Heart-shaped leaves, bright colors that illuminate shady areas, and cultivar selection galore - there is nothing like caladiums to pop your landscape! Caladiums come in background shades of pink, red, green, and white with similar color ... READ MORE
Category: Home Landscapes
Several orange Geiger trees planted at our office site here in Centennial Park in 2019 were subsequently damaged or frozen to the ground in a January 2022 freeze. Orange Geiger trees or Cordia sebestena are very sensitive to the cold and ... READ MORE
Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes
To see a buttonbush flower and get a whiff of its scent is an experience. The flowers – also called pincushion flower – looks like an alien satellite – perfectly round with numerous spikey projections surrounding it with a corona ... READ MORE
Category: Home Landscapes
Flowering vines are always stunning as they climb up a fence or cover a pergola with a display that demands attention and compliments. There are many to choose from, but one standout is the Mexican flame vine. With daisy-like, orange-red ... READ MORE
Category: Home Landscapes
I remember growing sunflowers as a child and was amazed at how big they got in such a short period of time – it was a fun-flower to me – both novel and colossal. Sunflowers are in the same family as marigolds and lettuce, and have ... READ MORE
Category: Home Landscapes
While I do enjoy eating spinach, I have also grown to love certain spinach substitutes that can take the place of spinach in our subtropical climate which includes vegetable amaranth and Malabar spinach. There is another spinach substitute ... READ MORE
Category: Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes
Basil is perhaps one of the most recognized herbs as it has such a wide fan base. Spring and summer are a good time to start your basil which fits into many places within your landscape. Basil is another edible ornamental that looks ... READ MORE
Category: Fruits & Vegetables, Home Landscapes
Silvery white or gray plants are rare in the garden, but one that almost always comes to mind is the dusty miller. This silver-white leaves of this popular bedding plant are unlike any foliage or flowering plant available. Planted ... READ MORE
Category: Home Landscapes
As a general statement, azaleas don't do as well here in Charlotte County as they would further north. Our soil is generally too alkaline, and our climate is a bit too warm. However, in my travels around the county I have noticed a few ... READ MORE
Category: Home Landscapes
A native wild shrub that has worked its way into the nursery trade - and our hearts - is the wild coffee. While it is a plant native to Florida, it is not coffee. However, it is an attractive shrub resembling the gardenia, a close relative. ... READ MORE
Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes