our beds are already “made.” Most of us plant flowers in an existing bed of shrubs around our home. Some of us will choose to expand the bed a bit to accommodate more flowers. (You do, however, need approval from the Westchase Modifications Committee to expand your beds.)

With all of the rules, you might wonder how and why things go wrong. The number one rule that I wish people would remember is: Keep the taller plants in the back and the shorter plants in the front. Duh! As I said last week, read the plant tags and trust that information. A cute little flax lily, for example, grows into quite a monster after a couple of seasons.

Style. Once you decide on your style, go with it! Some recognized garden styles are tropical, using bright and hot colors; cottage, with pastel, spring colors; and contemporary, using unusual colors. Thank goodness that there is no “fashion police” when it comes to garden style. If you stay true to one style, however, you are less likely to make mistakes. If you have a picket fence in your yard, the cottage garden style or the tropical garden will look great but not both at once! 

Color. Leading thinkers in history have studied color. Sir Isaac Newton developed the color wheel and Leonardo da Vinci developed color theory to explain the relationship of color in nature. According to color theory, colors have properties that can affect emotions, spatial perception and focal points in the landscape. For example, yellow is a cheerful color but also a focal point, so it should be used sparingly.

All Westchase homes have shrubs around their foundation, which would make Da Vinci proud. He would say that this is perfect backdrop for any flower. Da Vinci would also say that when choosing flowers, saturated or bright colors look best together as do pastels. Everyone has a favorite color, which is a good place to start. Look around the ’hood for examples of what you like and snap a photo for your next trip to the garden center. I often find my inspiration from the plantings at the entrance of our various Westchase neighborhoods.

Gardening mistakes are only temporary. When it comes to style, people know what they like when they see it. So, if you are inspired to try a new flower in your garden, go for it! If you make a mistake, no worries! Unlike our shrubs and trees, flowers are relatively short-lived. They will need to be replaced eventually and you can try something new. Additionally, bedding flowers are generally cheap. Lucky for my husband, I get just as excited buying a $9 flat of flowers at the nursery as I do shopping at Nordstrom’s shoe sale. If I make a mistake with my flower choice, I can chalk that up to experience and try something else next time without breaking the bank.

Next month, I’ll provide a case study in flower beds from my neighbor’s house.

Until then, read: Color in the Landscape: Finding Inspiration for a Color Scheme. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/EP/EP42500.pdf

Correction

Accompanying last month’s Master Gardener column was a photo of lantana that the editor mislabeled as verbena. WOW’s masterful master gardener has set the editor straight. He profoundly regrets the error.

By Shelly Stein

Master Gardener Shelly Stein is a resident of Village Green and can be reached at skstein2003@yahoo.com.

Bedding Plants 101: How to Prepare and Plant a Flower Bed

This month Master Gardener Shelly Stein kicks off a three-part series on how to prepare and plant a flower bed.

I recently developed a talk on preparing and planting flower beds in response to requests from neighbors attending the monthly Master Gardening workshops, held the second Wednesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at the UTB Regional Library. The great thing about gardening is that there is always something new to learn. Since I learn by doing, I have vowed to never plant the same bedding plant in my front yard until I have tried everything suitable for that area. I currently have petunias up front and I’ll plant caladiums in the summer. 

There are a variety of warm and cool-season flowers to add color to our Central Florida gardens. Most transplants from the northern states automatically think of springtime as prime planting season. When it comes to bedding plants, more variety exists in our cool-season than our warm-season flowers. Summers come early, hit hard and bring the trifecta of heat, bugs and disease. Yet some good choices for summer flowers are available and nurseries are constantly improving plant varieties to withstand our brutal summers.

There are, however, four basic types of flowering plants for use in our gardens: annuals, biennials, perennials and bulbs.

When most people think of flowers, they think of annuals. Annuals complete their lifecycles in one growing season and include coleus, impatiens, marigolds, zinnias, Madagascar vinca − and most seasonal flowers found in the big box home and garden stores. When we have warm winters or cool summers, even our more tender annuals will remain alive for several years before they succumb to old age, bugs, disease or neglect. Often, they reseed themselves and your garden is graced with “volunteer” seedlings. For an extensive list of annuals suited for our gardens, see Gardening with Annuals in Florida: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/mg319

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Another type of flower is the biennial, which completes its lifecycle in a two growing seasons. There aren’t nearly as many biennials used in Central Florida beds but some include sweet William, hollyhocks and parsley.

