Jerry Carris, The Master Gardener

Jerry Carris, harvested more than vegetables and flowers.  An Orange County master gardener for over 20 years, Jerry harvested love, good will, and friendships. He loved everybody and encouraged them to be their very best. My heart ached when I heard that Jerry passed away yesterday.

Jerry, a redhead - with freckles, too - would stop by my office at the Orange County Extension office and give me hugs and encouragement. He was a strong supporter of myUF/IFAS Florida Yards & Neighborhoods program through the City of Winter Garden, and of my weekly gardening radio show, "In Your Backyard. Jerry would call in frequently into "In Your Backyard" with answers to my audience's vegetable questions and to promote the Master Gardener clinic open on Tuesdays at the Mid-Florida Research Center in Apopka.

Jerry was recognized in November 2009 as the Florida Master Gardener of the Year by the University of Florida.

I will miss you, Jerry. God speed home.

Jerry's Obituary - Orlando Sentinel

NASCAR's Tidy Track

Juan Pablo Montoya #42

Crashes during a NASCAR race usually means oil spills which endanger the professional drivers. Before the race can continue, the NASCAR officials clean the track with TIDE granular detergeant. Years ago, that would have meant phosophorus pollution from the watered down soap product but due to the Clean Water Act, detergeants no longer contain phosphorus pollutants.

What tickled me is how they put the detergeant on the oily track.  They used a garden fertilizer spreader. It did the trick! The race continued with Matt Kensath winning the Daytona 500.

No Rain? Best Way To Help Your Plants

I think I saw a rain drop yesterday.  That was it.  A rain drop.  Here in Central Florida we are now facing our third month with below normal rainfall and heading into a dry spring season.  Add summer time temperatures to the lack of rain and we have stressful conditions for our landscape. 

The good news is that we know that with these weather patterns that we can control how we take care of our landscape.  We can adjust our irrigation, reduce our fertilization and pruning, replenish our mulch, but what else can you do to help your plants handle the temporary drought cycle?

You can add amendments to your garden beds and surrounding shrubs and young trees. Adding organic materials to your sandy soils will help keep the moisture in the ground, provide nutrients that will help plants thrive, and reduce the amount of garden chores that usually come from having 'less than optimum' sand.

Myakka Sand

Our state soil 'Myakka' was designated in 1989, because Florida (an Indian word for 'Big Waters') has more total acreage of Myakka sand than any other soil type. This native soil which is wet sandy soil with an underground layer of organic subsoils is not found in any other state. 

While most new residents from up North like to complain about our dirt. Its not bad. It just is. Myakka sand can provide good drainage, easy to dig in, and does have macronutrients and minerals in it.

Yet sandy soils do not retain moisture very long and can have microbacterial conditions that allow for quick decomposition, leaching nutrients, and nemotodes. Adding organic amendments to your soils is a great way to help your plants survive easier during hotter, dryer periods.

How much should you add?  For a typical 10 square feet, you can add one bag (20 lbs) of top soil, one bag of peat moss, and one bag of manure.  Or you can substitute similar amounts of mushroom or your own seasoned compost.  Work the amendments into the top six to eight inches of your garden bed or apply it around to your shrubs and trees and work it into the ground.

Be careful not to add green compost ingredients, i.e. coffee grounds, manure, in large amounts to your plants as they can have unintended consequences such as increasing acidity or binding nutrients up.  Add fresh coffee grounds, tea leaves, etc to your compost pile and let them age.

• More information on composting.
• 163 things to add to your compost
• Compost - Living Green - IFAS
• Compost Tips For Home Gardeners - IFAS

Who Knew?

New USDA Plant Hardiness Map

After years of discussion and debate, the new USDA Plant Hardiness Map is ready. The previous map was developed in 1990. The new gardening zone map, broken into zones of ten and five degree termperature increments, now has thirteen zones with the newest zones 12 and 13 having low winter temperatures  of (50-60 degrees F) and (60 - 70 degrees F). For background on how the new map zones were arrived at, Tony Avent with Plant Delights Nursery in Raleigh, NC, one of my favorite plant catalog nurseries in the world, was a part of it from the beginning and provides history:

On August 18, 2004, USDA formed a technical review committee of 23 people including yours truly. The group consisted of nurserymen, crop researchers, foresters, climatologists, and others. The committee had a number of meetings at the USDA headquarters in Maryland and many subsequent meetings by phone.

The details of the map making process was quite fascinating. The first few meetings were spent hashing out what we wanted in the map. Several of us had pushed for a 30-year map, which would more closely echo short term natural temperature fluctuations, and the USDA agreed. Another of my requests to create an a, b, c, and d breakdown for each numbered zone was delayed until the future.

