In Your Backyard
Podocarpus ‘Pringle’ – Podocarpus macrophylla ‘Pringle’
Small Leaf Clusia – Clusia guttifera
Dwarf Simpson Stopper – Myrcianthes fragrans ‘Compacta’
Camellia spp. ‘Yuletide’, ‘Pink Perfection,’ ‘Kramer’s Supreme’
Black Diamond Crape Myrtle – Lagerstroemia indica ‘Black Diamond’™
Tony and I went to Winter Park to Christmas shop. It’s a lovely little downtown area all decorated with Christmas lights and seasonal decorations. I was expecting that. But the traditional complementary colors of red and green were not part of the container display. Instead there were planted pots of bright yellow and pale yellow poinsettias, bright yellow zinnia-like annuals, and white poinsettias. It was quite refreshing and unique take on holiday plants. I liked it but I noticed two individuals who weren’t quite sure of the new Christmas colors. It wasn’t what they were expecting.
This seems to be a year for thinking outside of our comfort zone. Doing something that maybe a few years (decades?) ago would never happen. The combinations of yellow and white still seemed like Christmas because they used holiday plants. It evoked a spirit of gold which is a traditional gift for a baby in a creche.
Winter came early this month. Hopefully, it’s still supposed to be a La Nina winter, wet and warm. I’ve outlined what to do in your landscape and it’s just enough to keep the garden neat and thriving. You’ll have plenty of time to visit with family and friends, or travel.
If you can’t decide what to get someone for Christmas, check out my Plant of the Month. It was an easy experience with Costa Farms and our family was thrilled with their gift.
Did you hear how Gerald the Turkey did over Thanksgiving? Lizzie shows off her vegetable garden and updates everyone on the #SaveGerald petition.
Thinking about wildlife… if you would like to select plants for your landscape that deer really don´t appreciate, check out my ¨Suggested Central Florida Plants Least Preferred by Deer.¨
My Landscape Malpractice Tip #32 happened a long time ago. It still makes an impression on me to warn against lazy contractors.
I love my design tip this month. You will see it next year in many different plants, clothing, furniture, and on walls. I’m interested in what you think of the choice.
Thank you for all the congratulations and warm wishes for continued success on our recent purchase of Art in Bloom Garden Tours. We will be registering for our newest trips to the Newport Flower Show in June in January. Tony and I are also scheduling trips in 2025 to the Garden Walk Buffalo, Scotland in August, Fall in Love with the Berkshires, Vermont Foliage Tour in October to be available soon. Let us know if you´re interested. Our trips fill up very quickly.
This month is going quickly and it will be a new year before we know it. It could be a year of trying new things in the garden. New techniques, new plants, new color combinations, and new learning. That’s what I am hoping for in 2025, a year of new experiences, new friendships, new optimism for the future. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Wildlife use vegetation for a number of reasons: food, water, protection, physical and territorial behavior. A deer’s diet includes foliage, fruit (acorns), flowers and flower buds, but not necessarily all on the same plant, while young stags use the bark of small trees to “rub the velvet from their antlers and mark their area.” (Appleton, 2008) Deer like to eat plants that are young, easily accessible, over-fertilized, overwatered, pruned often, and have new growth. Deer do not like to eat plants that are odoriferous, have either grayish, leathery, or thorny foliage, or have foliage that has milky or sticky sap.
Reducing landscape damage by deer needs to be a community-wide effort. Feeding deer will only lessen their natural fear of humans and encourages them to encroach on residential areas. There are several options to keeping deer off your property. Installing seven-foot fencing will reduce chances that deer will jump onto property. Using chemical repellents are not always effective and can be expensive, foul-smelling, and need to be applied before plants are eaten and on a continuous basis.
To read the rest of my article and download my least preferred plants for deer in Central Florida, click this link.
