by Daniel J. Leonard | Mar 11, 2026
With the last blast of winter hopefully behind us and a forecast of beautiful spring weather in the 70s and 80s for the coming few weeks, it’s time to think about getting tomatoes in the ground! However, if you’re a first-time tomato grower or a long-time gardener that simply struggles with tomatoes, there are a few key decisions to make prior to planting that can make the difference between a successful harvest and a disappointing flop.
The first choice to make is between seeds or transplants. But, if you haven’t already long since started them, seeds are out at this point. Most tomato varieties take at least 60 days from seed germination to harvest, and many are much longer than that (75-85 days). Plus, seeds don’t just germinate the day after sowing. It can take days to a week under the proper conditions to get them up and growing, delaying you even further. Planting tomato transplants is necessary now to get fruit set and harvested before the heat of summer sets in and bugs and disease descend upon your plants. My general rule of thumb is to be harvesting tomatoes by mid-May – the earlier the better. Don’t be late with planting!
The next question is where to grow your newly obtained tomatoes, in-ground or in containers. While both are very viable options, for most folks, containers or raised beds have a much higher probability of success. The main reason for growing difficulties in ground is the proclivity of our native soils to harbor the pathogen that causes the incurable plant destroying Bacterial Wilt (Ralstonia solanacearum). You may get away with growing plants in the ground for a year or several but, in my experience, eventually Bacterial Wilt finds you and once it is active in your soil, it is there permanently. Therefore, I recommend avoiding the possibility of Bacterial Wilt altogether and starting your tomato growing journey above ground in a container of some kind. You can fill your pots or beds with either bagged potting mix or a homemade growing medium (there are many homemade recipes online and most work provided they have adequate drainage).
Once your tomatoes are planted, there are a few things you should do. First, go ahead and install a cage for your tomato vine to climb. I like to make my own out of steel wire mesh (the type used when pouring concrete). This material is very sturdy, plenty tall for a large vine to grow on, and the mesh is sufficiently wide for easy access inside to tie stems or harvest fruit. Next, fertilize your tomato transplants. I topdress with a slow-release fertilizer immediately at planting (many brands available) and fertilize every few weeks after with a water soluble liquid fertilizer (Miracle Gro type). Then, when plants begin to flower, scattering a few cups of gypsum around them helps prevent Blossom End Rot. Finally, as your plants grow, pick 2-3 main stems to allow to grow up the tomato cage, remove all leaves from the bottom foot or so of the plant to avoid splashing soil onto the leaves, and continue to stake and tie your main vines as they continue growing up the cage. Doing so ensures your plant is up away from the soil, reducing insect and disease incidence and produces a much tidier plant with easier to harvest fruit.
For more information on backyard tomato growing or any other horticultural topic, contact your local UF/IFAS Extension county office! Happy gardening.
by Daniel J. Leonard | Feb 5, 2026
If your drab dormant lawn is getting you down, you might be tempted to overseed your Centipedegrass with ryegrass next fall and enjoy lush green grass all winter long. The idea of a pretty green lawn breaking up the brown of winter is indeed alluring. There are reasons golf courses and highly visible/trafficked public landscapes overseed in winter – overseeding significantly enhances both the aesthetics and recreational uses of those areas and it absolutely can offer the same benefits to homeowners. However, winter overseeding also has several potential major drawbacks, particularly for residential lawns. Before you make the decision to turn your lawn green in the winter, keep the following factors in mind.
Overseeding Can Cause Centipedegrass Lawn Health Issues
Overseeding ryegrass in winter has two primary problems from warm season grass’ (i.e. Centipedegrass) perspective. First, to look its best, deepest green, ryegrass needs to be fertilized to encourage optimal growth like any other grass. This means applying Nitrogen and other plant nutrients at the exact time when your Centipedegrass is dormant and trying to NOT grow. This excess nitrogen applied to “feed” the ryegrass can absolutely wreck the dormant Centipede (which is very sensitive to nitrogen fertilizer), causing serious disease problems like Centipede Decline and Large Patch. Second, ryegrass is growing at its absolute maximum rate in late spring in the Panhandle, as our weather begins to be consistently warm. This coincides with the exact time Centipedegrass is trying to emerge from winter dormancy. This intense competition with the overseeded ryegrass at greenup can inhibit Centipede’s ability to recover from dormancy, delay emergence, and lead to decline of the summer turfgrass.
Municipal Centipedegrass turf area overseeded with winter ryegrass. Photo courtesy of Daniel Leonard.
Maintenance Annoyances
As mentioned earlier, ryegrass, though it grows in the cool weather, is still grass and has to be managed as such to look its best. This means frequent mowing, irrigating in droughty winters (like this year), and fertilizing. In my experience, people don’t enjoy or keep up with these tasks nearly as much in winter. There is a reason that the winter months are the slowest, least profitable times for lawn and garden centers – people just don’t spend their time and money on their lawns and landscapes in the winter when the weather is cold and days are short. I can testify that I very much enjoy my November-March break from mowing and maintaining my lawn and the idea of having to mow year-round doesn’t appeal to me in the slightest.
