Colorful Landscapes for Central Florida Snowbirds

Snowbirds
 

One of the great benefits of living in the Sunshine State is that you can have something blooming in your yard 365 days out of the year. At a recent builder and home expo where I was promoting my gardening radio show, In Your Backyard, I met June, a lovely northern six-months-out-of-the-year resident who expressed her frustration that she “didn’t know what to plant and my landscape blooms after I leave.” She explained that ‘My husband and I only live here in the winter and we never get to enjoy the plants that bloom in my yard after we go back north.”  I felt her pain. Buying a beautiful winter home that has a landscape already selected for you helps from having to make more decisions, but for gardeners who don’t know anything about tropical plants, they soon realize that they don’t have what they want – a  colorful landscape that bursts with flowers while they are living in Florida.  She asked me to email her a list of flowering perennials and shrubs that bloom during the fall and winter that she could plant in her yard.  So as I was diligently writing to her, I thought to myself, this is an issue that I know concerns many other snowbirds, I mean seasonal residents, so here’s my ‘Welcome to La Florida – Place of Flowers’[1] tips on gardening in Central Florida.

There are five gardening zones in Florida, zones 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12.   The northern panhandle or LA (Lower Alabama as we long-timers refer to it) is zone 8. Currently, zone 8 goes from the Georgia state line and down as far as Gainesville.  This area could possibly have temperatures reach 10 degrees every year depending on the severity of the winter. Gardeners across Florida’s zone 8 will see between 400 to 700 chill hours each year.  

 

Chill Hours in Florida.
Courtesy of The University of Florida Institute of Agricultural Services

 

A chill hour is a measurement of time where the temperature stays between 45 to 32 degrees or colder. Zones 9a, 9b, and 10 are considered “subtropical” because this area has between 200 to 400 chill hours each winter.  Florida's subtropical area ranges from Ocala to Lake Okeechobee and from Daytona Beach to Tampa. Below Lake Okeechobee are zones 11 and 12 and considered to be South Florida with a tropical climate. Very rarely does South Florida get freezing temperatures, although in my lifetime, it’s snowed in Central Florida and has occasionally reached South Florida in 1977, 1986, 1996, 2003, 2008, and 2010.[2] 

With this realization that we do have winter here in Florida, it’s good for new residents to remember to watch the weather forecast at the beginning of the week to look for cold fronts coming across the country. If it reaches Florida, there will be storms, possibility of tornados, and rain. After the rain, temperatures will dip, possibly into the freezing range.  Despite this winter advisory, you can plant shrubs and trees nearly every day of the year. Although if there is a chance of freezing in your area within a few days when you want to plant, wait till the temperatures warm up…three days, usually doesn’t last longer. Remember, this is Florida.  And at least here in Florida, even when it’s cold, the sun still shines.

But on to planting colorful landscapes! One of the easiest tips that I can provide for northern gardeners is that ‘what you plant at home during the summer, will grow here easily in the winter.’  All your spring and summer annuals, like delphiniums, pansies, and geraniums, will grow nicely from November through April.  

Petunias

 

Foxglove

You can bring annual seed packets down with you or buy them here in late fall, or look in the nurseries mid-October for 4” transplants to appear.  If we are having a warm fall, the timing may be delayed for a few weeks but should be in the stores by November.  These plants will last till the heat of the summer, and sometimes if you deadhead them, like alyssum, or pluck the spent flower buds of petunias, they will last several seasons.

Tropical flowering shrubs such as angel trumpets, hibiscus, Princess flower, can get zapped by a freeze, but if they have been established for a few years, they should come back.  Hardier shrubs like azaleas, camellias, roses, and White Candles, Whitfieldia elongata, handle the winter time bravely without any trouble at all.

 

Double peach hibiscus

 

Princess Flower, Tibouchina

When you see the list of flowering plants, you’ll notice that there are many choices of annuals. Buying a lot of annuals can be expensive to replace each year.  It’s less maintenance intensive and cheaper to have a good foundation of evergreen shrubs and perennials in your landscape and plant with a few annuals underneath your shrubs. Filling planters and pots with annuals at your mailbox, front door or around your patio will also add color.

 

Before you leave to go home in late spring, you should make sure the annuals are removed, replaced with summer annuals, or deadheaded. Trim the spent blooms of your perennials and shrubs and  remulch your garden beds. This will prevent weeds from taking hold and causing more work in the fall.