Winged Sumac, Rhus copallinum
Are you looking for a shrub or tree that adds beauty and year-round interest to your garden. Check out my Plant of the Month Winged Sumac. Winged Sumac is easy to grow, pest-free, and doesn’t need a lot of water. It is excellent for Florida native gardens. Use as either a privacy plant, backdrop shrub, or as a small tree, Winged Sumacs provides four-season appeal with its’ ethereal foliage that turns brilliant red in the Fall. It does spread easily, making stands of winged sumac, and is well suited for filling in scrub habitat. Beneficial for gopher tortoises, wildlife, attracting butterflies, native bees and other pollinators; Important food source for migratory birds,
You can get Winged Sumac at Quality Green Specialists in Deland.
By Teresa Watkins
Average temperatures High 90 Low 72
Average rainfall 5.76 inches
Autumn arrives September 22nd, 2024
September Plantings
Vegetables: Early plantings include lima bean, snap bean, corn, cucumber, eggplant, pepper, southern pea, rhubarb, squash, and tomato; End of the month crops include arugula, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, celery, collard, endive, lettuce, mustard, onion, radish, strawberry, and turnip.
Flowers: Agapanthus, ageratum, angelonia, begonia, blue daze, butterfly weed, buttonbush, cat's whiskers, celosia, cleome, coleus, coreopsis, cosmos, firebush, garden mums, gaura, gazania, gerbera, goldenrod, gomphrena, heliotrope, impatiens, Jacobina, lantana, marigold, melampodium, New Guinea impatiens, nicotiana, pentas, periwinkle, plumbago, roses, salvia, sunflower, sweet alyssum, thyrallis, torenia, Turk’s cap, verbena, and zinnia.
Herbs: Anise, basil, bay laurel, borage, chives, coriander, dill, lemon balm, lavender, Mexican tarragon, mint, parsley, rosemary, sage, sweet fennel, sweet marjoram, and thyme.
Bulbs: African iris, agapanthus, amaryllis, blackberry lily, bulbine, calla lily, crinum, crocosmia, day lily, gladiolus, kaffir lily, narcissus, society garlic, spider lily, rain lilies and walking iris. Look for and purchase cool-season bulbs for refrigeration, including crocus, daffodils, crocus, hyacinths, muscari, and tulips.
Fruit and Vegetable Care
· Get a soil test of garden every year to find out what fertilizer nutrients to apply.
· Clean used containers before planting.
· Give large growing plants big containers to have room for good root growth.
· Keep container-grown tomatoes uniformly moist to avoid blossom-end rot.
· New to gardening? Start a garden journal and list names of seeds, the varieties, date planted, days to harvest, temperatures, and any weather conditions that might affect growth, i.e., extreme heat, lack of rain, storms.
· Add vegetables and herbs to containers for patio and balcony gardens.
· All vegetables like a sunny site with at least 6 – 8 hours; leafy crops can often grow in filtered sun.
· Remember the sun dips south Fall through Winter so note sites that may become shady.
· Last year’s gardens may need an additional layer of organic compost or manure, like Black Kow.
· Remove plastic covers from solarization treatments and plant without tilling.
· Where nematodes are a problem, dig a large hole and fill it with organic amendments or potting soil before planting.
· Keep new plantings and seedlings moist; water older plantings when the soil begins to dry.
· Apply a first feeding two weeks after adding transplants or seed germination.
· Continue with monthly feedings for in-ground plantings, every other week for containers.
· Use slow-release fertilizer which may be the only feeding needed.
· Add flowering plants to gardens to invite pollinators to visit.
· Set tomatoes in the ground or in containers early and start training to a trellis.
· Provide support for tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and others from vegetables above.
· Rejuvenate older herb gardens in late September by adding fresh plantings.
· Check the garden daily to determine soil moisture of ground and check for pests.
· Harvest herbs to encourage continued growth. .
· Use mulches to conserve water, control weeds and keep soil off leafy crops.
· Remove side shoots/pups to root from pineapple plants and increase your plantings.
· Start seedlings of Fall cool season crops later in the month.
· Begin citrus and avocado tree feedings toward the end of the month. For more specific information on fertilizing different size citrus trees: https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/HS132
Lawn Care
· Get soil test analysis of turf areas before fertilizing.
