May 2017

OUTDOORS
If you came to Florida from up
north, you may think of spring as
the planting season; but according
to Joel Crippen, horticulturist with
Mounts Botanical Garden in West
Palm Beach, there is no planting
season for most perennials that
grow here.
And if you’re planting vegetables, which
are seasonal down here in South Florida,
the time to plant is the fall as winter is
our growing season with few exceptions.
These exceptions would include hot
peppers, okra, peanuts, sweet potatoes,
and occasionally green beans. Stay away
from corn because of insect problems,
and squashes because of mildew.
Asked to recommend
fragrant greenery,
Crippen
mentioned
gardenias
and singled
out the Thai
gardenia –
which blooms
year round, is
larger, shinier,
and more lush
and tropical than
regular gardenias. It is
also easier to grow and does not require
the full sun that regular gardenias do.
Colorful plants? Crippen recommends the
Dombeya Seminole, commonly known
as the tropical hydrangea. Although
neither a true hydrangea nor related to
it, it resembles it nonetheless, hence its
common name. Its hot pink
rosy flowers start blooming
at the end of October and
continue through June
non-stop.
Also colorful is Cuphea, known
as Mexican heather or tropical
heather, although it is not a
true heather. This plant is very
showy, with different colors
occurring within one flower.
Candy corns and cigar flowers
are easy to grow and attract
butterflies. Their colors include
lavender, pink, orange, yellow, and red.
While the flowers of the begonia
34
odorata alba, a perennial known as the
white angel begonia, are white rather
than colorful, they are big, showy, and
pendulous. This perennial can bloom
all year but blooms most heavily from
November through June. It likes full sun in
winter, when the sun is less intense and
lower in the sky. In summer it appreciates
a little shade, which it can get from foliage
planted in the vicinity.
Xeriscaping takes into account the fact
that outside of the rainy season, water
may be scarce. More Floridians now
than before dispense with sprinklers and
choose drought-tolerant plants such as
succulents. Among the succulents, few
cacti do well; you’ll get better results with
century plants, aloes, or Sansevieria (often
called mother-in-law’s
tongue). Sansevieria leaves
are not just green but
variegated in color. They
not only do well in-ground
but do exceptionally well in
pots, which makes them
good for terraces and as
houseplants.
Also good on terraces are
potted palms, Dracena
“song of India,” and corn
plants. If your terrace is
shady, consider typical
house plants for it. If
your terrace is sunny, think in terms of
succulents and euphorbias, of which
poinsettias are one variety. A lot of
MAY 2017
What to
Plant
When and Where
by Cynthia MacGregor
these have colorful flowers, and even the
plants can be colorful.
Indoors in planters or pots, your best may
be Zamioculcas Zamifolia, in the same
family (the aroid family) as philodendron
and calla lilies. It is drought tolerant, so
it will not die the first time you forget to
water it.
In window boxes, consider something
that hangs, for eye appeal, like a moss
ross or a portulaca, which will cascade
down. Some orchids are good here
too, notably the firecracker orchid,
or epidendrum, which is one of the
few orchids that will take full sun. This
somewhat succulent plant’s blooms come
in orange, yellow, lavender, pink, white,
and red.
All the common herbs grow during the
Florida winter, and some will live year
round in pots indoors, notably rosemary,
lavender, and thyme, which like a drier
climate. They will rot outdoors in the
ground during the rainy season.
Whether planting indoors or out,
you certainly have a wide variety to
choose from. P