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bruggirl

Things that won't grow in Florida

bruggirl
18 years ago

I'm going to do a webpage with a list of things that won't grow here, or won't bloom here, or won't live at all through the summer, so we can refer people who just moved here to that page. What I'd like is for all of you ZDD sufferers to help me out. Give me a list of all the plants from up north that you tried to grow here, and what you found out. Be sure to put what zone you tried to grow them in, like 9a, 9b, 10, etc.

Here's my list:

ZONE 9B/10

Forsythia (yellow bells) - won't grow, won't bloom. Not enough cold weather.

Hostas - Will grow for short period, then finally dies out from the heat and humidity. Never bloomed.

Lilacs - fahgedaboudit! Don't bloom, eventually die.

Japanese Iris - Can be grown as a winter annual, but dies out in the summer.

Bearded Iris - won't bloom, not enough cold weather, rots in the ground in the summer usually.

Louisiana Iris - got it to bloom, but didn't multiply well, and just doesn't look healthy.

Spring flowering bulbs (daffodils, narcissus, tulips, hyacinths, etc.) - Can only be forced to bloom by refrigerating bulbs, redigging before summer, and going through the whole thing all over again the next year. Not worth it.

Purple Leaf plum - Never blooms or sets fruit, but the leaves are worth growing it. Doesn't actually lose all its leaves until it's about to set leaves again, so it looks kind of scraggly in the winter.

VEGGIES AND EDIBLES:

Rhubarb - won't grow. Buy it at the store.

Spinach - challenging at best. Bugs love it. Not worth the trouble.

Apples - There are a couple of heat tolerant varieties, but to me, they don't have the taste of the apples I'm used to. IMHO, waste of garden space.

Peaches & nectarines - See apples.

Pears, Asian pears - forget it.

Japanese plums, Santa Rosa plums - forget it. You might get the trees to survive, but they'll never bear.

Bunch grapes - won't bear in this area, but I've seen them bear further inland.

Comments (154)

  • Michael AKA Leekle2ManE
    10 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Instead we have Drummond Phlox which will carpet all the fields and sides of the roads every spring. Makes for quite a show.

  • GreenTiger11
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    What about herbs. I'm like really new to gardening. We have success killed way too many plants but that was on my wife. LOL I'm tired of buying my herbs from the produce department. I see them outside the fresh market in lil plastic plant pots and I was wondering do they all do well in Florida since they seem to sell so many of them. I'm primarily looking to grown cilantro, parsley, jalapenos (not a herb and I know) and rosemary. This are what I cook with weekly.

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    Deer~ they're the size of dogs.

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    last modified: 9 years ago

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  • a_micklos
    8 years ago

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  • Mallory Chaplin
    7 years ago

    I am glad I found this post because I have a lot to say about this

    Daytona, FL

    Since moving to Florida last year, I have learned a lot when it comes to southern gardening. I live next to an inter-coastal area so the salt will make all the difference. Also I have no shade, so that will also make all the difference.


    Failed plants:

    Oca - totally impossible for me to grow. All plants succumbed to rot, no matter how much I water them, I watered each plant in different intervals and it did not make a difference in their survival, they all just rotted away. I will take this off my list.

    Blackberry - this plant just died because I have horrible dry sandy soil and it could not take it, even when I mixed manure in with it.

    Arctic Kiwi - slow death :(

    Raspberry - some members are still alive for me, but the salt air is very hard on them and I have lost a lot of them, esp the amities.

    Bittersweet nightshade - bugs love this plant, still alive but needs all kinds of treatment.

    Cucumber - hates the heat.

    Corn - doesn't grow.

    Carrots - don't grow in the summer.

    Hungarian tomatoes - does a lot better in pots!

    Strawberries - a lot of mine are great and alive but they are very susceptible to rot as well.

    Mashua - also dies of rot and hates the heat, all plants died.

    Aunt molly ground cherry - HATES THE SUN! grows better in shade and spider mites devour them.


    Summer successful plants:

    Asparagus - grows fast and monstrous.

    Black nightshade - a native worth growing, lots of berries.

    Tomatillo and cape gooseberry - spider mites love them so spray them with hose, they grow better in the winter, they have attracted a lot of bees to my garden.

    Okra - loves manure

    Watermelon - grows fast

    False roselle and roselle - no problems, except cutworms in early stages.