· If your lawn is susceptible to fungus and you have had excessive rains during past storms, apply a preventative fungicide according to the label.
· Where grass won’t grow because of too much shade, consider use of an ornamental ground cover, like ajuga, Asiatic jasmine, ferns, liriope, mondo grass, or pachysandra,
· Lawns with aggressive weeds need attention; dig out, resod or spot treat with herbicides, but if temperatures average above 85 degrees, wait until October to use an herbicide.
· Most local ordinances restrict fertilization until October 1st.
· To green up lawns, use an iron-only or minor nutrient application until October.
· Once weeds or pest issues are taken care of, patch pest-damaged or weed areas with new sod, plugs, or seed.
· Complete seeding of Bahia turf in early September.
· Lawn caterpillars and chinch bugs can continue in to Fall; control when noted.
· Several products are now available for nematode control by lawn care companies.
· Fire ants are frequently found in lawns; spot treat mounds with bait, then treat the entire lawn.
· Aerate hard to wet or compacted soils.
· Continue mowings at recommended heights
· Change mowing patterns on regular basis, overlapping rows so mower doesn’t create ruts.
· Service lawn care equipment to have it ready for Fall.
In the Landscape
· Keep eye on trees and shrubs that may have been affected by the drought in Spring and Summer. Decline from 2024 drought may be an issue for next few years.
· Make sure any shrubs and trees leaning from storm winds are straightened as soon as possible.
· Note plant decline in landscapes, from excessive gutter drainage. Bury gutter and extend out into yard to prevent displacement of soil and mulch.
· Prune away dead or declining plant portions affected by Summer weather or pests.
· Weeds are plentiful; remove them before they flower and disperse seeds.
· Renew mulches with only a light topping to keep 3” – 4” of mulch.
· Clean and sharpen pruning equipment to make trimming easy with minimal plant damage.
· Prune declining brown fronds only and flower stems from palms but leave the green fronds.
· Sterilize pruners between plants when trimming palms with possible diseases.
· Many plants have grown out of bounds; now is the time to do needed pruning.
· Give poinsettias and hydrangeas a final pruning.
· Check roses that have dead or declining stems and old flowers that need to be removed.
· Expect caladiums and some ginger to start to decline and go dormant until Spring.
· Replant declining flowers with warm season selections; delay planting the cool season types until end of November.
· Avoid planting palms with prevalent disease problems.
· Scale insects, mealy bugs and aphids have been active; control as needed.
· Sooty mold grows on the excreta of insects; control both with a horticultural oil spray.
· Check container plantings for plugged drainage holes; repot as needed.
· Chrysanthemums make attractive Fall flowers, but they only last a few weeks in the heat.
· Divide perennials and replant in the garden.
· Now is the time to ensure poinsettias have 12 hours of complete darkness every night to encourage blooming in time for Christmas.
· Plan for cool weather bulbs, i.e., tulips, hyacinth, daffodils, etc. and refrigerate bulbs for 16 weeks so they can be planted in the landscape two to three weeks ahead of when you would like them to bloom.
· Add new trees, shrubs, and palms.
· Feed palms with a slow-release fertilizer three to four times a year.
· Begin late September shrub and perennial feedings for Fall where permitted.
· Feed hanging baskets and orchids every other week.
· Remove declining leaves and flowers from water lilies; give a monthly feeding.
Houseplant Care
· There is still time to revive foliage plants by moving them outdoors to a shady site.
· Indoor orchids and bromeliads make good outdoor additions when they begin to decline.
· Groom foliage plants growing outdoors for an improved appearance.
· Control pests including scale, mealybugs, thrips and mites with natural sprays.
· Gradually reduce feedings and watering of Christmas and holiday cactus.
· Transplant foliage plants needing new containers before the cooler Fall weather.
· Feed foliage plants monthly or use a slow-release fertilizer according to the label.
· Replace declining plants with new selections for Fall.
· Obtain amaryllis and paper white narcissus bulbs for Fall forcing.
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