Last are perennials, which include anything that lives over two years, including trees and shrubs. Small flowering plants that grow and bloom in the cool or warm seasons here are known as herbaceous perennials. In cold winters these plants might die back to their roots and then re-emerge as the ground warms. Under ideal conditions, some of these can grow into large, woody bushes, so be sure to consider their mature heights before you plant. Examples of perennials are penta, salvias, verbena, daylily, lantana and firebush. For an extensive list of perennials, see Gardening with Perennials in Florida: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/mg035

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Another plant that acts like a perennial is a bulb. Bulbs suited to our climate will emerge, bloom and then usually die back so the bulb can regenerate for the next blooming cycle. Examples include amaryllis, caladium, gladiolus and spider lily. Bulbs for Florida is an excellent publication providing helpful information on growing bulbs suited for Central Florida. See http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/mg/mg02900.pdf

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Right Plant for the Right Place

There are six considerations for any flower you choose to plant. This information is found on the care and maintenance plant label − the tag found in or on the pot or plant itself.

The first thing you will usually see is a description of the plant and its growth habits. It’s often difficult to know what mature plants will look like, so most plant tags now allow you to use your smartphone to scan a code. This takes you to a Web site with more plant information, including photos of the mature plant.

The second consideration is the bloom season. The plant tag offers a general guide since nurseries distribute plants around the country. Be sure to consult the provided gardening Web site guides for more accurate Central Florida information.

Third, determine the plant’s light requirements, usually illustrated on the tag by a graphic showing a sun with varying amounts of shading. Light requirements are critical; certain plants need a certain amount of sun to photosynthesize properly. For example, if you plant a sun-loving geranium in the shade, it will look good for about a month before it will eventually drop blooms and fizzle out. Note that many shade plants, such as the begonia, can take some morning sun or even full sun in the winter but they’ll suffer if they receive our harsh summer afternoon sun.

Fourth, it’s paramount to consider a plant’s size. Trust that the plant will eventually grow to the height and width indicated and that if you want it smaller, you will have to prune continually. When you prune a flowering plant, you often lose blooms. There are, however, some plants that do better with light pruning or deadheading spent flowers. Among these are roses, geraniums, marigolds, zinnia, and dianthus, but this rarely affects the overall mature size of the plant.

Fifth, the suggested plant spacing is another important tidbit of information. Overcrowding your plants will stress them and will invite pests and disease. To determine proper spacing, measure plants from the center of each plant.

Last, the tag will include some information on watering requirements. For most of us, our bedding plants will be watered when we irrigate our lawns. Keep this in mind along with how well the bed drains once watered. If you have soggy soil, your choice of bedding plants will be more limited or you can raise your bed by adding soil to help the water drain properly.

Note, however, that the tag’s instructions indicate water requirements once the plants are established.  To establish a bedding plant properly, you will need to water them at least once daily for two weeks, then every other day for two weeks and every third day for two additional weeks until you reach the plant’s indicated water requirements. Once established, many flowers do fine being watered as little as once or twice a week in more mild weather. In the heat of summer and in our cooler, windy months, however, keep an eye out for wilting, a sign they need water. Heat and wind lead to more water transpiration, so watering requirements may change from season to season.

Next month I will discuss choosing flowers based on height, color scheme, and style. Until then, visit a nursery and read the tags.

By Shelly Stein

Master Gardener Shelly Stein is a resident of Village Green and can be reached at skstein2003@yahoo.com.

Roses for Springtime

As Shakespeare wrote, “That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet!”

What’s in a name? When it comes to the panama rose, plenty!

The panama rose (Rondeletia leucophylia) or bush penta is a large, pink-flowering shrub easily grown in Central Florida. It is one of best winter-flowering shrubs in my garden. The panama rose flowers are small, penta-like clusters of tightly packed tubular blooms. They attract butterflies and hummingbirds with nectar at a time when little else is in bloom. At night it has an incredibly sweet fragrance akin to gardenias. This isn’t surprising because panama roses are in the same family as the gardenia – rubiaceae. I planted a panama rose in my side yard two years ago and it bloomed prolifically up until June–August when it only held a few, sporadic flowers.

The panama rose is a large shrub growing three to five feet high on average and approximately four feet wide if not pruned. This pretty, evergreen bush naturally keeps a nice, rounded shape. I have a neighbor, Judy, who complains that her lawn service prunes hers too neatly but they still bloom nicely, nonetheless.