    Lavender and rosemary - getting huge

    Black and white mulberry - Grows fast and healthy

    Avocado - grows a lot and not bothered by heat

    Habanaro - not the biggest fan of the hot sun but has lived more than a year in a pot and I have three grocery bags full of hot peppers.

    Chinese lantern - growth has slowed in the summer, it wilts in the summer sun, but foliage is still dark green and healthy.

    Angel's trumpet - grows like crazy!

    Thyme, mint, oregano, sweet marjorum, sage - healthy plants

    sweet potato - fast grower!

    guava - takes neglect

    Olive - loves it here!

    Banana - dong great!

    Natal plum - yes!

    Muscadine - mine has taken a lot of beating by the crappy HOA management company but it grows fast and well.


    Iffy summer plants:

    Surinam cherry - it's alive but is not a fan of this heat, the young seedlings die of sunburn.

    Goji berry - loses all of its leaves and only has berries on stems, I hope it makes it through the summer.

    strawberries again - it is a miracle that mine are still dark green and alive in this salty wasteland.

    Concord grape - grows very slow

    Passionfruit - also grows very slow, bugs love it!

    Malabar - my seedlings succumb to pinching off, I do not water them either. Start early.

    Purple and regular basil - very sensitive to transplanting and being touched in general. prefers shade more.

    Pomegranate - extremely slow growing here

    Squash - high demand of water, not a fan of the sunny side

    Chayote - hates the sun shining on the soil, needs more shade, died eventually, I will try this one again because my neighbor grows it fine. I will need to give it more shelter, which I don't have a lot of.




  • dirtygardener73
    7 years ago

    Are you planting by the UF calendar? Our gardening seasons are reversed from the rest of the country, so we plant in August and September and then again for a quick crop in the spring. There are very few veggies that like our summers. Google "Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide" and check the chart to see what you should plant when.

    Sounds to me like you are trying to grow some stuff that doesn't grow well in FL at all, like concord grapes. It's not cold enough for those here. Pomegrantes need acid soil, so you'll have to have the pH checked and adjust as needed. In the meantime, aluminum sulfate is good for acidifying soil.

    I think your main problem is that you're planting things in the wrong time of year. Many transplants make that mistake. If you have a local extension service, call them and ask for some literature or a link to their website for reference.

  • Mallory Chaplin
    7 years ago

    We just don't get enough rain here, we haven't had rain in 2 weeks... the grass looks horrible.

    Everyone else gets the rain, and I also have no trees near the house for cover. I am a deep Vermont northern gardener so the seasons here are alien to me lol.

    the Okra is loving everything here.


  • Mallory Chaplin
    7 years ago

    My asparagus and pomegranate look alright, or at least I think. My late planted Florida cranberry seedlings succeeded.


  • dirtygardener73
    7 years ago

    Yes, you do have to water during dry spells, which is basically the entire winter. The veggies that grow well in the summer are eggplant, sweet potatoes, southern peas, cherry tomatoes, lima beans, okra and peppers. Everything else grows in the winter and early spring. It takes some getting used to. I didn't know this either when I moved to Z9b, and I killed a lot of stuff. Don't worry, you'll learn.

  • Mallory Chaplin
    7 years ago

    I do not think I will ever try oca again, maybe it would work in the winter but it is so expensive to purchase, it really bothered me when the plants died. I spent $10 on 6 oca roots. If anyone has any idea what veggies out there that are a replacement of rhubarb and survives in FL let me know. I thought oca would be the perfect replacement, but it was a failure :(

  • bea (zone 9a -Jax area)
    7 years ago

    Mallory the veggies DG lists are about the only ones that grow well for me. Except I will NEVER grow okra - my mother made me eat it when I was a kid and I swore it would never cross my lips when I grew up. Even these last 2-3 weeks with mid 90s heat, my eggplants and peppers are full of fruit and I expect to get a good crop of sweet potatoes. Of course I have to water every day that it doesnt rain. This time of year I move all my herbs under a tree where they get light shade all day long. They dont look lush like the rest of the year but they survive until it cools down and pick up again then. I have Everglade tomato plants growing but they'll little because I started them late.

    I'm afraid that you, like the rest of us, are suffering from ZDD and it takes a couple of years to be cured and learn to appreciate the natives. You may have a relapse now then but dont feel bad - we all do. I have them when I see a pretty plant that says zone 9 but from experience I know it wont survive our summers and walk away dreaming of my beautiful, cottage-style, perennial beds up north. But then the north cant grow tons of things that thrive here, so it's a trade off.


