We hope you were able to join us for Gardening in the Panhandle LIVE! Butterfly Gardening on July 9th to learn about attracting butterflies to your Florida gardens. As promised, we have compiled a list of butterfly resources that we talked about during the webinar and a few extra that we didn’t have time to cover.
If you were not able to join us live, you can still watch the videos on Facebook or YouTube
Click on the topic of interest for links to resources:
Don’t forget to tune in for our next Gardening in the Panhandle LIVE! on July 23rd for Prepping for the Fall Garden. Register for that webinar on Zoom or Follow our Facebook Event for updates.
Learn a little about cantaloupe that is growing in the late spring garden. Beth Bolles with UF IFAS Extension in Escambia County shares experience from her backyard garden.
Escambia County Master Gardener Volunteer Carol Perryman shares information to help choose and grow lavender in the herb garden.
If you want to grow lavender in our hot & humid climate you must follow a few considerations which can be “do or die” rules. Will your lavender be an annual or a perennial? Hybridizers are always busy at work but, in the meantime:
Choose the right variety. (English lavender cannot easily be grown in our climate.)
1.Spanish Lavender- Lavandula stoechas- 18 to 24” tall, lighter scent, early bloomer & long blooming, drought & heat tolerant, good for mild winters, gray/green foliage, magenta-pink flowers with purple bract shaped like a pineapple with bunny ears.
2.’Goodwin Greek Gray’ Lavandula dentata x L. lanata – 2 to 3 feet tall & wide, silvery/gray toothed edged leaves, short spikes of deep purple to blue blooms, heat & humidity tolerant, good to 15 degrees F in winter,
3.French Lavender- Lavandula dentata -3 feet tall, lighter scent, summer bloomer & long blooming, heat tolerant (Protect from frost.), narrow gray & green leaf varieties, “dented” lavender colored flower buds that make up flower head/bract.
4. Sweet Lavender- Lavandula heterophylla – Tolerant of heat & humidity & cold tolerant to 15 degrees F. 1 1/2 to 2 feet tall, gray/green leaves &bright lavender flowers. Allow to dry between watering.
5. ‘Phenomenal’ Lavandula x intermedia – This is a newer evergreen hybrid developed for extreme heat or cold. It is disease resistant, tolerates our humidity, 24” x 32” high & wide with blue to purple blooms and gray/green leaves.
Lavender in the Escambia County Extension herb garden. Photo by Beth Bolles, UF IFAS Extension Escambia County.
Choose your site well or consider growing in pots.
1. LIGHT – Full sun.
2. DRAINAGE – Focus on drainage. MUST be well-draining site or pot or modified to be so.
3. SOIL – Loose almost neutral soil.
4. AIRFLOW – Focus on air circulation which will help dry off the leaves after rain. Space appropriately.
5. WATER – Focus on water source. Lavender does not like to be watered overhead. A dripline
is best or water by hand around roots, not on leaves. Check water requirements for your chosen variety.
6. MULCH- Whether in the ground or in pots, use light-colored gravel or small rocks as mulch
to help reflect sunlight & heat to help keep foliage dry. Heat & light reflected off a nearby brick, stone, or stucco wall, help keep foliage dry too.
7. ACCESS- Must be able to deadhead & prune. Lavender only blooms on new growth. In our climate it should be pruned back about 1/3 of it’s height & shaped to keep the mound-like shape in early January unless we have an extremely cold winter. If so, then early spring. You can prune lightly after deadheading spent blooms to promote new growth throughout bloom season. Add 1 inch of composted materials around plant each spring or lightly fertilize with slow time-release fertilizer. Do not over fertilize. Lavender doesn’t need much fertilizer.
Lavender may grow best for you in a container. Photo by Beth Bolles, UF IFAS Extension Escambia County.
If you are new at growing lavender, try pots. You could try several varieties in different locations to better understand which conditions & locations will work best in your garden. The beauty of pots is their portability. If one location doesn’t work, you can move the pot.
All lavender is edible. You can use the leaves or flowers, fresh or dried. Fragrant lavender is a wonderful addition to your garden although in our climate, most lavenders are not going to be long lived. If you have found “the spot” in your own little microclimate & your lavender thrives year after year, consider yourself lucky.