Grown indoors or outdoors, the panama rose can take full sun to part shade. It’s also cold hardy in all but the worst winters. If it freezes to the ground in one of our odd, cold winters, prune off the dead growth and new shoots will reappear in late spring. Since the panama rose is native to Panama and Cuba, it is considered a tropical. Even so, it has average water requirements and does not like to be over-watered, so it should do well in the average landscape. If, like me, you are cheap, you will be happy to know that it is easy to make cuttings. So once you have one, don’t prune – share!

Annual Bedding Plants 101: How to Prepare and Plant a Beautiful Display

Do you want a beautiful display of annual flowers this spring? If so, come to the March 13 Master Gardening workshop at the Upper Tampa Bay Library to learn how! Our talk, Annual Bedding Plants 101, will be held 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday March 13.

By Shelly Stein

Master Gardener Shelly Stein is a resident of Village Green and can be reached at skstein2003@yahoo.com.

2013 New Year’s Resolutions for Westchase Gardeners

To kick off your New Year with a green thumb, here are some New Year’s resolutions for you!

I will plant a bulb. Who said that you can’t grow bulbs in Florida? Try planting crinum, agapanthus and gloriosa lily bulbs or transplant that beautiful amaryllis bulb that was a holiday gift from Aunt Joan. For more information, see: Bulbs for Florida (http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/mg029).

I will protect my plants. Frost or freezes are likely this month and next. With this in mind be ready to cover tender plants to minimize damage. See: Cold Protection of Ornamental Plants (http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/mg025).

I will not make the same mistake twice. If your plants do freeze, resist the temptation to plant that same species again. See: Cold Hardy Plant List for Central Florida: http://centralfloridagardener.blogspot.com/p/cold-hardy-plants.html

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I will not commit crape murder (or palm murder). Hard pruning of crapemyrtles and palms is rarely required. See: Crapemyrtle in Florida (http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/mg266), Pruning Palms
(https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ep443) and Pruning Landscape Trees and Shrubs (http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/mg087).

I will attend at least one Master Gardening talk at the Upper Tampa Bay Library. Expand your green horizon and learn from our gardening successes and failures. I hope to see you at the Upper Tampa Bay Library for one of our gardening talks this year!

Master Gardener Talks

If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to develop a green thumb, be sure to attend the monthly Master Gardening talks at the Upper Tampa Bay Library, located at 11211 Countryway Blvd. Each month, the library hosts extension agents and master gardeners who speak on various gardening topics. Each talk is on a Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

Jan. 9: Cynthia Glover presents Caladiums.
Florida is second only to Thailand as the world’s biggest producer of caladium bulbs and plants. Learn how and where to plant the colorful caladium to enjoy in your garden for years to come.

Feb. 13: Gary Martin presents Succulents and Cacti 101.
Learn where and how to grow plants that have few natural enemies and thrive in drought conditions. The variety and beauty of this plant species are astounding!

March 13: Shelly Stein presents Annual Bedding Plants for Central Florida: The Basics.
This workshop will describe how to prepare a planting bed and to choose the right plant for your yard’s conditions. You will be amazed at how little it costs to plant a dazzling display of color each year!

April 10: Verna Dickey presents Bromeliads.
Bromeliads are a natural selection for any Florida landscape. The colorful bromeliad not only serves as a low maintenance houseplant, but it also provides year-round color in the landscape.

May 8: Adrienne DiNesco and Carol Fanelli present Garden of Bright Ideas.
These experienced gardeners share their tips for creating a colorful and low maintenance garden. They provide practical advice and whimsical ideas to make your garden bright!

By Shelly Stein

Master Gardener Shelly Stein is a resident of Village Green and can be reached at skstein2003@yahoo.com.

A Healthy Lawn is a Hardy Lawn

One of the great challenges to Westchase life is maintaining a healthy, green lawn.

According to Westchase deed restrictions, St. Augustine grass is the groundcover required in homeowners’ front yards. There are numerous varieties or cultivars of this grass. On my street alone, I might be able to identify three to four cultivars, including a wide-leaved variety such as “Floratam” and a thin-leaved variety such as “Captiva.” There are even shade tolerant and dwarf cultivars, the latter of which requires less mowing.

The advantage of St. Augustine grass is that it is well-adapted to most Florida soils and climates. It establishes quickly and easily and may be planted as sod, sprigs or plugs. As with most turfgrasses, St. Augustine grass has certain problems, however. Mainly, it is relatively costly to maintain and it might turn brown in the winter after exposure to cold. Later, when it emerges from dormancy, it will grow and turn green again.

