There Were No Fences

Georgia aster ( Symphyotrichum georgianum ) Softhair coneflower ( Rudbeckia mollis ) Though it's the beginning of winter in most of the nation, it is not so apparent here in west-central Florida where today's temperatures are in the 70's F well before noon.  As a former northerner, it still takes a bit of getting used to even after 33 years here.  Not that I'm complaining about not owning a snow shovel anymore or a down jacket...... One of my great joys in living here is being able to garden year-round.  I was born to putter around a landscape and I get plenty of time to do that where I now reside. I moved into a blank canvas and for the first time in my life I've been able to truly start from scratch. It's almost amusing when I think that most people landscape their yard to raise its property value. I much prefer having nothing to start with, and if what I am now doing in this rental yard increases or decreases its economic value is immaterial to me.

My Developing Woodland, December 23 2019 Palm Warbler My developing backyard woodland is mulched with the leaves that I've collected from other landscapes. I do not get enough leaves yet to supply the needs I have. Someday I will , but for now I rely on the leaves cast away by others who don't realize what they are doing.... Leaves are the best mulch in this setting. Over the past couple of weeks, I've had the company of this tiny palm warbler. It could be that it will prove to be a resident, but I suspect it is a winter migrant that will move north once spring arrives. As I work in my landscape and in my hobby nursery, this warbler keeps me company. I guess it doesn't realize that it should fear humans. A week ago, it landed on the head of my next door neighbor...... As I work with my new companion nearby, I am struck once again by the power of leaf mulches to provide valuable habitat for wildlife. It works the leaf litter, grabbing tiny insects too small f

There can be no doubt that winter is here. Most of my wildflower garden has passed from blooms to seeds and I have been busy collecting them for propagation. Over the past week, I have sowed the seed of at least 25 different wildflower species - most from seed I've collected from my landscape.  It is an exciting time - sowing seed and waiting for them to germinate. A few, like my Georgia and Western silver aster ( Symphyotrichum georgianum and S. sericeus ) have already started to emerge from the soil in my flats, but most will take weeks. I tour my hobby nursery that I call Hawthorn Hill each morning to peruse the progress - and to smooth out the soil disturbed by my resident gray squirrel that seems hellbent on burying things.  I'm still collecting the seed from my silver aster ( S.. concolor ) and waiting for my scaleleaf aster (S. adnatum ) to finish. Though most of my wildflowers are finished, I've still got a few in flower. The secret to a well-planned wildflow

Apalachicola False Rosemary - Conradina glabra A death in my plant family always saddens me. We plant and then nurture our plantings the best we can, but sometimes they just don't make it. I originally planted two of these Apalachicola false rosemarys ( Conradina glabra ) in my new wildflower garden last October. One suffered a major setback over the summer during a period of heavy rain, but a part of it survived. Over the past 2 weeks, the major portion of another started turning brown and it too has perished. Parts of these 2 original plants still appear healthy, but it is obvious to me that both are not in a place where they will prosper. I love this species, but my landscape does not seem to be the right location for it. That's the way landscapes go. Plants die. It is a reality we all have to cope with as gardeners. Sometimes, it is fairly easy to figure out why; sometimes it is a complete mystery. I suspect that the soils here simply do not drain well enough for Conra

December 14, 2019 Another angle, same day My created wetland, which I have written about before in previous posts, continues to develop and mature though it is now getting ready to rest for winter. Over the summer, it withstood heavy rains that sometimes exceeded 5 inches per event and it has, at times, gone several weeks without rain at all - just like a natural wetland does. The pond liner, buried several feet beneath the center of this creation helps keep the moisture near the surface and the downspout, directed into it from the roof captures as much of the rainwater as possible and sends it where it needs to go. It continues to work exceedingly well. The center has filled in with water hyssop ( Bacopa monnieri ) as I intended. These plants originated from my former home before the move. I simply pulled up about a half dozen sprigs by hand, kept the roots moist and stuck them in the ground up here. I did not treat them gently. It is an exceedingly tough plant. Over the past