Because of the colder temperatures, drier weather, and slower growth patterns, problems that you can see in the landscape usually happen after you’ve gone back home. Here are a few things to consider:

1. Most winter and early spring-blooming shrubs won’t bloom properly if cut too frequently, don’t prune azaleas, loropetalums, or spring-blooming shrubs after the month of June.

2. In Central Florida the last freeze date is around March 15th. Try not to cut your  frost-damaged plants till the end of February. Pruning after a freeze will encourage new growth which will be more susceptible to freezes. During the warmer months, don't prune after October. This will allow plants to harden off before the first freeze of the year.

3. It can freeze as early as October, but usually we’ll see it in late November, first part of December. A general rule of thumb is that we can wear shorts on Christmas Day,[3] but either a week before or a week after, Florida will see a major freeze.

4. When temperatures are averaging 60 degrees or colder, which means temperatures in the 70’s during the daytime and 40’s at night, you only need to irrigate your turfgrass once every 7 – 10 days.

5. Fertilize flowering plants, shrubs, and young trees with slow-release fertilizer in the fall when you arrive and then  in late spring just before you leave to go back North.

6. It's so disappointing to come back in the fall to a dead or weedy landscape. Make sure your irrigation system is working correctly when you arrive and before you leave in the spring. Get a family member or neighbor to check on your irrigation system during the summer to make sure it's not watering the street and it's working correctly while you’re away. 

7. Fruit trees are a great way to have spring flowers. You can grow apples, peaches, pears, plums, nectarines, and many other varieties of fruits with low-chill hour varieties specifically grown for Florida’s winter. Check out the University of Florida’s list of fruit trees for Florida.

8. Citrus trees have been devastated by citrus greening disease. Up to 70% of Florida’s citrus are affected with Huanglongbing (HLB). [4] They are not recommended at this time for Florida landscapes.

You can have color in blooming annuals perennials, ornamental shrubs, spring-flowering trees, and variegated or rainbow-colored foliage.  My list of flowering plants below will start you on your way. But to ensure that your plants will survive in your landscape, assess your property for the sunlight conditions, soil moisture, and the pH of your garden beds before choosing your plants. If you’re new to Florida or a snowbird, a great tool to help you decide what plants will grow in your landscape is the St Johns River Water Management District’s Waterwise Landscape Database. The SJRWMD Waterwise Landscape Frequently Asked Questions will help you understand how to use it and provides more information on landscaping in Florida.

With all your choices of flowers and blooming shrubs and trees in Central Florida, your landscape can be as creative and colorful as you like.  Living in our lush subtropical climate doesn’t mean you will miss the trees’ fall foliage, the change of seasons, or that you can’t have a kaleidoscope of blossoms while you are enjoying our Florida weather.  Remember: while you love to dig in the dirt, you never have to shovel sunshine here. Welcome to beautiful La Florida.

Read my entire list of winter-flowering annuals, perennials, shrubs, and trees for Central Florida.

Would you like more Florida gardening tips? Send me your email address and I'll send Teresa's 2014 Garden Reminders to you.

 

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Teresa Watkins, a horticulturist, landscape designer, and environmental consultant, also hosts  the award-winning gardening radio show “In Your Backyard” heard on www.My790am.com  every Tuesday at 1:00pm EST. 

Big thanks and H/T to Avalon Holding Group for allowing use of their Snowbird graphics.

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[1] Exploring Florida. University of South Florida.

[2] Snow in Florida

[3] The Christmas Day Freeze December 23 – 26,1989

[4]The Packer  

Establish Green Foundations

19th c. home of George W. Cable, The Amateur Garden

During the late 19^th century, suburban builders planted landscape plants around homes to highlight the grandeur of the property.  Frederick Law Olmstead, founder of American landscapes, advised to ‘take care of the corners, and the centers will take care of themselves.’ Installing opulent shrubs and trees around foundations not only accented homes but created the framework to showcase the architecture of a new century. 