Like most turfgrasses, St. Augustine grass requires water to remain green and healthy. This means significant supplemental irrigation during extended dry periods such as Florida’s winter. Westchase is lucky because our reclaimed water is provided at a low, fixed cost.

St. Augustine grass also has relatively poor wear tolerance. It does not hold up to repeated foot or vehicular traffic. This is especially apparent in the winter months, when brownish, thinner patches of turfgrass emerge where kids congregate at the bus stops.

Depending on growing conditions, the grass may turn a brown or tan color until springtime. Another disadvantage is that the dead leaves produce thatch, a health problem that can also develop after excessive fertilizing and watering.

St. Augustine grass has coarse, wide leaves and stems and therefore does not grow as densely as some other species. Its major insect pest is the chinch bug, which can cause considerable damage. They’re often the cause of browning on the lawn’s edges by the driveway, curb or sidewalk, where chinch bugs congregate due to warmth. A chinch bug infestation needs to be treated.

Weed control can also be challenging, particularly when trying to control persistent, grassy weeds. When your turfgrass is stressed in the winter, weeds are more likely to take root.

In our Central Florida winters, keeping a green St. Augustine lawn means either dedicating a lot of time, effort and money or overseeding the lawn with an annual grass such as ryegrass. Since everyone wants to have a green, beautiful lawn, it’s important that we not slack off lawn care in the winter time. We should be mulching and fertilizing and watering. Of all the plants in your yard, turfgrass requires the most care, so be prepared to work hard or to pay someone to do it for you. The key to maintaining a green turfgrass lawn in the winter is proper fertilization.

Like us, plants need carbohydrates to thrive. Carbohydrates accumulate in a plant through the process of photosynthesis, which allows plants to convert sunlight into energy. This energy is either immediately used by the plant or stored for future use. If your turfgrass has ample energy stored as carbohydrates, it will help your lawn to grow and remain healthy almost year-round. Carbohydrates are vital to protecting your lawns from stresses from cold and drought.

Carbohydrate levels are protected through proper fertilization. When excess nitrogen is applied, the resulting growth surge consumes much of the stored carbohydrates, so the turf has a harder time recovering from stress. If excess fertilizer is applied late in the growing season, spring growth can also be delayed or reduced. Turf density will also decrease, giving weeds a greater chance to invade.

Lawn care can be quite technical due to fertilization requirements. Other nutrients also influence stress tolerance in lawns. Potassium (K) has been shown to alleviate stress, including the effects of cold temperatures, drought and traffic. An autumn application of half to one pound of potassium per 1,000 square feet will encourage earlier and faster spring green-up.
Be sure to irrigate and fertilize according to University of Florida guidelines. (See http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/EP110 and http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/TOPIC_BOOK_Florida_Lawn_Handbook_3rd_ed.)

To protect St. Augustine grass from frost, mow at highest possible height. Some lawn services like to “scalp” lawns at the beginning of the winter slow-growing season so they don’t have to come out as often. This approach allows the winter sun to warm the soil, which helps to germinate winter weed seeds. In general, the higher the grass, the deeper the roots will be. Deep roots increase a grass' chances of surviving stresses like cold and traffic. Mowing below the recommended height reduces the grass' ability to photosynthesize and forces the grass to put energy reserves into re-growth. (For more information on mowing heights see http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/LH028)

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As much as possible, protect your lawn from stress. Avoid excessive or repeated traffic over the turf, whether the traffic is from humans, pets or vehicles. (See http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/EP071)

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Further, reduce shade if possible or grow a cultivar or ground-cover plant that is more appropriate than turfgrass for areas of heavy shade. (See http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ep072 and http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ep226.) Be sure to request approval from our Modifications Committee before replacing turfgrass in your front yard.

The bottom line is that if we want a beautiful expanse of green grass, we need to maintain its health. A healthy lawn is a hardy lawn. A healthy lawn will look green for most of the time, but not all of the time. In general, wait until after the last frost to resod, generally in February or March. In the long run a healthy lawn will require fewer applications of herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides, protecting your family, pets and the environment.

To maintain a healthy lawn follow the guidelines found on the Your Florida Lawn Web site (http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/yourfloridalawn) and in The Florida Lawn Handbook (http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/features/handbooks/floridalawn.html).

