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Florida plantings - need some ideas

16 years ago

Just got a few new daylilies from Garden of Angels (great folks, by the way!)...they're planted in a new bed...LOVE daylilies, but they're in a location where I also need plenty of color, too..for all those times when they're foliage rather than bloom season. Criteria: something that will take the Florida sun K& heat...something that won't get big -cant be over an 18 to 20 inch spread- and can't be much over 18 to 24" tall. Is it possible?? could always do marigolds, but there might be something a little more interesting?

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Comments (6)

dragonkeep
16 years ago
Some things I had lots of luck with in Newberry FL were: Mexican (false) heather - comes in lavender and creamy white and blooms its head off until frost, red porter weed - attracts hummingbirds, Purple Queen, blue eyed daisies, cat whiskers, taller for backgrounds - Cleome. This was my purple garden with the addition of foundation plantings of fatsia japonica and Persian shield. The red porterweed was my splash of red accent. I also used Liatris, ferns, purple ornamental peppers and border grass. If we didn't get a hard freeze on the heather it would bloom all the way until spring. If we did, it came back with the warm of spring. These all laughed at heat and humidity.
beth7happy
Original Author
16 years ago
wow...great ideas, DK ...thanks. I never would have thought about mexican heather, but that might be just the ticket (at least for awhile) for this little 2' wide circle garden! ....it needs to stay low - it's poolside and has the little chimmenea in the center ...daylilies/heather alternating..sounds very calm and peaceful...but pretty.
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You mentioned grasses, I can't see how they would object to something so colorful as Japanese Forest Grass 'Aureola' or some of the Japanese Sedges such as C. elata 'Bowles Golden', or C. morrowii 'Ice Dance'. I like Carex glauca too for it's steel blue color. Tellima grandiflora, Heucheras, Heucherellas, Tiarella, Variegated Solomon's Seal, P. humile, P. biflorum, Pulmonaria - the flowers are so tiny on all of these but many are variegated or just have interesting shapes and texture or all three. Lots of Ferns - Japanese Painted, Ghost Fern. Also comes to mind some of the gingers like European, Asian and Canadian and Mayapple. The flowers sit tucked underneathe the plants. I am jealous as some of these selections would languish here in the Midwest; others do very well but all would look spectacular in your part of the country.
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A quick question: do you just let the snow stay all piled up by the sunroom? If so, do you find that you have issues with the melt and thaw cycle damaging the siding of the house? I ask because I have a similar situation. I decided that plantings were just not going to cut it because I needed space to clear the snow. My husband and I have decided to do a bluestone "edging" in the trouble areas several feet wide to facilitate this. During the growing season we will use pots of plants on the edging to bring some life to the area. Another option: A landscape designer I consulted about the problem suggested some sort of "snow slower" (not the actual technical term he used but I can't remember what it is called right now) that screws into the edge of the roof and slows the snow's fall so that it is not an avalanche. I had visions of my roof collapsing under snow weight and various leaks caused by screwing holes into my roof but he says he uses these "snow slowers" on his barn roof and they work just fine. They are supposedly decorative and he said they can look very charming but as charming is not my aesthetic and I have a standing seam copper roof that no one is getting near with a drill I passed on them but I could see how they might work.
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My go-to favorite is ruby swiss chard; very hardy, and you can cut the outer leaves to keep it coming. Saute in olive oil with fresh herbs and pine nuts (I add diced ham, too) - yum! Lynn
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Thanks you guys. You are all so great! I will have to go out and retake the pics on #4. I might have messed that one up! I might go ahead and remove everything but the Sycamore and the oak just to be safe. I have lots of wild grape vines, blackberry, kudzu, and other stuff the goats can nibble on that is on the *safe list* lol. I also have to cut out a bunch of carolina jessamine that is growing every where back there because its supposed to be toxic. There's not a ton of shrubs in there because the last people who lived here had horses in there but I haven't had any animals in that pasture for several years.
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missylin
16 years ago
Did you get these from the Garden of Angels in Port St. John?
beth7happy
Original Author
16 years ago
Yes, Missy..from Garden of Angels. I'm not sure where you're located, but there is also Kinnebrew Daylilies in Scottsmoor, I think... and this is a list of daylily gardens in Florida:

http://www.daylilyfriends.com/fl.htm
missylin
16 years ago
I was told Garden of Angels was not selling except through their daylily club this year. I wonder why?? I am near there and Kinnebrew, but can't afford Kinnebrew. I did write them yesterday and ask about Space Coast Sweetness, which I saw on the Samples' Daylily website. he invited me to see their daylily farm. They are very close to my mom, who lives in Titusville.
beth7happy
Original Author
16 years ago
Missi, are you looking to buy your plants in person, rather than mail order? You might be interested in the Daylily Show and Sale at Leu Gardens on May 17th. It's from 1 to 5 pm and sponsored by the Central Florida Hemerocallis Society. I'm sure hoping to go!! You might want to look at the Leu Gardens website under 'special events'. I'm also hoping to see a few of the 'local' daylily farms in May. There are just so many growers in Florida!

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