  • Barbara Whitehurst
    7 years ago

    I grew 2 pounds of green beans in Dunedin,Florida. Need to enrich soil with Black Kow always before you start; regular watering daily if no rain;regular fertilizing with 10 10 10; add more top soil black cow;watch out for bugs-ace hardware had organic bug be gone spray. I pulled off 2 lbs of nice green beans. Now I have nice looking egg plants with flowers which are about a foot high. Hoping they are going to produce some purple beauties- nothing yet. Have an avacado tree in ground for about 3 years. Lots of fertilizer and regular water- lost a lot of egg sized avocados and now I have about 4 good sized avacados waiting to harvest soon. Roses you can do but need full sun, regular monthly fertilizing and every other day watering mornings NOT in evening. You will loose some. Take off old flowers down to 5 petal mark. Cut back by 1/3 Jan/Feb but spray cut marks with black sealer. Use blood meal and bone meal as supliment. Need to be in s big bed about a foot apart all by themselves. Buy roses for Fla. These are my tips!

  • Barbara Whitehurst
    7 years ago

    If you go away-bugs will come visit. Gardens here need constant attention

  • Amy Moore
    6 years ago

    carolb_w_fl, I would really like to get some cuttings from your daytona grape vine. It is one of the varieties I have looked for, but cannot find anywhere for sale. I am willing to pay for them. Please let me know if we can work that out. Thanks

  • Rachel Cross- Harder
    6 years ago

    I was born & raised in Florida! Lived here my entire life in St. Pete Fla ( the little thumbs down on the left of the state that sticks out. I HATE FLORIDA!!! I'm serious about my gardening!! I spend more time with my plants than I do anywhere else and I want to move to a dryer state that isn't so miserably hot & don't get me started on the nematodes!! Ugh! I know this threads a little old but I've had my fair share of what grows here! I've lived in brooksville fla now for 2yrs ( 1-1/2hrs NE & little more inland now than I was in St Pete) as far as melons, honestly watermelons grow very well in Florida!! A man down our street makes part of his living that way! He's given me awesome tips on growing watermelons that actually works!! Cut down on watering as melons grow or they'll split also They're heavy feeders & need to be planted just in time for melons to mature before rainy season hits or they'll succumb to disease n fungus. Melons, squash, cukes & tomatoes have to be sprayed or they'll succumb to bugs n fungus ( or implicate son serious organic practices for bugs n fungus!) and water often! Especially cukes wilt in afternoon sun but perk back up in evening it's normal to happen- Make sure soil is rich in compost/organic matter& if u can, do raised beds! Also mulch & staking - I've learned staking makes a huge difference with cukes & fungul probs! ALL GARDENING I DO IS WITH HEAVY SOIL AMMENDING or above ground beds!! Our sand here is crappy crap - lol - soil testing from the local extension office does wonders, also installing irrigation systems - u can get an awesome irrigation system with little misters and u can set it up however u want & it comes with all attachments ect. For 60-70$ @ lowes or Home Depot. Blueberries and black berries do awesome here just gotta get the right kind. There r many roses that do well here also most are OGR's or u can get them on fortuniana rootstock and make sure to follow a religious spray program!! I grow 200 of them and some are very easy wile others take religious spraying (organic sprays help also!) Belinda's dream is an excellent rose to grow here and so is prosperity and many others I could name but this list will be so long! I like to grow things that I don't see here that don't grow well here like meadow sweet - penstimon- delphiniums - astrantia and the list goes on n on ! I have 4 kinds of poppies growing right now! Also have geum- varieties of columbine and as far as veggies , melons and herbs they're just like roses here! Some need more attention than others and some won't survive without some kind of fungicide bc if our severe humidity. I still want to move tho!! I'm over Florida! If I'm not in a quarter million dollar house on the beach I might as well be in some other state so I can grow the kinds of beautiful flowers I dream about on a daily basis!! Like peonies!! Omg! I'll never forget the first time I picked some @ my moms new house in Ohio! And dahlias!! Matter of fact I just purchased 180$ worth of tubers from swan island dahlias- I did my research on heat tolerant varieties and got a list from the GA dahlia society online and I'm going to push the boundaries of Mother Nature this year really hard!! So if they don't flower well this year I'll be getting a big greenhouse to put them n many other flowers in- as far as clematis- I grow hr young- duchess of Albany- jackmani- and a deep rose pink I forgot the name and they all do fine with lots of mulch & light sprays of daconil or broad spectrum fungicide - planted up against the south wall of the house on trellises underneath the roof overhang with lobelia and Allysum underneath. I read they're are few varieties thatre wilt resistant I'm sure those will do even better here! I try not to listen to the laws of gardening when it comes to zoning for plants ( unless it's tulips or peonies or something that needs serious chill hours) I move my plants around from time to time if they decline and try to find the mini climates around my house n yard that work but I'm stubborn so giving up on them insnt an option and most of the time they end up doing better. Honestly in my opinion u just have to find what works for each plant! Do ur research to c what it is the plant needs n likes n try to imitate that to the best of your ability and NEVER plant directly in our sand unless it's heavily amended or ur growing fla natives or flowers that thrive in fla :) :)