On April 11 at 7 p.m. at the Upper Tampa Bay Library, Master Gardener Jim Hawk will talk about Lawn Care for Central Florida. Hawk will offer a lot of information on turfgrass varieties and each of their pros and cons.

Happy Gardening!

Master Gardener Plant Clinic

This month’s Master Gardening Plant Clinic will be held on Wednesday, March 14, at 7 p.m. at the Upper Tampa Bay Library. In their presentation, A New Take on Topiaries, Master Gardeners Carol Fanella and Adrienne DeNisco will discuss the creation and care of easy and fun topiaries.

By Shelly Stein

Westchase Cup Golf Tournament April 7

Round up your neighborhood team, grab your clubs and join us for the ninth annual Westchase Cup Golf Tournament!

The annual event, scheduled for Saturday, April 7, at 1:30 p.m. at the Westchase Golf Course, benefits the Westchase Charitable Foundation (WCF). All golf enthusiasts, novices, experts or wanna-bes are encouraged to register for a day of great golf, prizes and food. 

The tournament will feature a team scramble format with prizes awaiting all contest winners, as well as awards for team scores in three flighted divisions.  All players and teams, regardless of skill level, have some chance to win. Like years past, all players will receive an awesome player gift package. The tournament also features many on-course vendors and a $25,000 hole-in-one prize. 

We do expect a full field and a sold out event again for this year, so if you’re interested in participating, please register today with either Jeff from Professional Golf Events at (615) 480-4743 or jeffpge@bellsouth.net or WCF Tournament Chair Craig Gordon at 503-0124.

All proceeds benefit the mission of the Westchase Charitable Foundation (WCF).  “Every year our tournament gains more popularity as more and more people in our community become familiar with what the foundation does.  It’s an excellent opportunity for individuals and local businesses to demonstrate their support for the WCF,” said WCF President Sean O’Donnell.

The WCF is a 501(c)3 non-profit public charity that financially assists families battling a serious illness or facing a family tragedy.

WCF Golf Committee Chair Craig Gordon remarked, “We totally rely on contributions from people in our community to help families in need. We’re a 100-percent volunteer board. Our supporters have always been extremely generous in their giving to the WCF. And we hope this year’s tournament will be no different.”

The WCF relies on fund-raising to support families in the Tampa community. The foundation does not receive any state or federal funding. Since inception, WCF has raised and donated more than $150,000 to families in need throughout Tampa Bay.

By Ronda Woble

Where Our Flowers Come From

One of my favorite things about being a Master Gardener is going on field trips for my recertification. 

A few months ago more than 26 Master Gardeners attended a field trip to one of Riverview Flower Farm’s nurseries. Riverview Flower Farm happens to be the largest supplier of bedding plants for Home Depot south of the panhandle. The farm sells their plants on consignment and then takes back all of the plants that don’t sell and composts them.  The store with the largest volume of flower sales (meaning daily deliveries) is the Northdale Home Depot.

Riverview Flower Farm owner Rick Brown provided a tour of his farm, which offered the Master Gardeners a wealth of information.

Today’s nurseries sell plants at a much lower cost than they were able to do 30 years ago.
Technology and automation have created large commercial growers who deal in volume.  Riverview Flower Farms is a good example. The farm runs five nurseries in the area.  The one we visited near Seffner was one of the smaller ones. It featured approximately six acres of greenhouses on 26 acres of property.

During our tour we saw some very interesting contraptions for potting, watering and trimming plants – all operated by a skeleton crew of workers.

Most of the annual bedding plants we see for sale come from cuttings from California, Costa Rica, Brazil, Israel and Guatemala. Most, however, come from Mexico. The nursery functions on a monorail system; Dutch benches make it easy to move hundreds of potted plants.  Growing conditions are managed with air circulating fans, micro-irrigation, and luminous shade cloth/lighting.

While in each greenhouse, we noticed a constant movement around us from the shades, windows and misters. All of them are automated and operated by computerized sensors.  Rick says that he is able to monitor all of this at home via computer to handle any emergencies, such as an unexpected chill or power outage.

The plants are pampered in this very high tech environment for about six weeks until they are ready for sale.   It is therefore no surprise that the bedding plants in the local garden center look so perfectly healthy.  I almost feel sorry they have to come home with the likes of me to learn to fend for themselves in my garden!