We also wanted a map that would allow more temperature interpolations between weather stations, which would take into account things like lake and mountain effects which were missing in the previous map. The process then progressed to the USDA to gather the data and create the map with their in-house staff. A complication arose when their in-house algorithm specialist was commandeered by the Department of Defense and sent to Afghanistan to run algorithms to locate Osama bin Laden. During this time, the specialist would join us via conference call from a safe place in Afghanistan...I’m not making this up.

After two years, the map was supposedly ready as the committee members gathered in Maryland for the unveiling. We were never privy to exactly what went wrong, but the map we saw showed all of the US getting colder, which was certainly not the case. My best guess is that someone reversed all the data. After this debacle, the map trail went cold for nearly a year, during which time the USDA decided in 2007 not to complete the map in-house, but instead to outsource the project to the PRISM (Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model) Climate Group at Oregon State.

After PRISM completed their initial map, we were shown a draft map via phone conference. The rest of the year was spent going back and forth about areas which the review team felt were not zoned correctly. During this time, more data sites were added to those regions of concern, either from Canadian, Mexican, or military data. Finally in April 2008, the technical review team finished their work and the map was back in the lap of the USDA for publication. The subsequent 3 years and 9 months were spent by USDA trying to figure out what colors to make the zones and then finding a website that could host the map without crashing like their previously launched food pyramid...I’m not making this up. Whoever said that the Federal Government moves slowly was spot on...hence the reason the most recent climatic data in the map is 6 years old.

The USDA map has two versions, a static map where you can select your state and zone or the interactive map where you can input your zip code and you go right to your city and find your gardening zone.

The new map reflects the warmer temperatures from microclimates from winds, bodies of water, slope of the land, and urban heat islands but the USDA makes a valid point that this new realignment should not be used as an indication for global warming.

I agree. The previous USDA map from 1990 used data from a twelve year time period of 1974 to 1986.  The new map uses data from the years 1976 to 2005. The weather is cyclical and since 2005 I've seen even colder temperatures during the winter here locally than normal.  It will be interesting to see the next gardening zone map to see if the two-thirds degree higher temps reach one degree.

Find out more about Plant Delights Nursery:  A Delightful Day Filled With Plants

The Best Time To Plant A Tree Is Now

Myrtle Oak
Teresa Watkins copyright 2012

Florida's Arbor Day, the third Friday in January was designated as a holiday to celebrate trees. I was asked to speak at the City of Mount Dora's tree planting ceremony at the historic Simpson house.  The following is from my speech:

Trees are the oldest living organisms on earth. Trees produce many of our basic necessities in life. Trees fulfill our lives 24 hours a day with better goods, food, entertainment, sports, and communication. In the 17th century, when the first settlers came to our east coast shores, they were amazed and thankful for the bountiful forests. Over a century later, millions of acres of trees had become homes, buildings, churches, and transportation. When the pioneers ventured west, they encountered for the first time, our prairie ecosystems. There was no protection from shade or winds. There were no trees for construction or fuel. They had to build their homes out of prairie sod. Agriculture was hampered by soil erosion. It was a hard life being a pioneer on the prairies.

In 1872, J. Sterling Morton, editor of Nebraska’s first newspaper, went to the Nebraska State Board of Agriculture and proposed a holiday and contest to plant trees on April 10, The holiday was called Arbor Day. Prizes were awarded to cities, counties and people who had planted the most trees. That first Arbor Day, over one million trees were planted in Nebraska. It changed the state forever. Today Nebraska has over 1million acres of forests.

In 1885, Arbor Day became a legal holiday and other states adopted the practice of planting trees on their own designated Arbor Day. In 1970, President Richard Nixon proclaimed the last Friday in April as National Arbor Day. Florida celebrated Arbor Day for the first time in 1886. Later, state foresters changed the date of Florida’s Arbor Day to the third week in January because it’s an optimum time to plant trees. Because of the great work, the city of Mount Dora has done over the years in protecting and planting trees, Mount Dora has received designation as a Tree City USA community.

The United States contain 8 percent of the world’s forests. And because of Arbor Day and an awareness of the valuable resource of trees through conservation and education, there are more trees in the United States then there were 100 years ago. We now use renewable species of trees for manufacturing.

“According to the (FAO) the Food and Agriculture Organization, forest growth has exceeded harvest since the 1940s…by 1997; the volume of forest growth was 380 percent greater that it had been in 1920.”

Trees provide us with nearly half of the materials the United States manufactures. And actually, the average American uses the equivalent of a tree about 100’ tall and 18’ in diameter. Over 5,000 products that we use on a daily basis come from trees. You can easily recognize building materials, furniture, paper products, but did you know the following products also come from trees?

Chemicals and resins from trees are used as key ingredients for paint, varnish, adhesives, asphalt, artificial vanilla flavoring, cereals, chewing gum, hair spray, mouthwash, soaps, shampoos, tires, and toothpaste.