I get it, sometimes overseeding must be done. Like the aforementioned examples, winter golf and other athletic activities are much more enjoyable on lush green ryegrass turf than the normal winter mixture of dormant Bermudagrass and mud, and city parks are much more attractive to tourists and passersby when green, vibrant, and inviting. However, these situations are usually managed by professionals that are willing and able to treat potential disease issues when they arise and/or replace weakened turf as needed, expenses and effort the average homeowner is often not willing or able to incur. Given overseeding’s potential detrimental effects to your warm season turf and the maintenance annoyance of caring for a winter lawn, most homeowners are better off avoiding the temptation to overseed with ryegrass.
For more information on overseeding with ryegrass or any other horticultural topic, contact your local UF/IFAS Extension county office! Happy Gardening.
by Daniel J. Leonard | Dec 4, 2025
My previous article outlined the benefits of planting trees during the winter dormant season. Once planted, it’s then time to implement one of the best practices that helps ensure successful establishment of recently installed trees and shrubs – mulching.
Mulching, by definition, is simply the process of adding a layer of material over the top of the soil. Like planting at the right time, mulching does many great things for your landscape. Mulching helps moderate temperatures; the soil stays warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. Mulching increases water retention; when the sun isn’t blasting directly onto the soil, it dries out much more slowly. Mulching reduces weed pressure; most weed seeds require sunlight to germinate. Etc. Etc. The benefits of mulch abound. But what material you use and how you apply mulch figure heavily into whether your mulch helps or harms the plants whose roots it lies over.
Pine bark mulch applied correctly in a landscape. Photo courtesy of Daniel Leonard.
There are two basic options when considering mulch: organic or inorganic sources. In general, you should always select an organic mulch that is derived from local sources. Organic mulches are mulches derived from natural materials like pine straw, leaves, tree bark, or shredded wood chips. These mulches break down over time and benefit soil health through bettering water holding capacity, increasing soil porosity and organic matter content, and drastically expanding the soil biome (beneficial worms, fungus, and bacteria that live in the soil). Organic mulches also allow landscapes to blend in with the natural areas surrounding homesites as they typically use materials found in local ecosystems. For example, in the coastal south, pine forests dominate, pine straw is plentiful, and purchasing usually supports local businesses that grow, harvest, and market the straw. So, unless you happen to live in a desert environment where rocks are natural, steer clear of rocks or other inorganic mulches.
Pinestraw mulch applied around a newly planted tree. Photo courtesy of Daniel Leonard.
As with most things, there is a Goldilocks zone for mulch. Too little isn’t enough to keep weeds from easily poking through and soil from quickly drying. Too much and you risk depriving plant roots from oxygen exchange with air above, trapping too much moisture and causing rot issues, or even creating a hydrophobic layer of dried mulch that repels rainfall and irrigation. Instead, just the right amount of mulch should be applied, enough to create a 2-3” layer of helpful mulch. With some mulches like straw, this may mean applying a 6-8” layer that will settle down to the magic 2-3” number with a good rain, interlocking the individual pieces of straw. With others like wood chips or bark nuggets, there will be little settling, and the applied amount should be 2-3” deep. A final tip is to always pull mulch back a little from the crowns of plants and the trunks of woody trees and shrubs to prevent potential disease issues.
So, after you install your new landscape plants this winter, remember to mulch well. Be sure to select an organic mulch that supports local industries, enhances the soil in your landscapes, protects your plants’ roots, prevents weeds, and looks natural! For more information about mulch or any other horticultural topic, contact your local UF/IFAS County Extension Office. Happy Gardening!
by Daniel J. Leonard | Nov 26, 2025
With cold temperatures having arrived in the Panhandle last week, we’re finally getting close to prime landscape planting season. But why is winter the best time to install landscape trees and shrubs? Shouldn’t we plant when things are leafed out and growing? While it’s counterintuitive to think bitter cold, dreary days are significantly better to plant landscape plants in than the warm, sunny days of summer, it’s usually true! Let’s explore why winter is the time to plant woody trees and shrubs and then look at some of the best woody plants no Panhandle landscape should be without.
Most people from elsewhere think that Florida is always lush, green, and tropical. Those people have clearly never been to the Panhandle – heck it snowed last year! Our region of Florida has more in common, climate wise, with the rest of the south – subtropical with long hot, humid summers and wet, mild winters (though rain has been hard to come by recently), occasionally wracked by intense cold fronts. Because of those cold fronts, tropical plants cannot survive, and woody plants enter a dormant stage where above ground growth ceases. This cold-forced dormant season is the perfect time to plant woody plants because the planting process is stressful (the root system is purposefully damaged to remove circling and J-shaped roots and encourage outward growth) and regular rainfall and cool temps means conditions are right for plants to get a solid root system re-established before growth and transpiration begins in the heat of spring/summer.
Now that you know why we plant woody landscape plants when we do, let’s select a few quintessential, versatile Florida-Friendly trees and shrubs (2 each, one native and one non-native) to install in our landscapes this planting season.