Monday, February 10, 10 am – Noon CST. UF/IFAS Calhoun County Extension would like to invite you to attend the workshop “Living Screens”, the first installment of the monthly Garden Talks program on Monday, February 10th from 10:00 am – Noon CST at the UF/IFAS Calhoun County Extension Office, 20816 Central Ave E, Blountstown, FL 32424! This workshop will feature Calhoun County Agent Daniel Leonard teaching how to use screening plants to bring back privacy to your property and landscape! Set yourself up for success when planting living screens by learning how to pick the proper screening plants for your situation and how to troubleshoot common problems associated with screens that you might run into. Seating is limited, so call (850)-674-8323 to reserve your spot! Monthly Garden Talks programs are free and include presentation handouts, educational publications and light refreshments! We hope to see you there
More and more homeowners are incorporating edible plants into their home landscape in order to enjoy the fresh taste of fruits and vegetables. Another trend to consider this coming cool season is to start a few common flowers that can serve as flavor enhancements for many of your dishes.
There are numerous plants that we commonly grow that have edible flowers but before striking out on your first taste test, be sure to research first. Always remember the common saying that every flower is edible once. Find a reputable reference guide from a friendly neighborhood Extension office for a list of common edible flowers, then be ready to start from seeds. It is best not to purchase transplants from an ornamental nursery unless you are sure of all the treatments for that plants. Nurseries are often selling these for beauty alone, not with intention that they will be eaten.
Here are a few edible flowers to try:
Pot marigold or Calendula is a wonderful cool season flower on its own. Brightly colored orange or yellow flowers improve the drab colors of our cool season and plants are sturdy annuals for borders, mass plantings, or in containers. Petals have a peppery flavor and add spice to salads and sandwiches. You may also add flowers to soups, fishes and butters for added coloring. Calendula petals can be a saffron substitute.
Calenduala is easily started from seeds and will reseed in your garden once established. Photo by Beth Bolles, UF IFAS Extension Escambia County.
The well known dianthus is a great transition plant as our days cool and warm up again the spring. Use as front of the border plantings or in containers as a filler. When harvesting petals of dianthus, you will want to remove the white petal base which is a little bitter. The flavor is a little more delicate than cloves so you can add petals to punches, desserts, and fruit salads.
If you like a little more spice, try nasturtiums. We often plant these after the last frost and they grow until we get too hot. Since our fall weather is so unpredictable, you may be able to start some seeds for a fall planting and have flowers before our first cold spell. Either way, nasturtium flowers are often sliced for salads and sandwiches as a mustard or pepper substitute. You can also mince flowers to add to a butter. If you let some flowers go to seed, collect the unripe seeds to make a caper substitute vinegar.
Grow nasturiums during our transition times of spring and fall. Photo by Beth Bolles, UF IFAS Extension Escambia County.
If you are going to use edible flowers from your garden remember to keep all non food labeled pesticides away from plants. Harvest flowers at their peak after the dew dries. Separate petals from other flower parts and if you have allergies be sure to remove any pollen. Place flowers in a moist towel in the refrigerator if you will not use them immediately. Rinse carefully so not to damage tender petals.
There are many other ornamental plants that offer edible flowers you may want to consider growing in the future. These flowers not only enhance the look of the dish but can offer unique flavoring from a locally grown source – your own backyard.
We are always on the lookout for an attractive plant for our landscape. At the nursery, some plants have a more difficult time gaining our attention. They may not be as showy, possessing neither colorful flowers nor bold foliage. In these cases, we could be missing out on low maintenance plant that offers its own form of beauty in the right landscape spot.
One plant that I love is the Japanese plum yew (Cephalotaxus harringtonia), especially the spreading form ‘Prostrata’. In the nursery container, this plant is nothing special but once established in the landscape it performs well. The conifer type leaves are an attractive dark green and the ‘Prostrata’ selection is low growing to about 2 to 3 feet. An advantage too is that growth is slow so it won’t take over or require routine pruning.
Japanese plum yews grow best in partial shade and once established will be fine with rainfall. For a shadier side of the home, the spreading plum yew has a place as an evergreen foundation plant too.
Japanese plum yew in a shaded garden. Photo by Beth Bolles, UF IFAS Extension Escambia County
If the ‘Prostrata’ selection is too low growing for you, consider the ‘Fastigiata’ cultivar that will grow upright to about 8 feet with a 5 foot spread.
A year old planting of upright Japanese plum yew in filtered light. Photo by Beth Bolles, UF IFAS Extension Escambia County
