Native Plants Love Florida Sunshine

So many plants just can't stand up to the heat and humidity of a central Florida summer.  Even those plants labeled for "full sun" aren't usually up to it.  There are some plants that can take whatever strong Florida sun comes their way.  These plants are Florida natives.

(Notice the baby lubber grasshopper at the bottom left next to the "www." He is no more.)

Some natives are named for their hometown such as Tampa Verbain, Glandularia tampensis.  I'm gradually incorporating more native plants in with the non-natives that I find do well in my garden. 

Finding native plants is becoming easier to do as more and more garden centers  are stocking them.  Riverview Flower Farm's Florida Friendly Plants stock Home Depots with this Tampa native as well as Blue- Eyed Grass, Sisyrinchium angustifolium and many others.


Blue-Eyed Grass makes a great border plant or ground cover out in the full sun.  It only blooms its bright blue flowers in spring, but it keeps its green grassy foliage year-round.  This plant laughed at the heat of summer and the cold of our recent winters. 


Native Blanket Flowers, Gaillardia pulchella, have reseeded and are popping up in all the sunny spots here at My Garden Path.  When these tall flowers take a breather from blooming they tend to look a little weedy.  All that needs to be done is to trim down to the lower leaves and soon they will be sending up more flowers.

A hybrid form of the Gaillardia has been added along the pathway.  This form is lower growing and much more compact. 

(Notice the lady-bug in the upper left next to the "www."  She has not been harmed.)

As I learn more about native Florida plants I am enjoying incorporating them into my garden.  Certainly, they are hardier and more reliable than many other plants which just don't have what it takes to survive freezing temperatures in the winter and the suffocating humid heat of our Florida summers.

Bluebird of Happiness

Bluebirds are associated with happiness and contentment in life.  I'm certainly happy to have this charming couple visiting my garden this spring.  I hope they make their home here. 

They have been visiting every day, making quite a show of catching bugs.  As I go about pulling weeds and other garden duties this cheerful pair seem to enjoy my company as much I enjoy theirs.

There is much to be happy about in the garden these early days of spring.  Along the sunny side of the back fence the new 'Julia Child' rose is blooming  in floribunda bunches.  I have been looking for this rose ever since I saw it at Bok Tower gardens.  It gets good reviews from Bok Tower and from other central Florida gardeners.


My happiness with the floribunda  rose, 'Scentamental' is probably going to be short-lived.  I know he's wrong for me, but I don't care.  I love him.

Seedlings in the sunny patch that is now a rose garden have been springing up and starting to bloom.  Blanket flowers, guara, hollyhocks, and alyssum have all re-seeded from last year's plants.  Yay!  Belinda's Dream provides lots of happiness in this spot.

Tall red pentas and more blanket flowers are coming back in front of the bamboo on the sunny west side.  A few sunflowers were added.  Butterflies and bees have gradually been coming around to visit them. 

There is more guara happiness along the path leading to the pot of bright orange geraniums.  Those geraniums were a Mother's Day gift from my daughter-in-love.  I'm very happy to see them blooming and rejuvenated with the spring weather.

What could be happier than little green sweat bees buzzing around sunflowers? 

And, finally!  Blooms on the bottle brush tree this year! 

"...happy is that people, whose God is the LORD."

Psalm 145:15

An Iris by Any Other Name

Many years ago, when there were no garden paths or gardens of any kind surrounding my home, a friend gave me some walking iris plants to place beneath the oaks.

The lovely neomarica longifolia puts up a many bloomed spike of yellow flowers while neomarica gracilis bears single white blooms with a blue center. Over the years these plants have multiplied and been placed in many spots at My Garden Path. They have become hopelessly mixed together yellow and blue. Until they bloom each spring through summer I have no idea which is which. Many have been given to fellow gardeners but usually without knowing which color was being given.


There are still plenty of each color both in the front and back gardens. Each bloom only lasts one day, but there are constant replacements opening throughout the spring and summer seasons. When not blooming, the long slender spearlike foliage is still quite beautiful on its own. These lovely leaves are cold hardy and only had a few burned tips after this past winter's cold temperatures.

Last spring a new walking iris caught my eye. Neomarica caerulea 'Regina' has very large deep purple blooms with just a touch of yellow in the center. The long slender leaves are much darker green than the other walking iris in the garden so she really stands out from the crowd. I have also put this plant in an area all her own.

Another deep purple bloom is produced by the native blue flag iris, Iris virginica.  The one clump purchased last year has become three. 

I'm hoping these will multiply and bloom profusely filling up the space in the bog.  This plant is not a "walker" but is a clumper and I have read that it can be spread by seed.  The beautiful blooms last several days. 