  • Rachel Cross- Harder
    6 years ago

    someone mentioned asparagus? My friend n I both grow asparagus here in fla- I grew it for 4 years in st Pete with occasional spritz of fungicides during rainy season and if it got too bad I'd just hack it down to let it grow again -which meant spears !! Yummy! After moving here to brooksville it was one of the first veggies I planted & I never sprayed it & it did well for 1 1/2 yrs but unfortunately it Ended up w/ crown rot (or that purple streak fungus?? ) from accessive rains & bc I planted it into a flower bed that was amended way too heavy & rich for it to thrive. :( i will be growing it again tho!! I read that nematodes can be deterred by certain types of marigolds (some will attract them tho! so u have to do ur research ) and good amended soil that has loads of organic matter nematodes don't like- so I started a bed of lasagna layering and hopefully one sweet day it will be ready to plant in & the nematode numbers will keep low?? !!! Sorry for such long post I can talk a lot- lol -happy gardening guys!! And maybe one day I'll get lucky n be able to move somewhere drier that actually has real soil ... ugh!!

  • PRO
    El Chino Nursery
    6 years ago

    Apples are a no go.at all

  • HU-889672280
    5 years ago

    Japansee plums definitely grow

    well in Florida! Trees get covered in fruit which are delicious. Paul -Tampa

  • bea (zone 9a -Jax area)
    5 years ago

    Wow!!! This must be the oldest and longest GardenWeb thread! Started in 2005 and contains 128 posts…for now! A testament to how passionate, hopeful, resourceful we gardeners are…especially those of us who came from up north!

    As for me I decided a few years ago that it didn't do me any good to miss my perennial gardens from up north and started working on creating beds with native Florida plants. But I still miss my oxeye daisies.

  • blulagoon
    5 years ago

    Hi, I think I'll chime in. I moved to Miami Beach 8 years ago and I want to share my gardening experience. Most posts here have to do with growing veggies and northern plants. I have no desire to grow northern plants in a tropical climate. I guess I had my fill of them when I lived in Illinois, and also I get my taste of them when I visit my family(My parents are avid gardeners, and I planted a bunch of things at their place). Veggies I'll discuss later. What got me were the tropicals and subtropicals that WON'T grow here, or ones that get lots of issues. When I lived up north I had the dream of growing all of these tropical and subtropical plants; tuberose, calla lillies, agapanthus, gladiolus, hedychium, cannas, as well as many others, and I brought my potted plumerias down with me. I found that callas and gladioli act like annuals, they come up, bloom, go over and stay dormant forever( I would find the bulbs and corms still in the soil, with sprouts, but they never grew back). I was told that tuberose needs chilling to bloom. I did grow some, one variety bloomed, but the others I had were just foliage and never bloomed. Hedychiums are iffy. I found that plumerias and cannas, while virtually carefree and unbothered up north(and plumerias are super drought tolerant up there), get rust and critter infestations that don't happen up north. I've never tried growing agapanthus, but I saw them at the Fairchild Tropical Garden, and there were some in a bed near the city hall, and they looked pathetic, nothing like the beds of them in California. I tried Brazilian snapdragon, anglelonia, and pineapple sage unsuccessfully.