Side view of George W. Cable's home in 1914

 After World War II, houses became less expensive and landscape packages adjusted to budgets of veteran first-time home buyers.  The next generation — baby-boomers— jumped into the middle class. The housing boom continued with smaller yards, less money for landscape budgets becoming the norm.  Today with savvy builders and 21^st century science of water and energy conservation leads the way in offering ‘green’ landscapes with their showcase homes.  But for others, the Victorian trend of installing foundation plants continues with the 20^th century artificial reality of zero-lot lines and instant landscapes.  You can easily tell the age of an instant landscaped community by the large trees, scantily grassed front yards from the lack of sunlight, and overgrown shrubs blocking the view of the doors and windows. Its five to ten years old.

Example of instant landscaping after one year.

Instant landscapes have a formula:  Pack as many colorful plants around the house as possible to give that WOW factor so you can sell the house quickly.  The buyers move in, loving the landscape, not realizing the costs and work ahead with high maintenance of pruning, pest control, and replacing stressed plants within a few years. 

The first six months is the honeymoon, landscapes look good.  But Olmstead’s advice that the centers will take care of themselves is a lie. Over the next two – three years though, the established landscapes mature and grow into their full size, requiring continual pruning to get to the door, or see out windows, or keep the trees from hitting the roof.  Mold and mildew become issues with the moisture of irrigation hitting the home and lack of air circulation from the shrubs. With bi-weekly or monthly pruning necessary to prevent shrubs and trees from taking over the home, the shrubs succumb to die-back or ‘bare-bottom syndrome’[1], leaving the shrub looking forlorn and sickly.

Bare-bottom syndrome with die-back issues. 

How do you prevent instant landscapes?

• Use landscape plantings that allow for mature growth.  Take the full width of a plant and divide it by half.  If a tree grows 30 feet wide, plant it at least 20 feet away from house or overhead wires.  Hedge shrubs that will reach 6 feet wide within two years, plant three feet apart.
• Do not cram perennials and ornamental shrubs together for the instant look.   Instead, plant more perennials and ornamentals appropriately, and then use seasonal annuals, containers, and hanging baskets to provide more color. 
• Pruning foundation plants should not be necessary.  We shouldn’t put plants in to cut them unless it’s a formal landscape, a standard specimen, or a formal topiary.  If a window ledge is three feet up from the ground, then use a shrub that will only grow to three feet or grow very slowly, so that pruning is an annual landscape chore.
• Install foundation plants at least two feet away from the foundation or outside of the roof line.  This will allow the foundation plants to receive rainfall, and therefore cut supplemental irrigation, but also keep the soil at the foundation dry.  Keeping the rootball moisture away around the home will also maintain the integrity of termiticide barrier, reducing susceptibility to termites. 
• Shrubs should have three to four inches of mulch on top of the root ball, leaving the trunk flare visible but only use one to two inches of mulch around the foundation of the home. This will allow the moisture to dry around the house, again providing more termite protection.

How do you know how big a shrub or tree will get? A great landscape database to help determine appropriate size of shrubs and trees is the St Johns WaterManagement District’s Waterwise Landscapes website.   


Correct landscape installation 2008

Same landscape 3 years later.

Green builders want to provide better landscapes that will look great upon installation, are fabulous a year later, and within five years, look natural as if it had always been there.  Green landscapes mean lower upfront landscape budget costs for the builder, getting more bang for your buck while selling the benefits of less maintenance, lower water bills, for the home buyer, resulting in a quicker home sale!  

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[1] My label for shrubs that have no foliage at their base due to being pruned incorrectly. 

 

Teresa Watkins, horticulturist, landscape designer, and environmental consultant is a Florida Water Star certifier, and a member of the USGBC-LEED Technical Advisory Group. Watkins is also host of the award-winning gardening radio show “In Your Backyard” heard on www.My790am.com every Tuesday at 1:00pm. You can contact or send questions to Teresa at www.she-consulting.com.

50 Shades of Green

House nearing end of construction, last minute decisions, counting dollars, finishing details, and getting ready for the final C.O, is stress to the extreme.  Sound familiar?  Multiply that stress by one hundred with the builder having to submit the necessary particulars on a check-off application when the house is being certified “green.”   I recently overheard a builder blurt out in frustration “there’s many shades of green” when an explanation of what the criteria for landscape certification meant and why his choices were unable to be used.  While there are many green certification programs, there is only one type of “green,” and that is following the selected green organizations’ program criteria correctly.  Green certification takes organization, preparation, commitment, and knowledge of what benefits green certification provides both the builder and his client.  If proper steps are taken from beginning to end, green certification doesn’t have to be an arduous ordeal.