Nuttall Oak (Quercus texana) is one of the most adaptable landscape trees around. The species is tolerant of many soil types, native to moist bottomland areas but tolerating drier spots well once established. While it’s a large tree – up to 70-80’ tall, I find its rounded upright habit to often be more in scale with landscapes than the wide spreading Live Oak (Quercus virginiana). Nuttall Oak certainly has many positive attributes (tough, wind-resistant, pollinator friendly, etc), but its fall color is probably my favorite. For the Panhandle it is quite good, delivering autumnal hues of red and orange.
It’s not North Carolina Sugar Maple color but Nuttall Oak possesses attractive foliage. Photo courtesy of Daniel Leonard.
Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) is the most widely grown landscape tree in the South for good reason! They’re tough, widely adapted, offer excellent summertime flower displays, and possess interesting architecture and unique bark. The primary consideration with Crape Myrtle is simply picking the right one. Do you need an upright, compact tree? Choose ‘Sioux’ or ‘Apalachee’. Do you want a big crape that can double as a small shade tree? Choose ‘Natchez’ or ‘Muskogee’. Do you want a new dwarf variety or one with black foliage? There’s now plenty of those to choose from as well. There’s truly a Crape Myrtle for every yard.
Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) is a wonderful native flowering deciduous shrub that’s at home in all Panhandle landscapes. It prefers moist soil with a little afternoon shade but can tolerate most conditions thrown at it. Growing 5-7’ in height, sporting footlong white flower panicles each summer, and beautiful foliage each fall, Oakleaf Hydrangea is a must. You can find unnamed seedlings of the species or look for named varieties such as ‘Snow Queen’, ‘Semmes Beauty’, and ‘Alice’. In my experience, you can’t go wrong with any of them.
Camellia Sasanqua is without a doubt my favorite fall flowering shrub. Impossibly durable (it’s common to find specimens over 100 years old), incredibly beautiful in flower and form, and coming in all shapes, sizes, and flower color, a Sasanqua of some kind belongs in ever yard. A few of my favorites are ‘Leslie Ann’ (upright form, white/pink bicolored flowers), ‘Shi Shi Gashira’ (dwarf that makes an excellent informal hedge), and ‘Yuletide’ (compact plant with red flowers & showy gold stamens).
So, as the weather continues to be mild with those cold front swings occasionally and rain begins to be more regular, think about getting some woody trees and shrubs planted into your landscape this winter. Keep in mind the excellent above selections and be sure to check out the Florida-Friendly Landscaping Plant Guide for more possibilities! Happy Gardening!
by Daniel J. Leonard | Nov 13, 2025
Fall is in the air. Halloween decorations, candy corn, mums… houses and landscapes are decked out in shades of yellow, orange, and red. However, one of the Panhandle’s absolute easiest perennials bucks the trend of autumnal hues, sports flowers of deep, brilliant blue, and is blooming right now – Blue Ginger (Dichorisandra thyrsiflora).
Blue Ginger is an unusual landscape plant for several reasons. First, the name Blue Ginger is a little bit of a misnomer. The spreading perennial species, native to southern Brazil and hardy into our zone 9, isn’t a true ginger at all, rather it resides in the Spiderwort plant family Commelinaceae, making it a close relative of other blue/purplish hued plants like Purple Heart Plant and Spiderwort. Second, it’s 10” flower spikes emerge here when few other landscape plants do (October) – after many of our summer annuals have finally sputtered out but before sasanquas and other cool season bloomers make their appearance. Rounding out Blue Ginger’s unique role in fall Panhandle landscapes is the color of its flowers. Simply calling them blue does the otherworldly color a disservice. Imagine the most striking, deep, brilliant blue you can and that will get you in the neighborhood. A Blue Ginger in flower has to be seen to be fully appreciated!
Blue Ginger flower spike. Photo courtesy of Daniel Leonard.
Adding to the appeal is that Blue Ginger is exceptionally easy to grow. However, the species does have specific growing condition needs. The ideal landscape placement for Blue Ginger is a shady oasis protected from the hot afternoon sun and blustery breeze that keeps its roots cool and moist and its succulent leaves from excessive drying. My specimen has performed excellently for over a decade on the north wall of an outbuilding, in relatively rich soil, mulched well to retain moisture, and shielded by a nearby fence. It has been years since I’ve either fertilized or watered it and the plant returns each summer, growing to about 4’ in height, and blooms each October, asking for nothing in return. One must remember the saying “Right Plant, Right Place”, as Blue Ginger can be the easiest plant ever to cultivate or a problem child that never performs like you want it to, all depending on where one sites it in the landscape.
If Blue Ginger has one drawback, it’s that it is uncommon in the nursery trade. When shopping for one, choose independent nurseries who are known to have a wide assortment of plants, maybe even a greenhouse/tropical section. I’ve never once seen Blue Ginger in a large chain nursery or box store. The best, cheapest, and most fun method of obtaining one though is to get a friend that has one to give you a cutting of their plant, as the stems root easily into new plants!
Think outside the box this fall and add some blue to your landscape with Blue Ginger. Give it a protected shady spot and a little water and it will reward your landscape with brilliant blues every October for years to come. For more information about Blue Ginger or any other horticultural topic, contact your local UF/IFAS County Extension office. Happy Gardening!