  • blulagoon
    5 years ago

    I decided to put these in two messages, as the first was very long. Now, veggies. I was part of a community garden here. My experience with veggies was not good. Even in raised beds(I tried amending the hell out of those beds, but in the end they always just turned back in to sand!) SO many things ended up as victims to drought(mostly my fault, the garden was for me like going to the gym is for a lot of people), iguanas and/or raccoons, and various diseases and pests. And many that made it and managed to produce, the produce tasted terrible, or it was deformed and stunted. I tried growing Seminole pumpkins, a native, should have been a breeze, right? Nope. It succumbed to drought and caterpillars. I only grew a few things successfully: green beans(I don't remember what kind, they weren't Blue Lake), Sun Gold tomatoes(my favorite tomato, and I'm not really that big on tomatoes!), Indigo Rose tomatoes, and collards. I've kind of given up. I think I'd much rather concentrate on tropical fruit, which which my love for far exceeds my love of veggies.

    And basil. Oy basil....

  • sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish)
    5 years ago

    I love growing basil here. It loves the heat and humidity and no pests really want to eat it. I have good luck with Asian types of vegetables. Chinese red noodle beans, japanese eggplants etc. The Indigo rose tomatoes did well here. Ghost peppers and jalapenos are great here, bell peppers, not so much. I grow some tropical fruit but have to overwinter in my gh so that sucks.

    I can grow Cacao trees up until winter -they are awesome BUT THEN, they go in the gh and once the heater is on no matter how I try to get the humidity up, they croak. Jackfruit doesn't seem to care. So I guess I will be growing that instead. Most gingers have done well for me except Midnight Ginger/Zingiber malaysianum. I might try that one again. I think it needed to be warmer and drier in the winter.

    I give up on lavender!

  • bea (zone 9a -Jax area)
    5 years ago

    In what zone are you? It really makes a difference as Florida truly has three different growing zones. In the south you basically reverse the growing seasons. In the north you get about the same amount of growing weather but with a break in the middle (July/August). Central FL is somewhere in between.


    I live in north FL and through trial and error in 5 years I have found what veggies grow well for me and stick with them. Three tomato varieties (although thry surely don't have as much taste as up north), peppers, eggplants, green beans, oregano, basil, thyme, bay, dill, parsley, sweet potatoes, loquats and blueberries.


    As for flowers I grow mostly native wildflowers in my beds but miss my perennial cottage beds up north. I also have potted tropicals do beautifully but usually spend a couple of months each winter in the greenhouse.


    But my BIG joy is my orchid collection…around 60… which are so very happy with this humidity and temps. So much better than they did up north. More than half of them are blooming right now And of the rest many are in spike. Love it!

  • dirtygardener
    5 years ago

    I have never had much luck growing veggies in Florida, now matter which part I lived in. I had a great garden one year in z9b, but we had a freak freeze that killed it. After that, I just gave up except for a few things in buckets. I really miss the ease of growing veggies I had in SC, with distinct seasons and what seemed like boundless yields. I know some people have the same here, but not without tons of soil amendments, fertilizers, and pesticides, whether they be organic or chemical. I'm just done with most veggies, and never expect much out of the ones I do plant.


    Flowers are about the same, which is why I'm changing to annuals from trying hard to grow perennials & bulbs with very little joy for 5 years. I had so many gorgeous flowers further south, but here, they just don't want to bloom. Last year, even my old faithful vinca did nothing. I'm giving it one more year, and if I can't get a successful flowering garden, I'm giving up, pulling it all up and learning to knit.

  • CoutureKidz Productions
    4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    I'll help to keep this old post current. I grew up in Ocala z9a untill 2013.. i grew every type of vegetable you can think, without any real problems at all. I used a lot of cow manure..about 5 yards.. it was a big garden. But I never once used fertilizers or pesticides. I was a mom with two toddlers using the garden as a way to keep the kids occupied and to teach them about playing in the dirt, growing life.. eating healthy..ect. It was the most fun i had ever had!! One year I was attacked by tomato hornworms. They ate 20 tomato plants in one night! And i had a problem with the eastern lubber grasshopper. The ones that start off as black and a red or orange stripe. Then turn into those huge creepy brown ones with red wings. Nothing kills those but stomping them out but I was always quick to catch them before they caused damage. Everything grew there and everything had great tasting vegetables that were like nothing I had ver had before. I didnt grow fruits except seascape strawberries.. they grew great. I hated how vegetables pretty much died every year and you had to replant everything every year.

    Now I live in ormond beach zone 9 b . My yard is too small for a garden so I switched to fruit trees. I'm going tropical.. like papaya, star fruit, lychee, longan, mangos. I might be pushing my luck but soo far I am doing well. Its It's really fun, the kids are double digits now and they still have fun with me taking care of the trees and picking the fruits..and berries. I have non tropicals like raspberries blueberry mulberry fig .. no citrus. Citrus ironically doesnt work for me. They always lose all of thier leaves and never actually grow.

