Hi Everyone,
I will be moving to Ft. Lauderdale Florida from Minnesota in the next few months. I'm wondering if anyone has any good websites, books, or info regarding gardening in my new zone.
I guess I have to completely re-learn gardening now!
Thanks
Laurie
Your choices of flowering vines will leap skyward. Here's hoping you'll experience a maximally easy move.
-paghat the ratgirl
You want to give up rhubarb, tulips, daffodils and other plants that won't grow in z10? Rhubarb is a sure sign of spring and one pleasure I'd hate to give up.
Check with the local extension office in the county where you will reside.
I know...can't wait to have bouganvilla! Does Clematis fair well down there?
Laurie
Ewww....I never cared for rhubarb. But you're right, I'll miss the spring bulbs! That's why I'm hoping to settle my father's estate quickly, and get out of here before the snow melts. It'll be hard to say goodbye to my gardens.
Thank you. I will do that
Laurie
Laurie, Having moved from NJ 6 years ago to Boca Raton, FL (just north of Ft. Lauderdale) I made a bunch of mistakes. You will as well so be prepared for them. First and foremost things grow here at a MUCH faster rate than up north. It is very easy to overplant. We do have seasons here and you have to adapt your gardening to them. There are lots of great retail nurseries for you but the one I would start you at is Jesse Durko's just off Griffin Road, west of Davie Blvd. Jesse grows the exotics that you won't find in most of the other garden centers and definitely not in Home Depot. Avoid any book by Pamela Crawford. Plant only palms with a crownshaft - they are self-cleaning. By the way, only Coconut palms have coconuts. Be prepared for crappy soil. Plan on amending before you start your garden. Start your garden as soon as you can!
Ricky
Sorry you don't care for rhubarb. Maybe you just haven't had the right piece of rhubarb pie.
The secret to clematis is keep the roots cool. Do this and it should be fine.
As for spring bulbs, you could still have some fun with them: pot 'em, refrigerate 'em and watch 'em grow.
All they need is a specified time of cold. I knew a fellow who did just that for his kid's wedding. He had potted daffodils throughout the basement and garage, moving them all about depending on the temperature so they would bloom at the right time, the day the kid got married, and they did!
Can I have your snow shovel?
Not too far away in West Palm is a place called The Mounts, run by Florida master gardeners, check em out.
Thanks Ricky, I'll check out the nursery when I get there. And thanks for all the info!
Laurie
I do this every year (except this one) so that's a great idea, thanks!
Laurie
It's yours! I hope to never have to use one ever again!
Cool, thanks!
Laurie
:)
though
or grow adapted plants.
Plan on amending before you start your
I second the info about fast growing. When I bought a house with an ugly chainlink fence on one side, I divided up a clump of pampas grass and spaced starts about every 15 feet along the fence (the fence was about 100 feet long or more). Then I put some odds and ends in between - a camellia here, a magnolia there, a flowering cherry here, a crape myrtle there, an eleagnus here, a bottle-brush there. Still, everything came in little one-gallon pots, and initially everything was spaced at least 4-6 feet from the next plant - it looked so bare, I was almost tempted to plant more stuff in between. 3 years later, the entire fence was a JUNGLE! ! ! ! ! The crape myrtle had grown to 20 feet, the magnolia was 15, the cherry was 15, the pampas grass starts were each 6 feet in diameter, etc etc etc. The only thing slow growing were the camellias. Then I realized I should have spaced everything no closer than 10 feet apart, but it was too late. Oh well, that is life in the deep South, with a 9-10 month growing season, and tons of rain and warmth. Also, beware the little live oak and water oak seedlings that you figure you can attend to next spring - by next spring they are likely to be 6 feet tall.
See
Olin
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