Cellulose, found in tree cell walls, is used as a food thickener for snacks, milk shakes, ice cream, cake frosting, and pancake syrup. Cellulose is also used in items you can’t eat such as eyeglass frames, egg cartons, steering wheels, hairbrush handles, cellophane, and camera film.

Some little known facts about trees:

• One large tree can lift up to 100 gallons of water out of the ground and discharge it into the air in a day.

• Trees are in essence big batteries. They trap more of the sun's energy than any other group of organisms on earth.

• Only one tenth of the sun's energy is trapped by organisms -- trees account for 50% of all energy trapped by organism.

• If you take its weight into consideration, almost 98% of a tree is made up of six elements: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur.

• If a birdhouse is hung on a tree branch, it does not move up the tree as the tree grows.

• Different parts of the tree grow at different times of the year. A typical pattern is for most of the foliage to grow in the spring, followed by trunk growth in the summer and root grow more in the fall and winter.

• Most trees do not have a tap root.

• Tree roots do not grow very deep. Most tree roots are in the top 12 inches of soil.

• Tree roots often extend two to three times the width of the tree.

• There are over 400 billion trees on the planet or to personalize it, there are about 61 trees per person.

With the increased promotion and appreciation of trees from Arbor Day, Americans began to select their state trees. While I won’t expound on the fact that palms are not trees, our state tree is the Sabal Palm, Sabal palmetto. Our national tree is the oak tree, which Mount Dora has many magnificent examples. The century-old live oak trees that you see throughout Mount Dora are endemic to the soils surrounding the city and had to be one of the many reasons the Simpson family decided to homestead here in 1874.


Sabal palmetto
Teresa Watkins copyright 2012

 The significance of trees can be seen in our literature, songs, national parks, vacation memories, and the heart-wrenching sadness people feel when massive oak trees are ripped down by hurricane-like storms as they were here in Mount Dora in the spring of 1993 and historic ancient trees, such as the Senator are destroyed by fire last week. 


Chionanthus virginica
by Teresa Watkins copyright 2012

Planting trees is a wonderful way to celebrate humanity and the earth It’s important to teach the value of native ecosystems and the proper locations for trees to create healthier and waterwise landscapes. It’s important for Floridians to protect and plant more native species as we are doing today. The Lake and Hills Garden Club, researched the planting site, and selected a native tree that would thrive in Central Florida with low maintenance. The Chionanthus virginica, the American Fringetree is zoned for 9a, grows to be 12’ to 20’ tall and 10’ wide. It needs moist to dry soils with an acidic pH. It thrives in full sun or morning sun and afternoon shade. The Fringetree produces white flowers in early springtime. Another reason, the garden club members liked the native tree, also called Old Man's Beard, because it not only provides food but also nesting resources for wildlife.

Native plant species are important to keep ecosystems and habitats diverse and healthy. Native trees from the time they emerge as seedlings to the time they are mature provide environmental niches for many types of wildlife in various phases of their lives. Young seedlings are of greatest value to early-successional wildlife that requires thick brushy cover, such as rabbits and songbirds. Young trees do not produce a significant amount of mast (fruit) until maturity, usually around 20 years old, but young trees can seen as important places for resting and insect foraging.

Florida pines and other fast growing trees provide little food sources but are an excellent source of winter and roosting cover, and they can provide important foraging substrate for insect-eating birds, especially migrating warblers like woodpeckers and warblers .

If we lose our native plant species, we will endanger valuable wildlife and bird populations. The creatures and habitat that awed and inspired the first settlers in the 19th century and the 20th century tourists seeing Florida for the first time could disappear.

How do trees benefit humans? One large tree can provide a day's supply of oxygen for up to four people. Trees in our landscapes reduce air conditioning and heating bills by providing shade from the sun and windbreaks from the cold winds. Shading windows and walls can lower AC costs by 25 percent. Landscapes with mature trees can increase property values by 25 percent. Seven year old boy and girls climbing and sitting in a tree canopy contemplating life or looking through the air at the rooftops has immeasurable benefits. We should all climb and sit in trees more. The world would be a better place.

I hope today that this celebration of Arbor Day will increase awareness of the beautiful native tree species we have here in Florida. I wish that everyone attending will go home and assess their yard for the proper site conditions and plant a native species that will enhance their landscape and increase the multiple benefits that trees provide Mount Dora.

As the Chinese proverb says: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is now.”

More information on how to plant a tree.

Lake and Hills Garden Club Arbo

The Secret of Cyclamens

Fanciful cyclamens are associated with our holiday season. Blooming in winter, these beautiful red, fuschia, pink, and white, woodland bulb plants remind me of our native columbine that seems to hang upside down with their petals reaching up to the sky.

Cyclamens can seem difficult to maintain and are often treated as annuals and tossed away after they start to decline but if you understand their needs and their growth pattern, you can keep the plant for several years.

