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
Florida is home to several native palms of interest including the one named after Charles H. Wright, a 19th-century American botanist - Acoelorrhaphe wrightii aka Paurotis palm aka Everglades palm. You have likely driven by a one or ... READ MORE
Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes
The New Year is a great time to make some horticultural resolutions that will benefit any landscape. Let's look at some resources that will make your landscaping experience in Southwest Florida the best in 2025 – we can help! The overarching ... READ MORE
Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes
I have written about this ornamental grass several times in the recent past but wanted to alert everyone of the fall show provided by this native plant. Despite the hurricanes, if you have seen a pinkish hue in area landscapes you are ... READ MORE
Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes
Another plant that you have seen in so many garden centers that you may have become “plant blind” to them is the Plectranthus – especially one called ‘Mona Lavender’. ‘Mona Lavender’ is a cultivar that is commonly available ... READ MORE
Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes
Each hurricane leaves its own signature on the landscape. Milton left us with widespread leaf scorch and saltwater inundation damage marring our once-beautiful landscapes. Things may look bad, but we can look to the future for some recovery ... READ MORE
Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes
Many gardeners are familiar with the orange bird-of-paradise plant, Strelitzia reginae. This tropical herbaceous perennial is a common landscape plant in our area and is known for its stunning orange and blue complex flower that resembles ... READ MORE
Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes
I was walking through our Demonstration Garden at 25550 Harbor View Road in Port Charlotte awhile back and found a relatively new planting of sea oxeye daisy, Borrichia frutescens. This beautiful native flowering perennial plant is chock ... READ MORE
Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes
Truly blue flowering plants are somewhat rare. Blue is a “cool” color which tends to be related to calmness, relaxation, and serenity - always welcome in landscapes. The sky-blue flowering plumbago is one of those plants. While commonplace, ... READ MORE
Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes
The rains have finally returned to the relief of all of our plants. Rain often triggers growth and flowering as well - if you have seen rain lilies, you will know what I mean. Rain lilies have burst forth in a blaze of glory with this ... READ MORE
Category: Florida-Friendly Landscaping, Home Landscapes