Spring is the time to redesign beds and borders filling in with Florida friendly plants that require little maintenance, fertilizer or supplemental water, and that attract birds, bees, and butterflies. The web sites below offer information on optimum plants for your landscape: Amazing in-depth Site: Florida-Friendly Landscaping: Riverview Flower Farm’s Florida Friendly Plants Lists: Top Lists for Florida Friendly Gardens: • Top 20 Perennials • Top 20 Drought Tolerant Plants • Top 10 Natives • Top 10 Butterfly Plants • Top 10 Hummingbird Plants • Top 10 Edging Plants • Top 10 Shade Tolerant • Top 10 Salt Tolerant • Top 20 Annuals • Top 20 Combination Components • Top 5 Florida Friendly Proven
A Bee Mogul Confronts the Crisis in His Field - Beekeeping on an industrial scale is central to American agriculture, and “colony collapse” has proved to be a severe test. A New York Times article by Stephanic Strom, February 16, 2017. There would be no almond crop — not to mention avocados, apples, cherries and alfalfa — without honeybees. Of the 100 crops that account for 90 percent of the food eaten around the globe, 71 rely on bee pollination, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. This is pollination season for America’s almond trees. As a result, in recent weeks almost two-thirds of the country’s commercial bees have started buzzing through California’s orch
WHAT TO PLANT Annuals: Replace declining winter annuals with varieties such as angelonia, gazania, and salvia that will provide color now and into the summer months. See: Gardening with Annuals in Florida Bulbs: Plant caladium for a showy tropical display all summer. See: Bulbs for Florida Herbs: In addition to their culinary value, many herbs are ornamental and attract butterflies to the garden. See: Herbs in the Florida Garden Vegetables: Plant warm-season crops, such as cucumber, eggplant, watermelon, summer squash, pumpkin (calabasa), watermelon, peanuts, and sweet potatoes. Southern peas such as purple hulls, crowders, cream peas and blackeye peas produce abundant crops during the summe
As I write rain is beating a rhythmic melody on the leaves of the mango tree outside my second floor window and splashing on the roof tiles. Welcome music. It’s been raining since early morning reviving lawns, trees, shrubs, flowers, and vegetables. My only regret is that I didn’t manage to spread the composted manure that I picked up from a horse farm in north Melbourne before the rain started. For some reason plants much prefer rainwater and fertilizer that has been watered in with rain to municipal water. Today we’ve had as much or more rain than Brevard County typically gets in the entire month of February. But then spring weather is rarely predictable. What we can count on are wind, war
Dear Garden Club by the Sea friends, Happy March, Happy Sp ring! Although it is not officially Spring until March 20th, spring is in the air. The melodious song birds perched upon my barren crepe myrtles, cheerfully belting out their beautiful harmony, act as if it’s Spring! In the 14th century, before Spring was called Spring, it was just called Lent, in Old English. This time of year was the “Springing-time,” referring to plants springing from the ground. By the 15th century, it was shortened to “Springtime” and by the 16th century, was further shortened to “Spring.” I’m looking forward to our field trip to McKee Botanical Gardens on March 15th. There, I believe we will see a beautiful exa