Cyclamens need bright sunlight, moist but not wet soils, and cool temperatures. Do not place near heating vents or under hot lights. Since the biggest cause of decline is rotting from excessive moisture, its important to allow the plant to dry out between waterings. So if you water the top of the plant, just make sure it doesn't stay on the crown long or keep the soil wet.  Like African violets and primroses, this African native benefits from high humidity and watering from the bottom, although the cyclamens do not get the foliage damage when their leaves get wet. 

Fertilize with a diluted solution of liquid fertilizer every two weeks while blooming.  Cyclamens like temperatures in the 70's and unless a hardy species, do not take temperatures under 50 degrees.  They do not like hot summertime weather.

After flowering, cyclamens should be placed in a cool, shaded location with good air circulation. Do not water and allow the plant to go dormant during the summertime. Keep the tubers and soil dry.  At the end of this dormant period before you start watering again, you can transplant into a larger pot or change out the soil in the existing pot. 

If you continue to water the plant during the summertime, and you do it correctly, the plant may not go into dormancy.  In September, resume watering and place in bright light.  The cyclamens should reappear for another new year holiday season.

Cyclamen Season - IFAS

Cyclamen Society

Hardy Cyclamens

Cyclamen Problems - NDSU

Free Gold For Your Garden

One of the best soil amendments you can add to your yard is mushroom compost.  A by-product of mushroom farming, mushroom compost is rich with macro and micronutrients, good bacteria, and organic soil enhancements that improve water infiltration and retention. Its great to add to sandy and clay soils.  And while this soil amendment is one of the best, its not the cheapest to add to your soil. 

But not this week! Today through Saturday from 7:00am to 3:00pm, the Monterey Mushroom Farm in Zellwood, Florida is giving away free mushroom compost.  Bring your own containers or truck beds.

Their location is 5949 Sadler Rd Zellwood, FL 32798, and their telephone number for more information is
(407) 905-4000.

Mushroom compost is derived from all organic materials such as hay, straw, horse bedding, chicken litter, cottenseed meal, cocoa shells, and gypsum.  It can used to amend soils before sod laying, adding plants to your garden beds, prevents destructive artillary fungus from establishing, decreases the need for liming soils, and reduces the need to fertilize for a year.

Mushroom Compost Organization

Mushroom compost landscape uses

Take advantage of this wonderful, free supply that Monterey Farms is providing! Remember its only through this Saturday.

Simple Resolutions and Smart Solutions for 2012

Happy New Year! I hope this season of reflection and assessment will help you garden with soul and create an environment that will help you become healthier, wealthier, and wise. My four part series of resolutions this year are simple. With the economic times, I’m looking to working smarter in my yard, invigorate myself and my landscape, and recycle what works to save dollars and time.  Here's the first of the New Year series - the three areas of my landscape I need to work on:

Resolution: Use my compost pile more often.

I have a great compost bin that holds a bounty of hardworking earthworms and humus. But because my yard is already at a level elevation, I don’t usually take the time to incorporate the wonderfully organic matter into my soil as much as I should. It’s ridiculous to have this valuable resource and not use it. This year I’m going to use compost more to replace my tired soil with the nutrient rich humus. I’m going to put those good earthworms to work in my yard. 

Resolution: Spiffy up a boring corner with an easy care, low water use container garden.

It’s been six years since I designed my front landscape and it is in need of rearranging and invoking new life. I’m going to dig up my northwest corner “foundation” shrubs and move them around the yard like sofa furniture till I’m happy. Then I’m going to add a new colorful container with colorful xeric perennials, annuals, and a vine or groundcover that spills over, to the corner like a new end table with a beautiful lamp. Oh, that gives me an idea… solar lighting for an uplifting night time display.

Resolution: Create a seating area in my garden.

While I have “floors” of walking paths in my front and backyards, and “walls” of foundation plants, I haven’t decided on seating. Do I want wrought iron, cement or wood furniture? I have wrought iron rocking chairs that are ideal for the garden but do I want to take them off the patio? I also have wood that Tony could make into a swing. I sometimes see aged cement benches in yard sales and on Craig’s list. Don’t pass them up. Deciding on what type of chair I want will help me select the flooring underneath, whether it’s recycled bricks, pavers, or flagstone.

 If I do those two garden projects and incorporate my compost, I will be very satisfied at the end of the year to achieve those goals. Stay tuned for the after pictures!

What are your gardening New Year Resolutions?

Tomorrow, will be the second part for getting off to a good start in the New Year.  I'll provide some simple solutions to help you save money, make better use of what you have, and take time to enjoy living in your garden.

Are You Ready For Some Winter?

In Florida, we can always wear shorts on Christmas Day, but we must not forget that we have a winter season. In the Sunshine State, our winter arrives with a cold front either in the two weeks before Christmas or within the following two weeks after the New Year. With the La Nina weather pattern this year, Central Florida's coldest temperatures so far will occur tonight and Tuesday night. Is your landscape ready for freezing temperatures?