    I now have two types of strawberries. Seascape and chandler. The seascape are 3 years old and flower but wont fruit. I'm so annoyed. The chandler are two years old and have only made one fruit..and a squirrel stole it. So I say strawberries are a no go here.


    I've also got a crazy deer population and they eat all new life. But we love gardening.. we love every part of it.. I think every home should grow food. And teach thier kids real world stuff.. like gardening.

  • Theresa24 (NeFL9a)
    4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    Thanks for bumping this post. I’d have to disagree on some things. I am in the Jacksonville area. I do fine with several clematis, one particular penstemon that reseeds nicely (I wish I knew the variety name), hosts and bearded iris do bloom for me too. I will say that the bearded iris like one particular place in my bed though. Also someone mentioned oxeye daisy. I have those too. And my neighbors have loads of apples albeit very specific varieties. Another neighbor has a crabapple that I hope to get some cuttings from this year. The fruit is starting to ripen right now.

  • Deborah Price
    4 years ago

    Not a lot of success with hydrangears. Soil drys outvtoo much for them to flouris. I’m in the Tampa Bay Area.

  • dirtygardener
    4 years ago

    Theresa24 - I miss crabapples so much! I had a gorgeous tree in SC, and was told they won't grow here in 9a. I used to make crabapple jelly every year.


    Deborah Price, that's strange, because I had hydrangeas in SC that never got anything that nature didn't give them, and they did great, even when it was dry. Of course, we had cold, wet winters, so maybe that was the reason. I've heard that Nikko Blue is the only one that really does well here. I bought one on sale last year at Aldi, and it managed to survive the winter, so I'm going to try planting it out and see what happens.


  • Theresa24 (NeFL9a)
    4 years ago

    Definitely a huge crabapple growing down the street. It hangs over the sidewalk and drops them everywhere

  • Tom
    4 years ago

    Carrie Ann if you are still reading this thread and are interested in butterfly plants send me a message. We live in the same zone and I have been growing plants for butterflies for going on 20 years.

  • godivaart
    3 years ago

    I grow spinach fine in Largo, Fl - as long as I harvest before the caterpillars get it. what I can’t seem to get to thrive is lavender. I can usually get it to last one spring and almost through a summer before it finally gives out. I buy a new plant every year because I love it, and start all over again. The one time I had one last a couple of years, it never bloomed after the blooms died that were on it when I purchased it.

  • bea (zone 9a -Jax area)
    3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    Lavender is my favorite shrub and scent. I had two huge ones up north. Unfortunately they dislike Florida…even in north FL. That’s why it’s grown as an annual in our state.

    https://floridata.com/plant/1164

  • Theresa24 (NeFL9a)
    3 years ago

    I have had Spanish lavender for many years here in Jax. gets full sun and good drainage.

  • Ellen Conforti
    3 years ago

    I have been gardening in zone 9a for a few years all in raised beds. I have learned to use grow covers on plants that don't need pollinators. It is great and it does keep the plants a few degrees cooler which always helps and in winter it keeps the plants a few degrees warmer. I amend my beds every year with Black Cow, peat moss, bone and blood meal. I fertilize with a granular fertilizer at the beginning and then switch to liquid fish emulsion and epsom salts for the rest of the year. Do have a watering system which makes it easier than standing in the heat watering. I grow lots of different tomatoes but blight always sets in eventually. This year I will try something new and plant all determinate tomatoes instead of Indeterminant (which keeps on growing and reaches very tall heights, but since the blight sets in all the time I will do the determinant ones which will set all the fruit at once and then it is done. Maybe I can squeak thru before the blight starts. I can grow cucumbers very well also but they have to be disease resistant to powdery mildew. They grow very prolific but once it gets to be too hot they also seem to die out, but we do get lots of them. They have some new seeds now that do not need pollinators which I will try under cover next year. Peppers, eggplants, string beans grow very well. I love melons and they have to be watered often and fed. But I see the bugs don't bother my watermelon as much as the cantelope. Swiss chard and bok choi grow well. In the cooler weather, under cover I grow cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower. Carrots don't need covers. Lettuce also grows well in cooler weather. If I get any cabbage worms I use spinosad. On all other pests I use Neem oil. Both work very well. Every year brings different challenges. It is always good to check your garden every day for worms or stink bugs, etc. This way you catch it early. I do use yellow tacky cards in all my beds which catches a lot of other bugs. I also walk around with one in my hand when the stink bugs are in season. When I see one it just quickly dab at it with the sticky card and they are stuck till they die. Great toll.