Another plant that goes by the name of iris is the African Iris, dietes iridioides, also known commonly as Fortnight Lily.  These lovely white blooms with purple and yellow centers are suspended seemingly in mid-air and remind me of butterflies floating on the breeze when viewed from a distance.  This plant's blooms don't seem to last more than a day or two but a flush of blooms is produced at one time and then a rest period of a "fortnight" occurs before another flush of blooms. 

All of these plants with the common name of  iris grow, multiply and bloom well here in dappled shade under the oaks.  They have become a mainstay of my gardens and I love the way the blooms and slender leaves bend and sway with the wind. 

Veggie Bedtime Stories

The veggie bed garden with its containerized plants is starting to show promise.  The fig tree is leafing out and the flowers planted to attract pollinators are starting to bloom.

Seed starting didn't work out well for me this season.  I tried starting the trays outside this year because of the mild weather.  The sparrows, finches, squirrels and peacocks loved this idea.  The seed trays were ravaged and no seedlings were spared.  So, no green beans or heirloom Cherokee Purple tomatoes for the spring veggie bed.

Purchased plants for Husky Cherry Red, Yellow Pear and Early Girl tomatoes were planted and are flowering.  Sometimes "Plan B" needs to be put in place. 

One seed sowing venture did work out.  The blue basil seeds Penny at Terra Mirabilis sent to me are doing great!  They have these beautiful flowers and the whole plant smells wonderful.

Flowering rue is calling to the swallowtail butterflies.  I'm hoping for caterpillars soon.  The rue is planted along with dill and flat leaf parsley, all swallowtail larval host plants.  I do use the parsley in the kitchen now but I'm willing to give it up to the butterflies when they begin to lay their eggs. 

How about this eggplant?  There are two eggplant plants leftover from the fall garden that began blooming just as I was going to toss them.  They are a variety called "little fingers."  They get about 5 inches long and about 4 inches in circumference.  With a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper as a marinade, they grill to perfection.

I've never seen a red admiral butterfly in the garden before this year.  So happy to have seen several this early spring season.

Waking Up In The Garden

It's a great time to be in the garden.  Signs of awakening  life are everywhere.  Fern fronds are unfurling, even some of the gingers are pushing shoots up through the earth. 

Holly Fern

While most of the ferns around My Garden Path have proven to be cold-hardy,  they do go into a sleepy, semi-dormant state.  Growth is minimal until warmer temperatures arrive.

Bird's nest fern w/ ladybug on top frond

As they awaken they stretch their new fronds upward. 





The shady tropical corner is being filled with new growth.


Raja Puri Banana

Even the tropical bananas are waking up and throwing new leaves out into the spring sunshine.

Taking a stroll through the garden as it is beginning to stir with life again brings great joy.

(...and this morning we are receiving a wonderful ground penetrating rain.  Perfect.)

Costly Shopping at Costco

If I could just get by without having to purchase food when I make a trip to Costco I wouldn't spend so much money there.

It's funny, I never realized I needed a beautiful pink flowering cymbidium orchid.

When I saw this soft pink flower, all thoughts of bread, milk, cereal and coffee went right out of my mind. 

Instantly, I knew just where I was going to put my last minute addition to the shopping list. 

It's good to save money by shopping at a discount warehouse.  That way there's money left over to pay for the impulse buy. 

A Rosy View

The roses are filling out with leaves and even blooms.  I timidly trimmed Belinda's Dream, cutting her back by a third and pulling off most of her leaves.  It was very nearly the scariest thing I've ever done. 

New growth has been mostly at the top with some hints of leaves coming back on those bare canes further down the bush.  I stripped the leaves because of some blackspot she developed in November on some leaves that were up against the house. 

Some new companion plants have been added to the rose area, Stokes Aster, Stokesia laevis, is a native perennial that I'm hoping will love it's new spot. 

The rose, White Out, is in the background against the white wall of the back porch. White on white doesn't do it justice. Soon though, this bush will be covered with white blooms that show well against those dark green leaves.

See what I mean in this close-up view?  I love this rose. 

No trimming was done to my baby Louis Philippe who bloomed even during the freezing temperatures we experienced this winter.  The red and pink Salvia coccineas have come to life just in the last few weeks.

Two of these petunias were gifted to me by Pumpkin from Graceful Cottage Gardening back in November.  They both made it through the cold wonderfully well and have been continually blooming ever since being planted.  They make great companion plants for the roses.

Louis P. opened fully just in time for this post.  He has a wonderful fragrance.  See the ferny foliage in the background?  Thanks Meems from Hoe and Shovel for these starts of yarrow, Achillea millefolium.  I can't wait to see some blooms!

The roses are in a small area on the east side of the backporch in a corner formed by the porch and the back wall of the house.  Eastern sun shines on the plants there for about 8 hours in the spring and summer, less time in the winter.  In the summer, zinnia, Mexican flame vine, Mexican sunflowers and other butterfly and hummingbird attractors are grown here as well.  There aren't many sunny patches around My Garden Path so I try to make the most of this one.