• Make sure your plants are hydrated before a freeze.
• Do not run sprinklers systems during freeze.
• Use frost blankets or large boxes to keep plants insulated.
• If using anything other than frost blankets, ensure that the material is not touching the plants' foliage.
• If boxes, sheets, or other material is used, it must be removed each morning and replaced before sundown.
• Don’t overwater palm trees before or after a freeze.
• If palms are damaged - use a copper fungicide as soon as possible.
• Healthier plants and palms survive winter better.

While meteorologists are predicting a mild winter, this only means that we won't be seeing many freezing nights. Make sure you have frost blankets on hand for those tender tropical plants.  If any plant damage is noticeable, try to resist the urge to prune plant vigorously until until mid-February. 

California Scientists Release Citrus Psyllid Predator

Tamarixia radiata

California scientists just released the Tamarixia radiata - a predator wasp that attacks our dreaded Asian citrus psyllid.

UC Riverside Executive Vice Chancellor Dallas Rabenstein and Mark Hoddle, the director of the Center for Invasive Species Research, released Tamarixia radiata – tiny, stingless parasitic wasps that lay eggs in ACP nymphs – in a citrus grove near the UCR Botanic Gardens. A total of 281 wasps (95 males and 186 females) were released.



Over the next several years, UCR and California Department of Agriculture Food and Agriculture (CDFA) scientists will raise thousands of Tamarixia for release throughout California. The Tamarixia larvae will eat the ACP nymphs, killing them, and emerge as adults about 12 days later. Adult female Tamarixia also eat other ACP nymphs, killing many in the process.

Read more.

Management of Asian Citrus Psyllid - IFAS

Tamarixia radiata - life cycle - Cornell

Why Are My Citrus Leaves Curling?

Ring Around the Carrot

A Swedish woman harvesting carrots in her vegetable bed, also found her jewelry.  Lena Pahlsson lost her wedding ring sixteen years ago. Despite looking high and low for it, she never found it until last week when digging in her garden.

What a lucky day for her!  I wonder how many other jewelry pieces have been lost while digging in their backyard? This is where a metal detector would have paid off!

Medieval jewelry found in Vienna garden.

Things I've found in my garden.

Interesting things found digging.

Myself personally, I've found marbles, old plastic army toys, golf balls in my yard (I think they flew off an I-4 truck and bounced into my garden.)

Oranges Bring Winter Sunshine

Garden Furniture For The Ages

Found these lovely romantic armchairs at Lukas Nursery in Oviedo.  The comfortable, blue chairs made out of a cement resin, look like they were designed for an Alice in Wonderland fantasy.   I can picture them sitting on a lakefront landscape of a picturesque mansion.  The price would require a mansion. They are selling for just under $1000 for the pair.

Tis The Season For Christmas Bird Counting

"And a partridge in a pear tree."

Its' time for the Christmas Bird Count again! The Audubon organization sponsors the annual event each year during the Christmas holidays. Happening from December 14, 2011 through January 5, 2012, the volunteer army of bird-watchers count the various species seen in their yards, cities, and wildlife preserves.  The festive activity to involve people to help birds with a friendly bird experience. 

The data collected will help provide information on species populations and migration trends. Over 50,000 observers in 2000 locations from the Artic Circle to South America's Tierra del Fuego will participate.

You still have opportunity to get involved by contacting your local Audubon group.  You must be 19 yeas old to register and participate and there is a $5 fee which helps defray local expenses of counting equipment and materials.

I wonder if someone will see a partridge in a pear tree?  Probably more like cardinals with snow expected on Christmas Day for our northern feathered friends.

Here's a slideshow I took of birds visiting my mother-in-law's birdfeeder on New Year's Eve 2008.

Feed The Birds - New Year’s Eve 2008, Taunton MA

Mistletoe - Friend or Foe?

Celtic and European traditions have long associated mistletoe with our Christmas holiday.   The American oak mistletoe, Phorandendron serotium, is found in deciduous trees, mainly laurel oak trees, making it easy to see in the wintertime.  Mistletoe can also infest elms, hackberries, sycamores, and wild cherry trees. 

Mistletoe is a friend of butterflies and birds. The epiphyte is the sole host plant for the blue hairstreak butterfly.  The evergreen succulent leaves hold berries that are spread from tree to tree by birds and wind.

Despite the wildlife benefits and jolly seasonal use, mistletoe is a parasite.  Sapping the water and nutrition from its host, mistletoe can kill stressed trees.  Deciding on whether to remove mistletoe should be based on the location of the pest. If it is located in the tree close to the ground, then a homeowner should be able to remove it easily. The mistletoe roots must be removed to eradicate it.  Cutting the branch off six inches below the mistletoe's location.  But if it is in the higher branches of the tree, have it removed by a certified arborist to prevent damaging the tree's structure.