Conversations about what is really green and the much easier greenwashing[1] takes place mainly among researchers, green certifiers, and environmental standards organizations such as United States Green Building Council,  National Green Building Program,  EPA’s Water Sense, Sustainable Sites, and their affiliate state organizations like Florida Green Build Council.  In Florida, the University of Florida oversees the Florida Yards and Neighborhoods program, while the St Johns River Water Management District and other districts’ green certification program, FloridaWater Star certifies new and renovated homes on best water-conserving principles.  Home buyers trust the builder to provide correct information on the best products for their lifestyle and the right certification program.  Builders, who don’t believe that green certification is beneficial to their clients, won’t be able to sell it to them. It will either result in greenwashing or a lost opportunity to provide a truly sustainable product.

Green building is not only about the construction process, inside and out, but includes the property; from the first site survey and shovel in the ground, to final grading and landscape and irrigation installation.  For the best results and less stress, certifying the home and the landscape should be decided upon during the budget negotiations and before the construction begins, so that the application process can be completed successfully easier and within budget. Using a green-certified landscape architect or landscape designer from the beginning is a wise decision for the builder and the homeowner. 

Confusion happens when builders and homeowners don’t understand the numerous benefits and selling points of a certified landscape and irrigation; and start cutting their expenses at the cost of high maintenance and expensive water bills.  Green certification means the best management practices and certified products have been used and there will be financial savings, lower maintenance, and a smart responsibility to the environment, in their client’s future. 

Gone are the days (or at least they should be) where the homeowner is not given a choice on an efficient irrigation system that will cost more upfront but will save the homeowner thousands of dollars but are offered a more expensive energy-saving appliance that will save them $120 a year over the lifetime of the product.  With monthly water and irrigation bills of $200 to $500 becoming commonplace nationwide, why wouldn’t a builder give their clients the option of purchasing a water-efficient landscape and irrigation package? Needlessly paying thousands of dollars over a five to ten year period in water bills? Now that is torture to me.

Builders should partner with certified landscape designers and landscape architects who will provide timely advice and information on best management practices and green landscaping. They will be able to explain how to use the eco-friendly principles to benefit the builder and the homeowners. With current statutes like Florida-friendly landscaping, green certification is only a prelude to future smart building practices in Florida. Certified landscaping and irrigation will allow for more sustainable growth, more satisfied clients, and  help the builder to be on the best sellers’ list for years to come.  

See the Vision House 2008's certified green landscape three years later.
Originally published in From The Ground Up, Building Inspirations Magazine, July 2013.

Teresa Watkins, horticulturist, landscape designer, and environmental consultant. Watkinsalso hosts of the award-winning gardening radio show “In Your Backyard” heard on www.My790am.com  every Tuesday at 1:00pm.  You can contact or send questions to Teresa at www.she-consulting.com.

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[1] A superficial or insincere display of concern for the environment that is shown by an organization.  www.WordReference.com

Do you know the Best Management Principles (also known as BMP's) are for designing and maintaining your yard? The criteria of SJRWMD's Florida Water Star green certification program' landscaping modules and the UF/IFAS's Florida Yards & Neighborhoods nine principles are the best management practices for our state and can be utilized across the country and worldwide.

Best practices start with understanding the process of what plants need to be healthy. In Florida, Extension, Master Gardeners, and other garden experts hear from seasonal residents: "Gardening in Florida is so different than up north." What I explain to my audiences and clients is that once you understand the process of how plants grow - gardening is the same world-wide. While the plant species may change - how to assess and manage your landscape uses the same principles. While the snowbirds think its easier to garden up North, all it is really is doing what their parents did, what their neighbors did. They didn't understand the process of what plants need to grow.

You need to know the conditions of the site, i.e. sunlight, pH, soil moisture. Determine how you want to use the landscape, and how much time you want to invest in maintaining it. Some want their landscape to change with the seasons, or to have lots of seasonal plantings, while others want their landscape to stay the same year after year, with little maintenance. After determining conditions, selecting plants that utilize those same conditions, installing them correctly (correct depth, time of year, and space for mature size), and maintain the landscape appropriately (awareness, weeding, no excessive pruning, no overwatering, or overfertilizing), and you have a low-matinenance, sustainable landscape. BMP's will help gardeners achieve that effectively, reducing needless waste, pollution, costs, and labor.

