I grew a container garden in south FL for several years. It's a fabulous climate for gardening! Just don't expect broccoli and peas in summer. See link for planting calendar. As mentioned above, fall winter and spring are the only times worth growing many of the traditional annual veggies. Look into tropicals! First of all, get some pineapples going! There is nothing more satisfying than growing a pineapple, tons of youtube on how to start from the tops of storebought pineapples. Sweet potatoes! Ginger, lemongrass, turmeric do fantastically. Grow mangoes, coconuts, loquats, bananas, citrus! Some exotic summer veg are malabar spinach, kang kong (ipomoea aquatica), asian winged bean, Moringa Oleifera. Here is a link that might be useful: http://solutionsforyourlife.ufl.edu/lawn_and_garden/calendar/index.html

@ keraurduck For Northwest FL (zone 8ish) For tropical gardens I recommend making evergreen hedges (or a wall) on the north side, just to increase the protection from winter winds. I also recommend letting things get full and lush as that really enhances the tropical jungle sort of feel. All of the following are definitely hardy in your zone and I have personal experience with almost all of them Understory tree/large narrow shrubs: - Red Buckeye (one of my favorite natives, leaves are large and give it a tropical look+ has red flowers) - Florida Flame azalea - many bananas and relatives are hardy for zone 8 - Coral Bean Erythrina herbacea there is the native one listed or the hybrid Bidwell's Coral Bean which has a longer bloom season. bright red and unique flowers (these love sandy soil) Palms: - Cabbage palm of course - Sabal minor/Dwarf Palmetto (could function as a hedge/shrub "backbone" of a bed) - Needle palm - Butia/Pindo palm (edible golden fruit hardiest feather-type palm but silvery foliage might not match the theme) - Mule palm (hybrid of Pindo and Queen) MIGHT be hardy but I'm not sure, it is definitely the hardiest green feather palm there is Shrubs: - Winter Cassia can get tree-like but most likely a shrub for you - Hibiscus coccineus native Red swamp hibiscus - dwarf figs, various for foliage interest. 'Brown Turkey' and 'Celeste' both do well here for me - Red Florida Anise very cool plant, evergreen (not the edible star anise) - Small-flower Anise 'Florida Sunshine' another native star anise, this one has more chartreuse foliage that brightens up a shade garden (not the edible star anise) Perennials: - Coontie cycad (absolute must IMO, prefer native sandy soil I think, adaptable to a lot of different light conditions) - Red cardinal flower (needs a lot of moisture so good in a swampier spot) - Spigelia marilandica (another native shade-lover, very unique red flowers) - Salvia elegans, Pineapple sage. (edible red flowers in fall, lush and tall, benefits from some relief from sun during the day so dont put it in full exposure) - Salvia blepharophylla shorter red-colored shady sage - Salvia miniata another red-colored shorter shady sage - Cannas of course - Cuphea 'Vermillionaire', Cuphea 'David Verity', Cuphea micropetala - for ferns stick to native species as most others in cultivation are for northern zones or are invasive (like the tuberous sword fern). Christmas fern is evergreen -Hedychium coccineum (shade) Vines: - Manettia cordifolia, Firecracker vine - Red trumpet honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens a native evergreen vine. 'Magnifica' (orange) and 'Major Wheeler' are popular selections'. not aggressive - Carolina Jessamine, evergreen with very lush-looking foliage but a bit bigger than the other vines Two other plants I am unsure about for your zone but love are Firebush and Red Firespike, they might work if sheltered from north winds as I hear some people growing them in zone 8b. Lastly be careful about Elephant ears, many are very invasive. There is the clumping Hawaii series that is less invasive if you must have one. I really like 'Blue Hawaii'.

Sunken Gardens downtown St. Petersburg; $8 to get in and absolutely a fantastic day. Loads of nearby restaurants for when you are done viewing the plants. It's a small garden, but old, unique and interesting. http://www.floridasbeach.com/cms/index.php?id=3092 The 4-acre attraction in downtown St. Petersburg is a century-old celebration of serenity, a botanical and biological feast for the senses that features more than 50,000 tropical plants (representing more than 500 species), plus butterflies, flamingos and other exotic birds. Paved pathways make it easy to traverse the Gardens, yet the marvels within make it hard to leave.

When the community was built 20 years ago, the county required shade trees on the beauty strips near the side walks. The developers planted oaks but the strips were too narrow, causing the oak roots to lift sidewalks and driveways causing major damage to pipes, etc. The board is hellbent on removing all oaks lining sidewalks and new county rule states that new trees can’t be placed in a narrow strip. They already removed 90% of them in the community of 580 homes