There Were No Fences

Typical Florida pine flatwoods Today I received a telephone call (as I often do) from a well-meaning gardener wondering why the plants she brought down from her northern garden were not prospering. She had dug up plants from her former landscape and moved them here to her new yard. They had special meaning to her because they were favorites of her mother. I sympathized, as my mother had favorites too when we all lived in Wisconsin and she bemoaned the fact that she could not have them here in Florida - peonies, lilies of the valley, bleeding hearts, lilacs, etc.  I understand that plant lovers have favorites from the place of their birth and that plants have attached meanings that go beyond simply being plants or things of beauty.  The fact remains, however, that Florida is a very different place. We move here, but we can't expect our old favorites to move with us. They simply aren't adapted. Most want to blame the soils. They are sandy and at first glace to a northerner they ...