[mhoward48]

I know there is a drought right now, but need to ask. When you are not in a drought, do you tend to have a lot of flower gardens in your homes?

I hope to move to the sw area of Florida soon. I just love flowers, and a pretty garden. I presently live in the state of Wa. we have some lush flowers and gardens here.

I just figured yours would be more so, when not in a drought?? True, or am I way off on this? If not, please let me know how you pretty up your yards.

thanks

[Alphaman]

Sure you can have nice gardens here you just need to know what to plant and where, there are plenty of things online about florida gardening.

I am currently working on a garden right now getting ready for the warmer weather.

[riveree]

Keep in mind that it's not just a drought, but we have serious water supply issues in Florida (as does Georgia, Nevada, and countless other states).

Florida cities are getting stricter and stricter about water usage, and rightly so.

The new direction in gardening is to use native plants that need very little water. There are some beautiful native plants in Florida, many of them flowers.

There are a lot of great native plant books out there, but an excellent primer is:

Natural Florida Landscaping
by Dan Walton & Laurel Schiller

[Spree]

Look for a housing area that has reclaimed water for watering your lawn and garden beds. There are less restrictions and you can feel better about using water that is not used for drinking. It helps with the water bill as well.

[ACTS Mom]

The University of Florida has a world of information on Florida gardening. And SW Florida likely produces lots of tropical plants that we can't have here in Central Florida (or farther north). I wish I could grow a Royal Poinciana tree here, they are absolutely breathtaking...but we're in zone 9, too many chances for frost. Maybe in SW Florida you could have one!

Lawn & Garden - UF/IFAS Extension: Solutions for Your Life

[Alphaman]

There are some non native plants that are hardy like the plumbago it has really nice blue flowers. others that do well here are Dahlberg Daisy's, torenia, pentas, lantana, Gazania and marigolds. Philodendron, and elephant ears have nice large leaves.

Don`t forget daylilies the bloom all spring and summer.

[mhoward48]

Thanks to all of you for the helpful information. I just wish I could grow another " Monkey Puzzle Tree", but it does not look like those grow there. No matter, I will find some of your natural grown trees.

I will sure consider a home with reclaim water. I will check out the links provided as well.

[Alphaman]

Originally Posted by mhoward48

Thanks to all of you for the helpful information. I just wish I could grow another " Monkey Puzzle Tree", but it does not look like those grow there. No matter, I will find some of your natural grown trees.

I will sure consider a home with reclaim water. I will check out the links provided as well.

Anything that needs to over winter like lilacs or tulips forget about they wont survive here but there are so many things that do I`m sure you will have fun starting from scratch with your new garden.

[mhoward48]

Originally Posted by Alphaman

There are some non native plants that are hardy like the plumbago it has really nice blue flowers. others that do well here are Dahlberg Daisy's, torenia, pentas, lantana, Gazania and marigolds. Philodendron, and elephant ears have nice large leaves.

Don`t forget daylilies the bloom all spring and summer.

I will look these up, as well as the "Royal Poinciana Tree".

Thank you for your help.

[luvthatmouse]

My big battle is with bugs! They eat everything.