    Anyway, hope some of this helps as I know it has taken me many years to figure out what grows here and it is still a challenge but every year gets better.

  • Kyla Daly
    3 years ago

    I live in St. Augustine, FL and our nectarine tree fruits beautifully every year.

  • dirtygardener
    3 years ago

    O.K., I admit, bruggirl was one of my many names here on GW, and I wrote that list when I lived in SW FL, 9b/10a. I re-read it, and there are some things on that list that will grow well here in N. FL, 9a. I don't have much room to grow too much, but I can add a few that haven't done well for me up here:


    Most bananas - not cold hardy enough. The cold hardy bananas are usually small, desert bananas like Ice Cream and Orinoco. There is one more that is supposed to grow larger bananas, but I can't remember the name of it now.


    Mangos - They were hard to get started for the first five years even further south.


    Avocados - there are winter hardy avocados that grow in the mountains of Mexico that are said to grow up here, but I've never tried one, nor seen one. Those would be the only ones I can see that would thrive here. That being said, I had one volunteer from a seed in my courtyard, and it's now 4 years old, but stayed small and has pretty much stopped growing.


    Papayas are tricky. You have to grow them in pots the first year, then transplant them and pray they live long enough to give you fruit. Nursery-grown trees are the best. I've had no luck with seed-grown plants, but I know others who do, so I think my problem is a lack of pollinators.


    Tropical hibiscus - they're great if we have mild winters, but all of mine died back to the ground in a hard freeze a couple of years ago, and the ones that came back have never bloomed as well.


    Most bromeliads - there are a few species that are cold hardy, but you won't find the gorgeous, large broms like you find in S. FL. I really miss those.


    Palms - if you love palms, you'll be disappointed here. We have three palms I know of that do well here; Pindo palms and the native Sabal palmetto major and Sabal palmetto minor. Pindos are also called jelly palms because their fruits can be made into jelly, but I've tasted them and they didn't appeal to me. The squirrels here won't even eat them, and they'll eat anything.


    Of course, most tropicals like philodendrons can't be grown outdoors all year, but if you have a sheltered location, pothos will grow well and get large, as will syngonium arrowhead vine.


    That's all I can think of right now. I prefer what will grow up here in 9a, in fact, I'd really like to move to 8b where more of the temperate fruits will grow.

  • HU-583991684
    3 years ago

    LoL

    I love your style of writing.

    it showed that you had been trying them all and very upset about Not being able to grow them (In a way^^)

    We plan to move to Florida in a couple years and thinking of what plants I can bring with me to replant there.. almost none!



  • Kimberley Johns
    3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    About the Japanese plums, it must depend on what area you are in. Mine was HUGE and put out plums galore! I'm in central Fl.

  • Ellen Conforti
    3 years ago

    I am in zone 9a and have a Scarlet Beauty plum tree. I planted it 2 years ago and last year it gave me 175 plums. I admit I didn't have the heart to thin them so I propped all the Iimbs up and let it grow. I am sure if I took some off they would've gotten bigger, but they were fine for me and my neighbors. The tree grew to about 18 feet in that one season from about 7 feet. This year again it is full of fruits. The tree is a lot stronger now and I pruned it back to about 8 feet. It is a great tree. Whalt is the name of your plum?

    I just bought a 3 in 1 fruit tree with the Santa Rosa plum, Fantasia Nectarine and an Apricot. Can't wait to see how that one does. My Flordaglo Peach has about 20 peaches for this first season of its life. Fruit trees are so wonderful. I also just added a Sanguinelli Blood Orange. So many things grow here in 9a and it is a lot of fun.

  • MoreBasilPlease
    3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    I find it strange that so many people are trying to grow northern vegetables following a northern calendar in FL. No wonder you're having so much trouble! I'm in central FL 9B and I grow stuff all year round - but what I grow changes with the temperatures. For example, this past year in the cooler months (late fall/winter) I grew lots of leafy greens like lettuce, chard, cilantro, garden and red sorrel, bok choy, radishes, carrots, and peas. I've got a few pigeon pea "trees" (they live for ~5 years and produce pigeon peas year round. They are drought tolerant and infertile sand tolerant).

