By: Khadejah Scott Extension Agent, Horticulture/Agriculture/Natural Resources UF/IFAS Extension Wakulla County
It is common for homeowners to have to pick between design and function when planning their fall landscape. However, combining the two can result in a stunning display in the yard. In North Florida, several herbs do well in the cool weather of the fall. While herb gardens will always be famous, there are other understated, yet successful ways to incorporate herbs into the fall landscape this year. Herb gardening in the fall is not difficult; with a bit of forethought and creativity, you can use herbs to revamp an existing bed or create a brand-new one.
Herbs can be more than culinary specimens in the fall landscape. Herbs give a wide range of hues that enhance the landscape’s color, giving depth and contrast to your current garden. Fill the gaps around, between, and beneath your existing flowers to frame them without taking away from their beauty. The variety of herb foliage textures adds interest to your landscape; you can alternate between glossy, velvety, soft, and hairy surfaces. Many herbs also have insect-repelling qualities that aid in pest management. Meanwhile, the herbs also attract beneficial insects and pollinators to the garden, which are vital for the well-being and growth of other landscape plants.
One of the first stages of enjoying your garden is deciding its function. What and how you grow will be influenced by an end-use. For example, simple access to fresh herbs while you cook could mean planting them next to your back door. You want those vibrant flavors near your hand if you need a sprig. Space also needs to be considered while planning because plants will mature swiftly and flush out nicely, taking up more space. Each plant’s height and spread affects how much light it receives. Plant your more striking, upright herbs further back, giving plenty of room for low-lying, creeping herbs to be planted closer to the front where they may still receive sufficient light. At least six hours of direct sunlight each day are required for cool-season herbs. They will also need well-drained soil and adequate watering. Knowing each plant’s unique requirements can help homeowners care for herbs and identify unforeseen problems. Reinvent the way herbs have been grown in the past and incorporate their colors, textures, and blooms. For more information about planning your fall garden, contact your local UF/IFAS Extension Office.
Here are 5 ways to add cool season herbs to your fall landscape.
Containers: Growing herbs in containers offers the flexibility of moving them. Potted herb gardens may be a perfect solution for small spaces like patios and balconies. Dill and fennel are great options for large containers.
Groundcovers: Herbs that grow slowly and crawl, such as thyme, complement walkways and do nicely between paving stones.
Borders: Herbs that form low mounds, such as oregano, make good borders, paths, and driveways.
Low Hedges: Garden sage and other taller herbs create great low hedges that can aid in defining the boundaries of outdoor spaces.
Softening Hardscapes: The billowing nature of cilantro and parsley herbs makes them perfect candidates for softening the hard edges of stone and concrete.
October is the premier wildflower month in the Panhandle. Nighttime temperatures drop, days shorten, pollinators emerge, and many native plants explode into flower. Of all the native fall-flowering Panhandle wildflowers, maybe the most striking is currently in full bloom, the Mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum)!
Photo credit Bill Boothe / Natural Encounters
Mistflower is a low growing, spreading native perennial (1-2’ in height) found in sunny, moist areas of meadows and near rivers, ponds, and creeks throughout much of the United States from New York to Florida and even west as far as Texas and Nebraska. This common native wildflower is conspicuously one of the few native plants in our area that has blue flowers, making Mistflower easy to spot in a sea of yellow, orange, purple, pink, and white wildflowers. The flowers appear as little puffs of purply-blue due to the lack of ray florets (think the outer yellow “petals” of sunflowers), possessing only disk florets (think the inner part of sunflower heads) with long blue, fuzzy-appearing stamens. Mistflower is attractive to more than just wildflower watchers as well, it’s a magnet for nectar-seeking butterflies as well; Eastern Swallowtails, Great Purple and Juniper Hairstreaks, and others are often found feeding on the flowers.
Great Purple Hairstreak butterfly on Mistflower. Photo credit Bill Boothe / Natural Encounters.
As lovely as Mistflower is in the wild, it’s probably best left for folks enjoy there, especially those who prefer an orderly yard. Mistflower will indeed grow great in moist areas of pollinator gardens and landscapes, requiring only ample sunlight and rainfall, but it is very aggressive. Its spreading nature via its rhizomatous root system and prolific seed production often lead to it becoming a weedy nuisance in more manicured landscapes. But, if chaos and fall bursts of blue erupting at random throughout your garden don’t bother you, by all means, seek out Mistflower for purchase through seed catalogs and local native nurseries. For more information on Mistflower and other fall-blooming native wildflowers, contact us at the UF/IFAS Calhoun County Extension office! Happy Gardening.
Homeowners are able to select Thryallis as a low maintenance shrub for the North Florida landscape. Learn the characteristics of this Florida Friendly plant with UF IFAS Extension Escambia County!
I wish I had a nickel for every time in my Extension career that I’ve heard someone ask me what they can plant in a container or flower bed that will give them no-maintenance color. They just want to plant something, forget about it, and be able to enjoy flowers for months on end. My answer, every single time, is Annual Vinca (Catharanthus roseus), specifically any selection from the newish ‘Cora’ Series.
Often called Periwinkle in the Deep South, this native of Madagascar is the perfect warm weather flowering plant for the Panhandle for a couple of reasons. First, the flowering. Coming in a wide range of colors from white to purple to pink and all shades in between, there is a Vinca to match every garden’s look. These aren’t a one flowering flush and done type plant either, Vinca blooms nonstop. What’s more, gardeners don’t need to remove spent flowers (also called deadheading), as plants are self-cleaning and flower freely from the first warm days in April until frost ends the show. There are even several new selections in the Cora series that have a trailing habit, perfect for creating a continuous cascade of flowers from a hanging basket or tall container!
‘Cora’ varieties in a Calhoun County planter. Photo courtesy of Daniel Leonard.
Also, as promised, the ‘Cora’ Vinca series is adaptable and nearly no-maintenance. It never outgrows its bounds, reaching only 12-18” in height and spreading about as wide. It is exceptionally drought and heat tolerant, taking 100-degree days and liking it. It has no major insect or disease pests to be concerned about if sited correctly in full sun and well-drained soil. Bottom line, the new ‘Cora’ Vinca varieties are close to bulletproof. Plant some today!
Crossandra in a back porch containter. Photo courtesy of Daniel Leonard.
In Florida, selecting the right plant for a sometimes-shady spot can be tough. Generally, plants that can handle the stress of even a few hours of direct summer sun are considered “full-sun” plants. Many plants that are recommended for “partial shade” either don’t flower as well in shade as they would in sun or have a weak constitution and wilt with any direct sunlight. For these problematic, sometimes shady, sometimes not spots, the plant Crossandra (Crossandra infundibuliformis) can be perfect!
Crossandra is a tender perennial (or annual depending on how cold our winters get) native to India and Sri Lanka and closely related to Shrimp Plant and Mexican Petunia. Growing slowly to about 3’ in height, clad with deep, dark, glossy leaves that remind me of the Coffee plant, and flaunting vivid orange flowers, Crossandra plants certainly lend a unique, tropical look to landscapes. Like its more well-known cousins, Crossandra can grow in full shade but really thrives with 3-4 hours of direct sun daily and lots of heat and humidity. These characteristics make the species the perfect summertime Panhandle porch plant!
Adding to the list of accolades, Crossandra is also super simple to grow! Apply a slow-release starter fertilizer at planting, supplement monthly after that with a general-purpose garden fertilizer, water regularly, and enjoy stunning orange flowers all summer! As a bonus, if you’re a fan of the University of Florida, put Crossandra in a Gator blue pot and have the most festive porch around just in time for football season to kick off in a few weeks!