While every state or organization wants to have their own unique statement as to Landscape BMP's - they really are the same criteria but based on their own state's soils and seasons, and the organization's agenda.

Does your landscaping and maintenance follow Florida-friendly BMP's?  Check it out.

Florida Water Star Silver and Gold Certification

Florida Yards  & Neighborhoods 9 Principles

Edible Landscaping - Florida Style

UPDATE: Read Teresa's an in-depth article on Edible Landscaping for Green Builder magazine on "Edible Landscaping 02" pages 31 - 37.

The International Builders Show in Orlando January 12th - 15th will be showcasing two demonstration homes, Green Builder's Vision House and ReVision House 2011.   (You can see the homes in detail in Green Builder magazine, January, February, April 2011 issues.)

These homes will feature technology and trends in green construction. Using products that will help homeowners conserve energy, water, and provide better air quality is important in these tough economic times. While current costs for this new technology may be more expensive at the onset, homeowners will reap benefits in reduced bills, lower maintenance costs, and better health.

The Vision House is urban-techno farmhouse introducing vegetables and low maintenance into the Orlando infill city lot. This landscape is perfect for busy professionals, having reduced turf areas, small raised garden beds, and patio containers of fruits and vegetables. In the same College Park community, the ReVision House showcases a Napa Valley Florida-style landscape for homeowners who have more time to be outdoors and are gardening enthusiasts. The larger lot features an edible landscape with nut trees, small orchard, berries, and herbs in containers and as ground covers. The home is situated in a cul-de-sac neighborhood and has full sun in the front yard with shade in the backyard.

Both landscapes have incorporated soil amendments of Sodcaster and Turf Pro in the garden beds and turf areas which will improve moisture retention and decrease the need for fertilizer. At the ReVision House, the compost comes from a more refined technology! BCR Environmental donated organic nutrient-rich, odorless compost of biosolids that  have been incorporated into the soils.  Lechuza, elegant self-watering containers are used indoors and outdoors at both houses, saving the homeowners time and money worry about watering and replacing plants that get neglected.

Landscape species were selected based on proper site conditions and mature size that will allow the landscapes to grow naturally and create a biodiverse urban sanctuary for wildlife.  Proper placement of the shrubs and trees reduce the amount of pruning and future maintenance allowing the plants to grow healthy without water and nutrient competition.  The specially selected plant species at the Green Builder demonstration homes - after establishment - will be able to survive on normal rainfall, supplemented by efficient irrigations systems that will be used during droughts. The maintenance of these yards will be minimum with less mowing, less fertilizing, and less pruning - reducing their susceptibility to pest issues. Both of the homes will be certified Florida Water Star, water-conserving indoors and outdoors. The Vision House 2011 receives SJRWMD's highest Gold certification, while the ReVision House 2011, a renovated home earns the Silver certification.

Sponsors of the Vision and ReVision House 2011

Vision House:

Irrigation: Clearwater PSI

• Lechuza, a division of Playmobil - Self-watering containers
• Lake Jem Farms - Zoysiagrass turf supplier
• Sunniland - Soil amendments, stone mulch
• Davey Tree Experts Company - Tree Pruning
• Florida Water Star Certification

ReVision House:
Irrigation: Bruce Hage Irrigation

Landscaping: 

• Chestnuthill Tree Farm - Berries, grapes, fruit and nut trees
• Lechuza, a division of Playmobil - Self-watering Containers
• Lake Jem Farms - Zoysiagrass turf supplier
• BCR Environmental - Compost/Commercial fertilizer derived from biosolids
• Sunniland - Soil amendments
• Davey Tree Experts Company - Tree Pruning
• Landscape Design, Florida Water Star Certification - Teresa Watkins

Being grounded in saving dollars and making sensible decisions regarding our natural resources will certainly become more important in the coming years. Growing your own vegetables, fruits, and herbs is an easy way to start an edible landscape and  take advantage of Florida's warm weather and abundant rainfall.

Both homes will be featured in the January and March issue of Green Builder and on DIY and HGTV.  You can visit the Green Builder Vision and ReVision 2011 homes during the International Builders Show Jan 12th - 15th from 10am to 4pm.

Teresa's article on Central Florida edible landscaping: Edible Landscaping: So Good You Can Eat Them Right Up