Mistletoe is easily seen in autumn.

The other method of removing mistletoe is by using a chemical growth regulator, Ethephon, that can only be applied in winter time when the tree is dormant. Ethephon is only available thought a licensed pest control operator. 

Mistletoe is poisonous, so be careful to keep out of range of pets and animals. Wash hands and clothing with hot soapy water after pruning or touching.

So is mistletoe friend or foe?  I'll let you decide.


Mistletoe - IFAS

Mistletoe - Web of Life

New Tropical Mistletoe Discovered

Winter Loving Strawberries

Strawberries, Fragaria × ananassa, are one of my favorite berries. I love strawberries with angel food cake and whipped cream, strawberry jam cookies, and strawberry ice cream. Strawberries are also one of the easiest fruits to grow in your garden.

Florida has three seasons, autumn, winter, and spring to grow delicious strawberries. They need temperatures between 50 and 80 degrees and shorter daytime conditions. Raised beds are best so that the crowns of the strawberry plant are kept well-drained. The soil pH for good growth should be between 5.5 and 6.8, but will tolerate acidity levels 5.0 through 7.0. Ensure your strawberries have adequate fertilizer by digging a balanced N-P-K into the soil before planting. Then using a slow-release fertilizer once a month. Water one to two times a week in the winter and two to three times depending on the temperatures in the spring.

Protect strawberries with frost blankets when temperatures go below 32 degrees. Recommended varieties for Florida include 'Caramosa', 'Sweet Charlie', and 'Festival.' I found beauiful white flowered 'Camarosa' and hot pink flowers  "Lipstick" at my local nursery.  Lipstick strawberries have long runners spreading to five feet if allowed, and can make a lovely groundcover for edible landscaping.  Strawberries can be used in containers, window boxes, and in rock gardens.

Pest issues include fungus, spider mites, and nematodes. Check leaves for any pest issues before you buy your plants. Using rich organic soils will reduce nematode populations.  Apply a proactive fungicide if you think your plants may be susceptible.  Check labels before using any pesticides or fungicides for use on strawberries.

Camarosa strawberries

Lipstick Strawberries

More Links:

Growing Strawberries in the Florida Home Garden.

Growing Strawberries Hydroponically

Fragraria 'Lipstick' Strawberries

Would you like to read more on Edible Landscaping? Check out my in-depth article on Edilble Landscaping for Green Builder magazine on "Edible Landscaping 02" pages 31 - 37.

Gifts For The Gardener

Selecting Christmas gifts for the gardener can be easy or hard depending on the gardener's propensity and their needs. Is your favorite gardener new to gardening? Then new tools, plants, and garden accents can be easy to find.  But what if you have a gardener who has a mature garden, all the tools they need, and buying a Christmas present can be a chore? Here's some ideas for every budget that you still have time to get and place under your Christmas tree:

• Beautiful stainless steel compost pail for the kitchen.  A one gallon container for all your compost scraps comes complete with a carbon filter. Only 11 inches high to fit perfectly under your sink or even on your counter.  $40.00

• Bird House Chalet that will feed every feathered visitor. Decorated with bird seeds, this bird house will attract bluejays, cardinals, chickadees, doves, finches, jays, sparrows, and more. Hanging the bird feeder close to a window view or placing it on your fence will enable your gardener to enjoy watching the various birds who will come to your yard. $40.00
  
  

•  Wee fairy garden accents for miniature gardens. A wonderful way to create little garden vignettes for under a tall tree, or put on your patio or even indoors, this is an unique hobby for children, adluts, and those with disabilities, who can't get around a garden or can't lift heavy items. Each piece allows you to personalize the garden.  Individual costs vary from $3.00 to $10.00.

 

• Solar powered LED firefly lighting for your garden borders or used to highlight a small tree. These small LED lights with a low voltage transformer don't add to your electricity bill and are easy to install. These beautiful lights add fantasy and excitement to your nighttime garden.

• A must have in any garden is a noteworthy entrance.  Garden gates add a special touch to your landscape even if there is no fence.  Gates can reflect your house architectural style or just add whimsical structure to your yard.  Gates can be wooden, wrought iron, even twigs and branches from trees.  You can find unique garden gates at antique stores, yard  sales, or renovation outlets. Free to $100+.

• Celtic Mushroom. Perfect touch for an Irish themed garden. This three pound cement resin mushroom can be used outdoors in your garden area or beside your indoor plants.  Toadstools even come as a set with a large and small size.  Weather-resistant, it will be an ideal accent to your woodland garden. $40.00

•   And for the chilly, rainy, snowy days of winter when gardening isn't a viable option, the best biographical gardening book I've read in a long time is on a relatively unknown but early 20th century gardening designer, is "Edwardian Country Life: The Story of H. Avray Tipping"  In 1933, Tipping wrote "The Garden of Today." His garden designs reflect the Italian phase of the Arts and Crafts style. H. Avray Tipping, made an impact on Britain's culture when he became the architectural editor of Country Life, a popular magazine among the wealthy in the early 1900's. Tipping was instrumental in the preservation of country homes and historical buildings through the National Trust and the Royal Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings. 