My developing woods December 14, 2019 A closer look. A basswood and silverbell in the foreground and a flatwoods plum behind them.  Wild coffee and Florida flame azaleas beneath. My small deciduous woodland is heading into its first winter. As I took my morning walk around the landscape today, I was greeted by songbirds making use of it. A male Carolina wren and a winter-resident palm warbler picked tiny insects out of the leaf litter and I was once-again reminded of the power that decaying leaves give to a landscape. Each year, I look forward to leaf fall. I gather up the leaves that fall into my yard and I take the ones that my neighbors rake up and discard. There are few things more important to the understory of a woodland. They not only ameliorate the soil temperatures and feed my plants; they also feed the birds. I find it perplexing that we label fallen leaves as litter.  Too few of us respect these fallen memories of summer for what they truly are - sustenance to the

There are few things more optimistic than planting seeds. There has to be a little faith in the future to do so and an almost childlike belief that a reward awaits the patience required. As a new cold front approached this morning, I used my time to plant some of the seed I've been collecting from my landscape over the past several months. I'm only about 1/3 done as I have so many more species to sow.  Some of my friends grow plants from cuttings, but I refuse that route. For one, a cutting is genetically identical to the parent plant and a landscape of cuttings thus becomes a monoculture. Whether that's a monoculture of natives or not, it doesn't seem to me to be the best solution to creating a living landscape, but to be honest, I grow my plants from seed because I enjoy it more. To me, the anticipation of waiting for seeds to sprout is along the same lines as waiting to unwrap presents or watching the mail as a child to see if the prize I earned from collecting bo

Scaleleaf aster ( Symphyotrichum adnatum ) Carolina climbing aster ( Symphyotrichum/Ampelaster carolinianum ) I truly became interested in native plants after moving to Florida in 1987. With two cohorts, we created a program at the University of Florida within the Department of Wildlife Ecology known as the Cooperative Urban Wildlife Program. Funded by the Nongame section of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, it was originally thought that we'd spend our time working with the public on their nuisance wildlife issues. It soon became apparent, however, that a lot of our time would instead be focused on creating landscapes for wildlife - and that meant native plants. I arrived in Florida after spending 2 years at the University of Kentucky, five years of graduate school in Iowa and a lifetime before that in Wisconsin. I was not prepared for Florida. It was a whole new game and one I had to quickly learn. In those early years, I soon became a convert of o

Walter's aster (Symphyotrichum walteri) Silver aster (Symphyotrichum concolor) Garberia (Garberia heterophylla) Flyr's nemesis (Brickellia cordifolia) With one holiday over and another looming in the near-future, there's a bit of time in between to catch my breath and reflect on what this landscape has achieved over the past year. It's hard for me to believe that a year has passed since I made my move to my new (rental) home in Pasco and began my landscaping makeover. What began as a simple 9 x 19' rectangle of St Augustine lawn surrounded on all sides by more of the same, has quickly developed into the pollinator garden I imagined it becoming.  Over the past year, seedlings I either brought from my former home in Seminole or grew here at my hobby nursery that I call Hawthorn Hill have mostly matured, flowered and set seed. As the flowers progressed, so did the number and diversity of pollinators. The near-extirpation of pollinators that occurred

Fall color in Fothergilla gardenii - False witchalder I am often asked about when the best time to plant is. To be honest, the best time is usually now. Most of us know the adage about when the best time to plant a tree is - 10 years ago. Second best time is now. So, as we cannot yet journey back in time, we've only got today to work with. All that said, I do not like to plant from March through early June here in Florida. It is simply too hot and the chance of rain is at its lowest. Soils get dry and they are often difficult to keep moist without frequent and deep watering. Planting after the summer rains arrive, avoids the problem of soil moisture, but it doesn't circumvent the fact that plants are trying to actively grow and their water needs are great. New plants need time to develop a mature root system and that is not easy during the heat of summer. That leaves early winter. Today, I finally found some time to plant a few things that have been in pots these past cou

It seems like a day never goes by without someone on social media sites that I am a member of giving advice about what to plant - and it almost always starts with a question regarding "what zone are you in"............ I despise this type of planting advice. Today, I planted yet another of my very favorite native trees, silky camelia ( Stewartia malacodendron ), and I challenge the zone people to tell me that I am wrong. Over the years, I have planted a great many native plants in my landscape that are not in my zone. I think they are basically meaningless as guidelines to creating a home landscape. If I was in the process of restoring a natural community to my yard, it would be a different matter, but I am not. I am creating a living landscape in my tiny suburban lot and I am doing that by maximizing diversity. At the same time, I am adding plants that bring me joy as much as I am adding those that have wildlife value. Silky camelias are one of the most beautiful Florida na