Dorothy, You're Not Living in Kansas Anymore

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 look to be sterile. Northerners want to add nutrients; worse than that, they want to add "top soil."  Soils here are rarely the problem. Florida has the third-greatest diversity of native plants in our 50-state union. A great many plants do just fine here in natural Florida soil. Some also want to blame the heat, but that is just too simplistic. Here where I live, it is very rare for a summer temperature to rise above 93° F. In Wisconsin, where I'm from, it rises above 100° F with some regularity in July and August. It certainly does in many places north of us in Georgia and Alabama. It is true that our lack of extended chilling temperatures in the winter can negatively affect a great many northern species. It is also true that their struggles often result from the pests and diseases enhanced by heat and high humidity.  

While my caller rued the fact that her Shasta daisies and garden phlox were not thriving, it was difficult for me to get across to her that she needed to embrace the plants that would; even more difficult to get across the concept of native plants. Florida is an amazing place biologically and our flora is the foundation of every living thing higher on the trophic pyramid. With so many possible choices of plants that will fare well in our climate, it never ceases to amaze me how few grasp this simple concept. We plant for the future by planting species adapted to where we live, in the growing conditions we can offer them. It's not "growing zones"; it's growing conditions. I've spent most of my professional life trying to get that concept across to the public. It seems better than it was 35 years ago, but it's still an uphill battle.  Embrace where you live, explore the choices you have in that location, and talk to your neighbors.