I havent seen Dahlberg Daisy mentioned here yet, which is very easy to grow from seed. It is in the thyme family, grows about 4 to 6 inches tall, and spreads like a ground cover. The plants are very wispy and are smothered with yellow blooms all season long! I dont know if it reseeds, but you can collect seeds very easily. I use it en masse in front of plants that I am growing for the first time and am unsure of how long they will bloom, so that I know the dahlbergs will still have color. I love to weed around them (and weeding is the only maintenance necessary for them) because touching the plants releases its fragrance. I will see if I have a decent picture to post. If you would like some of my collected seed, just let me know! I have tons of them.

seedboy, I don't know that there are 'best' annuals. But there is a very long list of great performers under a wide range of conditions. You'll need to evaluate the locations on your property for such factors as sunlight (how long and how much), soil conditions, and drainage. In Florida, you'll have plenty of options for the warm and hot months (spring and summer) as well as the cooler times (fall and winter). For example, this is not the time of year, in your location, to buy a flat of pansies. Though they may look wonderful at the garden center, they will only perform well for a very short time due to the heat. Fall is the time to plant them, for an all winter-long dispay. If you visit the Florida Forum, be sure to ask what their FAVORITE annuals are. I'm sure that people are likely to list such plants as marigolds, zinnias, gomphrena, Catharanthus roseus, portulaca, and lantana (which is a tender perennial but used as an annual.) And MANY more.

The crux of the thread is that your plant has been identified and you'll find info about its care under "mandevilla" or "dipladenia". Mandevilla, however, is now considered the "correct" name of the plant (unless the plant experts have reversed their opinion and I missed that update). Dipladenia is the former ID. I found this info on several sites, one of which is below. June Here is a link that might be useful: Mandevilla or dipladenia?

Hi, everyone! Mmmm, apple cider doghnuts. I've only had those once, and we ate the whole bag within 15 minutes of leaving the orchard. They're scrumptious! Ollierose, I try to know the botanical names for the plants I grow, (or at least list them with it) so I only look up botanical names that seem really familiar, because those may be seeds I can send in and I'm just not making the right mental connection. If I don't recognize it at all, it's not something I can send in. If you want to look things up, the fastest way I've found is 1. have the google toolbar 2. type the Latin and the word plantfiles 3. read all about it. That's also my first step in deciding if I want a plant, but I always look them up on a few sites, because they all have inaccuracies sometimes. I like to increase my chances for trades by making it easy for the trader to know that I have what they want, or they have what I want, by using both common names and latin. Except I'm sure I've neglected to do that completely :) It's another cold, grey day, and I have so much garden cleanup to do, still perennials to get in the ground, plus a couple hundred bulbs--but all I want to do is sit in front of the woodstove with my tiny kitten!