One thing we noticed is there were no insects. Rick explained that fungus gnats, thrips and shore flies are common problems in greenhouse and nursery operations. The farm uses a biological means of control in the form of microscopic, beneficial nematodes; the nematodes attack the fungus gnat and thrip larvae. Thrips become more of a problem when the Citrus are in bloom.
According to Rick, the most popular bedding plants in Florida (based on sales) are pentas.  Research has shown that white flowers produce as much nectar as red pentas.

As a grower, what are Rick’s predictions? He believes we will have a mild winter. He also believes succulents and vertical gardening are going to continue to grow in popularity.
Breeders are constantly improving plants by creating bigger flower heads, better branching habits and brighter colors. Among other modifications they also strive to create more disease-resistant plants.

It was interesting to hear how nurserymen trick our holiday chrysanthemums, poinsettias and kalanchoe into blooming by exposing them to bright light from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. for two-week intervals.  This makes sure that there is a constant supply each week for the stores.

We also saw and learned about some newer plants to keep an eye out for this spring: 

Wendy’s Wish

This is a patented Salvia hybrid. A portion of its sale proceeds will go to the Make-a-Wish Foundation.  For a look, go to http://www.floridafriendlyplants.com/plant_database_results.asp?KeyWrds=wendy

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Red Flame Ivy (Hemigaphis alternata)

Planted pot-in-pot, this ivy can line your front walkways. Rick noted the most popular landscape color is purple.

Pink Ruellia

Expect to see a two-tone, pink, sterile Ruellia scheduled for early release. Read the UF/IFAS 2009-2010 FNGLA Endowed Research Fund Final Report, Breeding sterile and non-invasive Ruellia cultivars, at http://hort.ufl.edu/people/pdf/freyre-fngla.pdf

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Snow Princess

Keep an eye out for a perennial, heat-tolerant alyssum called Snow Princess. At the UF/IFAS Gulf Coast Research and Education Center in Plant City, Snow Princess is being used as a banker plant around Knock-Out Roses to control chili thrips. To learn more about banker plants, please visit http://mrec.ifas.ufl.edu/lso/banker/Using-Bankers.html

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SunPatiens

SunPatiens – a more sun-tolerant version of impatiens – will be in garden centers this spring. For more information see http://www.vivagarden.com/flowers/sunpatiens/index.html

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Master Gardener Plant Clinic

This month’s Master Gardening Plant Clinic will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 8, at 7 p.m. at the Upper Tampa Bay Library.  Carol Fanella and Adrienne DeNisco will present Veggies in the Landscape.  Have fun incorporating vegetables in small and unique places in your garden!  Learn what types of vegetables grow best in Central Florida. Fanella and DeNisco will discuss where and when to plant them and how to maintain them.

By Shelly Stein; Photos by Kathy Carlsen

Master Gardener Shelly Stein is a resident of Village Green and would love to hear about your garden at skstein2003@yahoo.com.

Gardening on the Wild Side

If most gardening strikes you as too tame, Glencliff’s Kathy Carlsen has the solution.

Carlsen has dedicated her entire backyard to raising plants to feed and attract wildlife, mainly butterflies and birds. She credits her green thumb to her grandfather, who was a gardener for the Wyndham, the Rosa Anne Grosvener’s House in Newport, Rhode Island. Kathy has honed her own gardening skills over the years as she loves being outdoors walking, golfing and gardening. She says that one of the best places to learn about gardening is to visit the USF Botanical Gardens and ask lots of questions.

Last year in her yard Kathy started a Florida native section, which will mainly bloom from spring to fall. The Carlsens receive compliments from golfers who pass by. It’s no wonder why! Their backyard is a vegetative oasis of everything but turf grass. It includes a variety of birdfeeders, birdbaths and other creative elements where birds and butterflies can perch.

Some common birds in her garden include Carolina chickadees, winter wrens, doves, blue jays, woodpeckers and Carolina wrens. Of the many birds she sees, Kathy says that the tufted titmice and cardinals are the most interesting to watch as they feed their young. For bird feed, she uses wild bird seed mixed with extra sunflower seed and suet blocks – although Kathy reports more racoons being attracted to that feeder than birds. Kathy also avoids corn since it attracts deer and other unwanted visitors. Open feeders reportedly work best. In her garden I also spotted a platform feeder, which must have been for the doves. Doves approaching a feeder look like they are making an aircraft carrier landing.

The butterflies that frequent the garden include the monarch, zebra long wing, Viceroy, Gulf fritillary, sulphurs, skippers, red admirals and zebra swallowtails. The Carlsens attract Zebra Swallowtails with parsley and dill. There is also salvia, passion vine, coreopsis, verbena, bee balm, and duranta as sources for nectar.

