Day lillies should grow for you, but look at amaryllis and agapanthus too.

Blue flowering Plumbago is beautiful with roses.

Kordes roses or others that have been awarded the " Earth Kind" designation should grow well for you.

I have a good friend in Florida and she grows the most incredible blue plumbago that should work really well for you she also does amarylis bulbs. They seem to pop up all the time for her and of course beautiful hibiscus

You can order repeat-blooming irises on-line from Nola's Iris Garden. I've had irises blooming practically all year, with a short rest in March. They bloomed at Thanksgiving, Christmas, January, July, you name it. I don't know if irises do well in your climate, so you'd have to check that out. They're great companion plants to roses. I have blue and yellow ones, and they make the garden come alive, and are especially welcome when the roses are not blooming.

I have a little area that I've been working on since last summer. It has a long way to go but here are some pictures. I have shade area that was really nice last year with ferns, hosta, and caladium but I am reworking it.

Plumbago, pineapple sage, fern,

Amaryllis (bloom and leaves)

Suncoast, Looks like you have a nice little butterfly garden started :)

Wow Sun, so many cool plants. I wish Lantana did better here. It is only an annual here

I love the red sage.

Thanks Jin and Kristine. I am trying to get the butterflies and hummingbirds to visit. So far I've seen lots of butterflies and the occasional hummingbird.

I have Milkweed too but my bee balm got weed whacked so I need to replace it. I have a fire cracker plant too but it's not bloomibg at the moment.

ladies, Thank you all for your wonderful idea's to help me with my cottage garden project. Sorry, have been unable to get back with you sooner due to a myriad of major home & family health problems forcing me to put the garden on hold. Needless to say not much has gotten done due to all the early rains (except lots & lots of weeds), & the 95-100 degree temp. Your answers to my questions have been absolutely wonderful,(Rhoda, I'm in Z 10also Cape Coral, where are you?) I can't thank you ALL enough & all this heat is forcing me to stay inside & plan my strategy. Can't wait for the cool weather & to get my hands back in the dirt again.

Forever grateful......Davie

Good luck, Daviedearest. You will find many types and colourful varieties here.

I am sorry you were not feeling well but Welcome to FL. It will be very different from back home. But you can always question the specialty nurseries here and get more information. Good luck :)

Jin

You can also plant delphinium in seed packs now. They will start
blooming around Dec/Jan. They are annuals here in South Florida. You can
also plant Hollyhocks. I had both growing this past year. My Hollyhocks are still going, but the whiteflies got my delphinium during our really raining times. I could not spray them because of all the rain. I haven't planted them, but I saw some blue balloon flowers at Lowes.

Rhonda: Would you mind sharing pics of your passion vine and Dutchman's pipevine? I'm so hesitant to place those two in my yard as I've only seen internet pics of these plant taking over entire buildings. :) DH saw a pic of a pipevine swallowtail, and he's ready to expand to different types of butterflies already.

I started a red shrimp plant this spring that's thriving now, but butterflies and hummingbirds (edited to change to hummers, not bees!) ignore it. It may attract bumblebees and honey bees now and then (not that that's a bad thing).

Davie,

Sorry to hear about your health issues, hope you're on the mend. I'm in Englewood in SW Florida on the Gulf...probably about an hour North of you.

Javi,

I'm not going to lie...the pipevine and passion vine can both go crazy. But, I just grab the clippers or pull out by hand. Mine are on trellises against the house and don't behave well, they're always creeping onto nearby plants. I don't mind though as I really prefer an unorganized garden for the butterflies. If you have an ugly fence to cover they would be great for that.

When I lived in north central Florida on 2 acres, I planted them at the base of long leaf pines and they just climbed up the trunks without any additional support since the trees had very rough bark. I loved that look! My garden looks awful now, really needs cut back again. I planted based on prior experience of having at least a few hard freezes so nothing got huge. Not here, plants just keep getting bigger and bigger.

Javi, I planted a dutchman's pipe vine 12 years ago against a mature pine tree, in almost full shade. The shade is what I think has saved it as the roots only got rain for water. Within 3 years the vine had climbed to the top (seeking sun), the vine was not very visible, but there were clusters of flowers up at the tree top. So, I might have lost getting to see those amazing flowers except with binoculars, but the vine is still there and I see now and then in my yard pipevine swallowtails... which was the point, after all!

Thanks for relating your personal experiences, Rhonda and irma. I'll bookmark this conversation; but at this point, I'm not ready for anything to go wild in my shared-fence, suburban backyard. If I felt the swallowtails and/or a good winter freeze could reliably tame the vines, I might give it a go. :)

Daviedearest, your garden is charming!

You aren't along in staying inside in this heat and humidity (and midge (no-see-ums) feasting.

Most of the "Florida bulbs" -- http://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/plants/ornamentals/bulbs-for-florida.html

have too much foliage for my tastes - it sprawls and attracts chewing insects.

Squirrels and night-time grub-pursuers are, I think, why my attempts with bulbs usually fail. I tried small iris bulbs ($1 from dollar store) this year - no sign of them sprouting. Ditto day lilies.

But pink rain lilies reseed each year (with my help) and increase with enough rain; I can send you seeds to plant in containers - will take two (?) years to flower; don't have to be planted in the ground. Let me know if you want me to mail you some; they do best in light shade, in my yard. The native wildflower, Spiderwort (Tradescantia), looks to me like it comes from a bulb, but reseeds itself and takes no care at all.

Having Jatropha, fire bush, and porterweed will draw butterflies seeking nectar - and none need special care - but require sun. Porterweed bush can get several feet high quickly, and gives a relaxed look, with tiny purple flowers at eye-height, and will reseed itself... I've never seen a butterfly on one in shade, though.