A personal sidenote: I was introduced to this new book through my English parish priest, the brother of Helena Gerrish.  Helena lives in Tipping's house and while researching his life and restored his magnificent gardens.  I thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful coffee table book by Helena Gerrish. After reading the background history along with Tipping's biography and seeing the beautiful gardening photographs of beautiful British country homes, his homestead and his gardens are now on my bucket list for my next trip to England.

Growing Them Big Down Under

The giant Powelliphanta looks beautiful sliding along the mesic forest floor but this rare albino snail is not as gentle as its vegetarian American cousins. The New Zealand native mollusk is carnivorous, feasting on worms, grubs, and other creatures that are in the snail's path.  At maturity, a 20 year old snail can reach the size of a man's fist.  This photographs shows a Powelliphanta (Powell elephant?) approximately ten years old.

The ugly creature above is called a Giant Weta. I'm grateful they are found only on the Great Barrier Island as they are one of the largest insects on record and a good example of island gigantism . Finding this in my garden would spoil my day.

Do you have signs of pesky snails in your garden?  Make sure you're not irrigating too much or too often, keeping your landscape wet. Snails are Mother Nature's decomposers, digesting fungi and decaying plant material. They  like moist soils with lots of leaf litter.  Drying your garden beds out, removing decomposing foliage, letting the sun in, and using a product with iron phosphate works to help reduce snail population. Be careful using baits with metaldehyde around children and pets. Using beer may be organic, but is expensive, and a good waste of beer. (Beer is also not good for pets and children.)

There is one Florida native snail that is good for your garden:  the Rosy Wolf Snail, Euglandia rosea.  These predators feed on other snails and keep other snail populations down. 

The Living World of Mollusks describes rosy wolf snail's behavior:

In the case of the wolf snail, the lips are used to follow the prey's scent along its slime trace. Which a wolf snail does, like a wolf follows the scent of its prey, hence the snail's name. Only in the case of the wolf snail, it is more precisely the taste, not the scent, which it follows.

From another snail's slime trace the wolf snail also gains information on whether the snail is a potential meal rather than a fellow wolf snail. Which basically makes not much of a difference, as wolf snails also are cannibals.

On pursuit of its prey the wolf snail does not move at a proverbial snail's pace, but at double or triple that speed. It follows its prey up trees and even for certain distances under water

For more information and identification of snails:

Florida Tree Snails

Get Savvy About Snails

Florida Garden Snails

Snails and Slugs

Queen Palms Becoming Royal Pain

IFAS

I received another email from an HOA that is seeing evidence of their queen palms dying.  Since 2003, when it was first diagnosed, Central Florida has seen increasing cases of Fusarium wilt in Syagrus romanazoffiana,  Queen palms, and Washingtonia robusta, Mexican fan palm, also known as Washingtonia palm.  The fungal disease kills the palms very quickly. 

Do you think you have Fusarium wilt in your palms? Check these symptoms:

• One-sided chlorosis.  The fronds will all be yellow or brown on one side.
• Distinctive red or brown stripe on the stem of the frond.
• If you cut the stem off, inside the stem is discolored especially to one side.
• Disease appears on the lowest living fronds, moving upwards, with the youngest emerging frond last to die.
• Palm dies within two to three months.

IFAS

The disease has been diagnosed throughout the state of Florida spread by wind-blown spores but local communities can also see many palms affected through unsterile pruning equipment. There is no cure for Fusarium wilt and rapid removal of dying palms is recommended to prevent other palms from becoming affected. Queen or Washingtonia palms should not be replanted in the same locations. 

Got Aphids?

With over 1300 species of aphids in North America, it shouldn't be a surprise to you that you find them in your garden.

When I get aphids in my landscape, it's usually on my asclepias tuberosa or butterfly weed, which can handle a few aphids.  I'm fortunate enough to catch them in time to spray the water hose on them or natural predators - like lady beetles -  to have their way and they do disappear.  If you are faced with sooty mold or a declining plant because aphids are so damaging, then you have to use stronger methods to eradicate them, such as pyrethroids or horticultural oils. Always follow instructions on the label.  Try not to stress, aphids are everywhere and you can get rid of them.

IFAS publications:

Aphids On Landscape Plants

Aphids on Florida Citrus

In Your Backyard Time Change

"In Your Backyard" is going back to its original time slot on Tuesdays at 11am - 12pm on My790am.com! You've been a loyal audience for 12 years and we've listened to you!