For years the Carlsens raised monarch pupae in screened cages with milkweed to observe their life cycle and then released them when they became butterflies. Kathy’s advice for host plants is to take care to avoid invasive plants and go to a certified Florida native nursery for advice.

To learn more about landscaping backyards for wildlife, see the University of Florida’s publication, Top Ten Tips for Success at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/uw175 Anoth.er source, titled Getting Started in Butterfly Gardening, can be found at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in564

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To identify butterflies that you might spot in your garden, try the Florida Butterfly Database Project at http://www.butterflydatabase.com

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Happy gardening!

Master Gardener Plant Clinic

Join us on Wednesday, Jan. 11, at 7 p.m. at the Upper Tampa Bay Library for Master Gardener Jim Hawk’s presentation, Dooryard Fruit for Central Florida. Hawk will introduce various tropical fruits to the home gardener and discuss which cultivars do best in Hillsborough County. He will discuss the pros and cons of each and delve into how the fruit is used.

By Shelly Stein; Photos by Kathy Carlsen

Master Gardener Shelly Stein is a resident of Village Green and would love to hear about your garden at skstein2003@yahoo.com.

Tan’s Inspirational Garden

As a runner, I have either run or walked by every house in our neighborhood. One stopped me in my tracks last month.

Located at 9630 Gretna Green Dr., the home had such an outstanding Halloween-themed garden that you couldn’t help but stop and look. Homeowner Tan Nguyen was out sweeping his meticulously clean sidewalk and I asked him if I could come the next day and take some pictures. He graciously agreed.

As you can see, Tan’s Halloween display was extraordinary! He said that the display was developed over the course of seven weeks in a “series of phases.” I am going to steal that phrase: I am in Phase I of laying mulch, which means that it has been sitting in my driveway in bags for the past two weeks. But I digress.

From the glowing pumpkin to the hand-crafted wreaths, everything Tan does is handmade. What motivates him is that he finds gardening to be a relaxing and creative outlet. Tan works from home for IBM and, like so many of us, he’s tethered to his computer for much of the day. Gardening is his excuse to get some fresh air outside and to exercise his other talents.

By the time this edition of the WOW is published, Tan will have spent approximately 16 hours over two weekends to prepare his Christmas display. In December 2009, it even won an honorable mention in WOW’s Holiday Decorating Contest, which is no surprise.

Every year he creates a different theme based on colors. Last year, he said that his theme was pink and that he received a lot of compliments from neighbors. This year, he plans on a red theme. After the New Year Tan will begin planning his next display for the spring.

If you feel that you need some holiday or gardening inspiration, I encourage you to stop by Tan Nguyen’s house.  Obviously he has a talent for creating a beautiful landscape display.

For those of us who need some more inspiration, I suggest two excellent articles from the University of Florida’s Electronic Database: Color in the Landscape: Finding Inspiration for a Color Theme ( http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ep425) and Landscape Design: Arranging Plants in the Landscape (http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ep449).

Happy gardening! (And if you see someone running by your garden gawking, just wave and say hi!)

By Shelly Stein

Master Gardener Shelly Stein is a resident of Village Green and would love to hear about your garden at skstein2003@yahoo.com.

Bridges’ Backyard a Feast for the Eyes

Anyone who admits to handpicking the stones for her garden is a woman after my own heart!

In addition to stones, Barbara Davis’ colorful garden in The Bridges has many beautiful features. It is truly a feast for the eyes!

As with all gardens, Barbara’s is unique in both its appearance and purpose.

Barbara has lived in Westchase for nine years and became inspired to begin serious gardening several years ago by a neighborhood couple who also have a lovely yard. Barbara says that gardening is her favorite “therapeutic workout.” Like most gardeners, she doesn’t mind working up a sweat and she claims that trimming shrubs is great for the arms. Her favorite chore is digging holes for planting and you can tell she does this often!

Like many avid gardeners, you can see that Barbara’s garden has a wide variety of plant species. Her colorful bedding plants in the front yard create a beautiful display. The best part of the garden, however, is in the backyard. Barbara’s backyard is truly an extension of her home. As you walk out of the back lanai with lush tropical foliage and bird cages, you are amazed by her back patio and the festive atmosphere of the yard. The backyard is full of garden whimsy: artistically arranged pots, bright flowers, painted pavers and some garden art. The Davises enjoy entertaining on their back patio and Barbara says that she loves the look on the faces of guests when they step off of her back porch into it. She is most proud of her bright cala lilies and sunflowers that border the backyard. 