    I've got straight Myakka sand and I haven't been amending. To my surprise, quite a few plants were very happy in my infertile sand. The only thing I do is occasionally add some coffee grounds once in a while or some diluted urine. I'm now in the process of making and charging biochar to long term improve the fertility of my sand since any compost I added in the past disappeared almost immediately (to be honest, it disappears in my compost bin before I even really get a chance to use it).

    In October I started tomato plants from seeds - now that it's March they are flowering and fruiting. Everglades tomato is a FL native tomato that can perform even during our crazy hot and humid summers. There's also Floradade tomato, which was developed in south FL specifically to cope with the brutal summers and can handle up to 100F. I've got those sprouting now (mid March) so we'll see how they do. There are at least 10 other tomatoes I know of that purportedly thrive even in FL summers but they will not be the tomatoes everyone knows in the north. If you want to grow northern tomatoes, just do it in the spring; most tomatoes will drop flowers by June due to the heat. If you can keep the plant alive through the summer (usually by shading it from afternoon sun) they will start producing again in the fall when temps cool down.

    I've also got sweet and hot peppers, sweet potatoes, cowpeas, eggplant, callaloo (amaranth), garlic chives, lagos spinach, New Zealand spinach, Ethiopian Kale, Malabar spinach, Roselle, Cranberry Hibiscus, Chaya, and Moringa for the summer. Rule of thumb for FL gardening: Southeast Asian + Caribbean veggies do particularly well in FL summers and "northern" veggies grow well here in the winter.

    As for fruit trees... stop trying to grow what does well in the north and grow what does well here. I've got a monster guava that I never fertilize or water and can deal with the occasional cold snap. Mulberries also do particularly well - they are basically zero maintenance (no extra watering, fertilizer, thrive on neglect). They fruit multiple times a year (mine are flowering now). There are plenty of other options if you look.


  • Ellen Conforti
    3 years ago

    I am in zone 9a Florida and you are right, my pears and apples give very little fruit, but peaches and plums do really well. Waiting to see if I get some bananas. I am going to see if I can find some of those tomato seeds for next year that you mentioned. Mine are all planted for this year. I did try planting Malabar spinach and it is just starting to germinate. I have them planted so they climb up an arched trellis.

  • sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish)
    3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    North FL is a little different than So & Central FL, we get some actual freezes here depending on the year. I moved here from a zone 10a and was surprised my first winter in FL got down to 17F and stayed in the teens for a week! We have had a few yrs that we barely got a light freeze or two but we usually seem to get several.

    I have a seasonal greenhouse and I grow Longan. Jackfruit, Starfruit, Monsteras, Buddah's Hand, Red Australian Fingerlimes (took a few times to learn to grow these here), etc that would normally freeze here. They do quite well. My Monstera deliciosas even fruit.

    Growing what would work in my zone would be some stone fruits and the hardier citrus.

    I like a challenge or I get bored.

    I refuse to stay in my lane :)

    Bananas will fruit here without a greenhouse if its a yr that the plants dont freeze to the ground. I am in the Jax area.

    Dwarf Namwah



    Monstera fruit


    Buddah's Hand


    Starfruit


    Longan



    LLongan


  • Ellen Conforti
    3 years ago

    Your pics are very nice but I have only heard of the starfruit and jackfruit. Only tasted starfruit. We also had quite a few freezes here where I had to cover my bananas. I have 2 dwarf cavendish. One is taller than me and has been in the ground for about 10 months now. Do you know how long before it fruits. We have a lot of citrus, plums and peaches, pomegranates, paw paws, avocado, fig, apples and pears. I also have 2 pecans which I planted a couple of months ago but they haven't leafed out yet, we have a dwarf almond and a 3 in 1 tree with plum, apricot and nectarine. Life is interesting. So many things out there.

  • sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish)
    3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    I dont have Dwarf Cavendish but its usually about 15 mos till they flower. Every spring I throw some Black Cow on the nanner stands. I have a bunch of bananas near our Kunekune pasture and those fruit way sooner lol. Maybe they like piggy poo! 🐷🤣

    My Raja Puri & dwarf Namwah bananas usually mature in time (before frost).

    I have a dwarf White Iholena that should be producing fruit this year.

    In general, banana stands take a few yrs to really get going. They like to send out a few pups/babies before sending up their flags and flowering. Once the momma plant fruits, it dies and the new pups take over kinda like bromeliads.