Every Tuesday at 11am, you can call into 352-787-9523 with your gardening questions.  I'll be updating you with Florida-friendly landscaping maintenance tips and garden trends along with the most important environmental issues facing Floridians.

Check out our Facebook page here and here! 

Leesburg Couple Rips Up Grass But Is It Florida-friendly?

Central Florida communities that use a lot of water seem to be blaming it all on the turfgrass. In a Lake Sentinel article this weekend, one Leesburg couple using 30,000 gallons of water a month on their landscape decided to overhaul their entire yard and replace it with rocks, mulch, and supposedly "drought-tolerant" landscaping.  But was it necessary?

That term drought-tolerant is getting really old and the misperceptions of turfgrass being the culprit is just downright wrong.  All plants are drought-tolerant in the right locations and turfgrass needing a lot of water is not true.  St. Augustinegrass only needs between 1" and 1.5" of water a week during the summertime if it doesn't get rainfall and only needs that amount once every ten to fourteen days in the cooler winter season.  That anyone uses 30,000 gallons on their lawn is the fault of the homeowner, an inefficient irrigation system, and a poorly designed landscape.  If you have a rock, mulch, and "drought-tolerant" plants, depending on the size of your yard, even 10,000 gallons is too much!  Your landscape should be able to survive and thrive on rainfall alone after establishment. 

Its up to the cities  and counties that are approving landscape plans and irrigation systems to allow only the correct landscapes with efficient irrigation.  Homeowners working with builders or buying new homes need to demand and insist on a certified Florida Water Star landscape and irrigation system.  Then the responsibility falls on the homeowner to maintain his landscape and watering system correctly to ensure that it works efficiently.

Rocks are not the keystones to water efficiency and can actually increase the amount of water that installed plants in a rock garden need.  The heat around the home will be greater.  Using no tufgrass is going to lead to more stormwater pollution of our water bodies. I repeat:  There is nothing wrong with turfgrass.

Heck, this is Florida!  This is not Arizona and we can have beautiful landscapes with lots of flowers, shrubs, palms, and yes, Virginia, even turfgrass and not have a high water bill or overuse our ample water supply.  Florida receives abundant rainfall and with observant care, our irrigation systems should only be used as a supplement when we don't have rain.  Depending on the size of your lawn and your landscape plants, using 10.000 gallons of water or less should be easily achievable. 

Before anyone installs a landscape that is all rocks, mulch, and no turf, do your research, contact your County Extension office and find out the facts about waterwise landscaping.  You will be very surprised to learn that its probably not your grass's fault that you have a high water bill or high maintenance landscape. 

The Vision House 2008 in Montverde, Florida uses only non-potable water from a HOOT system and a 7,000 gallon cistern.  It is a great example of Florida-friendly landscaping.  Low maintenance and low water use.



Vision House 2008

Free 2012 Bird Watching Calendar

For its 25th anniversary, Cornell Lab of Ornthinology is giving away free beautiful bird-watching 2011 -2012 calendars. The wall calendar provides an easy way to keep track of the days for Project Feeder Watch,  a seasonal all-winter tracking of birds at feeders throughout North America.

Please participate in Project Feeder Watch. The Watch goes from November through April 6th but they are still enrolling bird watching afficinados. You have to sign up and receive a number to turn in your sightings. 

Feed The Birds - New Year’s Eve 2008, Taunton MA

Updated Florida Exotic Invasive Plant List

The Florida Pest Plant Council has updated their exotic invasive plant lists for 2011.  The list is an excellent resource for ensuring landscape selections do not include plants that can escape and endanger native habitats. FLEPPC separatesd invasives into two categories, I and II. 

Category I includes "invasive exotics that are altering native plant communities by displacing native species, changing community structures or ecological functions, or hybridizing with natives. This definition does not rely on the economic severity or geographic range."

Category II invasives are plants "that have increased in abundance or frequency but have not yet altered Florida plant communities to the extent shown by Category I species. These species may become ranked Category I, if ecological damage is demonstrated of the problem, but on the documented ecological damage caused."

New plants added to the 2011 Category I list:

• Deparia petersenii, Japanese false spleenwort
• Lumnitzera racemosa, black mangrove - Not to be confused with native black mangrove, Avicennia germinans
• Phymatosorus scolopendria, serpent fern, wart fern

New plants added to the 2011 Category II list:

• Ardesia japonica, Japanese ardesia
• Bruguiera gymnorrhiza, large-leaved mangrove
• Cocos nucifera, coconut palm
• Syzygium jambos,  Malabar plum, rose apple

Corrections on the plant list include: 

Jasminum sambac and Solanum jamaicense removed from Category II based on lack of data in natural areas. Urena lobata moved from Category II to Category I.



USDA-NRCS

City and county planners, nurseries and growers, and landscape architects and designers should make note of these new changees.