Many gardeners enjoy decorating their gardens with planters and other artistic objects to express their unique sense of style and humor. Some folks like a lush tropical theme; others prefer manicured shrubs and lawn. For some, it’s all about roses. Others may like a more natural and untamed setting to attract wildlife. As a Master Gardener, I have had the privilege to visit many beautiful gardens around Tampa. Almost every style of garden includes some form of ornament or whimsy tucked here or there. Whether the gardener can still find it is another issue!

While many husbands complain about their wives’ spending on clothes, Barbara’s husband complains about her gardening expenses. I am sure, however, that her mandevilla vines and recycled bottle tree are a bit less expensive than Gucci.

The bright-colored glass of  her bottle tree refracts sunlight, dappling the surrounding foliage. Guests wonder if the bottle of vino they share on the patio may one day grace the garden border. It is truly an impressive display! The bottle tree is a garden whimsy staple that I have seen in Europe, Africa and Central America.

Before you remodel your own front yard, be sure to submit your plan to the Modifications Committee for approval. Because of our covenants, garden whimsy is best left as Barbara has it – in the backyard.

For a great blog sharing views on garden whimsy, check out: http://www.gardeninggonewild.com/?p=1398 Anoth.er great site for examples and how-to’s for ornamental container gardening, try: http://urbanext.illinois.edu/containergardening/whimsy.cfm

Have fun gardening!

By Shelly Stein

Master Gardener Shelly Stein is a resident of Village Green and would love to hear about your garden at skstein2003@yahoo.com.

Woodbay Couple Enjoys “Remodeling” their Garden

What motivates a gardener? The need to exercise? The love of nature?

Or is a garden a creative outlet or a way to relax?
For most gardeners, it is a combination of all of these things.

In May, I asked WOW readers to submit the names of Westchase gardeners with exceptional or unique yards. Over the summer, I had the pleasure to visit and photograph three of gardens, which I will highlight in months to come. Each was unique in appearance and purpose.

The first featured yard is that of Larry Bedgood and Gwen Sparer of 9903 Woodbay Drive. The submitted nomination for their yard said, “If you take a walk around the whole yard, you will see beautiful flowers, trees and even planters around the pool. Everybody that walks by the house stops and admires the hard work involved.”

The couple moved to Westchase in 1996 and Larry became an avid gardener as exercise per the advice of his physician. Larry and Gwen estimate that the yard contains over 3,000 plants and numerous species.

The yard has evolved into a series of large annual beds and 22 palm trees that provide a dappled shade. The large beds currently contain 252 annual vinca, annual salvia, bush daisy, marigold (which reseeds itself annually), and caladium, which emerge each year from underground tubers.

In the winter, the same beds contain pansies, pentas and petunias. Besides large flower beds, the yard has an amazing variety of other flowering plants and tropicals. These run along the back and sides of the home as well as inside the lanai. It is truly an impressive display!

Larry estimates that he spends about ten hours each week working in his yard, including daily weeding. His advice for anyone planting flower beds is to raise the beds by adding soil to make sure that there is adequate drainage. His tip for keeping a fresh-looking, green lawn is to seed it lightly with annual winter rye in the fall. This keeps the lawn looking lush in the cooler months and provides a natural source of nitrogen when the rye dies in the spring.

Larry and Gwen lament that every year they lose something to freeze damage. Like passionate gardeners throughout Central Florida, they are undeterred. Each year they begin anew, trying out new plants and flowers. Larry, who happens to be in the construction business, says that he enjoys trying new color combinations. He describes it as “remodeling” his garden.

I encourage you to drive by 9903 Woodbay to take a look sometime. The yard is truly impressive. Don’t be discouraged to try your own yard remodeling. Larry states, “If I can do it, anyone can do it!”

Before you remodel your own front yard, be sure to submit your plan to the Modifications Committee for approval. For more on similar remodeling ideas, visit http://www.floridayards.org/landscape/FYN-Handbook.pdf

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For more technical information on landscape design, including the choice of a design, the measurement of a site, and the use of color, visit http://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/clce/news/hansen_alvarez.shtml

Happy remodeling!

By Shelly Stein

Master Gardener Shelly Stein is a resident of Village Green and can be reached at skstein2003@yahoo.com. Click here for a listing of the upcoming Master Gardener Clinics at the UTB Library.