Hot Color for Hot Days in the Garden

All the orange in my garden is turning up the heat.

Crossandra  'Orange Marmalade'

Flowering Maple

Tropical Milkweed

Blanket Flowers

There are lots of Blanket Flowers here along the Path

Marigolds

It takes strong colors to not look washed out in the bright summer sunshine.  These flowers can take the heat of a Florida summer and reflect it back in gorgeous color.  

Blooms!

Blooms greet me everywhere as I walk through the garden these days.  Even though conditions are quite dry, the temperature has remained cool enough to encourage flowering. 

Easter Lily, Lilium longiflorum

The Easter Lily didn't open its buds until after the holiday, but these sweetly scented white flowers are welcome whenever they decide to blossom.  This specimen was received as a potted plant last year and was planted in the ground after it finished blooming.  The leaves totally disappeared and the plant was forgotten until a few green sprouts showed above the mulch in early spring.

Yarrow, Achillea

White flowered yarrow was planted in the fall.  Its ferny foliage stayed green all winter long and then this spring it began to multiply all over the rose bed.  This is the first bloom which appeared right on schedule this May. 

Brazilian Plume, Justicia carnea

Brazilian Plume is a fantastic shade flower.  For some reason, this winter wasn't as hard on it as last.  These small shrubs are still much smaller than in past years but they are back and blooming. 


Flowering Maple, Abutilon

I picked up two of these flowering maples from the clearance rack at one of the big box stores.  No information tags came with them.  They grow more compactly than the one I already have planted by the rain barrel.  The flowers are a different color too.  These bushes are about 2-1/2 feet tall and as wide, full of buds and blooms.  They sailed through winter. 


Cuphea llavea

These little cupheas are another clearance rack find.  They bloom constantly.  If they behave like my 'candy corn' cuphea, they will die back in winter but return in spring.  But, they may turn out to be an annual.  If so, they were worth the discounted price.



Stoke's Aster, Stokesia laevis

 The native Stoke's aster is quite happy in a partly sunny area to the side of the rose garden.  These have only been planted since early spring so I don't really know what to expect from them.  I had another plant that was sited in a sunnier area and it bloomed well until last month when it suddenly died. 

Coral honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens

The little coral honeysuckle purchased from the county jail plant sale for $1 has finally bloomed!  I planted this one last fall when it was only a foot tall and it has covered an obelisk that is five feet tall.  No blooms appeared until this week.  I've been worried all spring that it was not really coral honeysuckle.  But, it is!  Yay!

Blanket Flower, Gaillardia pulchella

Native blanketflower is still flowering.  Some of these are reseeded from last year's plants and some are a hybrid I purchased earlier this year.

Rain Lily, Zephyranthes grandiflora

We did get two inches of rain this past weekend.  I guess that was enough to trigger the rain lilies that live at the edge of the non-boggy bog garden.  While that rain event was quite welcome, the garden and I can't wait until the regular summer rains begin.

Blanket Flowers

Gaillardia pulchella is a wildflower that is native to Florida.  Commonly known as Blanket Flower, there are many species and hybrid forms. 

The species plants should re-seed true to the parent but the hybrids may not produce identical offspring.  We have all different types of Blanket Flowers around My Garden Path.  Some are short and compact with large flowers, just the right size to grow beside the path.

Some are at least 24 inches tall and make a great background flower to complement other shorter blooming flower varieties.  The native G. pulchella that was planted here last year has re-seeded with abandon. 

However, some of the new seedlings have two different colors of flowers on the same plant.  I think there may have been some botanical hanky-panky going on around here.  Whatever the colors,  they are great repeat bloomers. 

Drought tolerant, heat tolerant, prolific blooms, attractive to butterflies and bees, Blanket Flower is a great wildflower for the sunny areas of the garden. 

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.

My Favorite April Blooms

It's hard to pick favorites.  Every day as I find a new bloom it becomes my favorite.  I know my two roses have been shown many times before, but really can you ever see too many pictures of such beautiful flowers?  Belinda's Dream and Knockout Radrazz have been blooming since February.  This month they have been more beautiful than ever.  The Florida Gold sedum is blooming tiny yellow flowers which were a complete surprise to me.  The blanket flowers were a little late in showing off but late April brought an abundance of blooms.  Bleeding Heart clerodendrum is a new addition to the back fence in the shady corner and it is doing a great job of brightening that dark spot.  The pentas which have been a mainstay for color at My Garden Path were knocked to the ground this winter and are only just now putting out leaves about 6" above ground.  Tall red pentas were purchased and planted earlier this month to give the butterflies a reason to return.  Those pentas are such workhorses.  They just pump out blooms constantly.  When the purple, pink and white ones finally grow back to their former glory butterflies should abound once again.  I love to grow several different salvias and this Victoria Blue is a favorite of mine which just started putting out its long purple plumes earlier this month. 

I hope all my gardening friends are enjoying many, many blooms in their April gardens.