By Master Gardener Volunteer Lesley Arrandale
mail@floridanewsline.com
I can’t help thinking of warm sweaters, gloves, and wooly hats once temperatures start to moderate, but we really don’t have much of a winter here in northeast Florida. Maybe that’s just as well!
What we do have is the opportunity to grow a variety of healthy vegetables, largely free from the plagues of summer insects and diseases, and hardy flowering plants to mark the seasonal changes. Last year my neighbor had two large pots of crimson cyclamen flanking her front door and their stunning flowers lasted for months. For inspiration, check out https://tinyurl.com/2f5p6pky.
My backyard is in flux. What has become overgrown is slowly evolving into a more manageable and wildlife welcoming yard — but being almost surrounded by golden rain trees and cat’s claw vines means that I find their offspring in every square foot of soil. Small seedlings come up easily, but vines that embed themselves close to other plants are notoriously difficult to pull. Consequently, I’ve resorted to very careful, but minimal, use of triclopyr, a chemical brush and stump killer, but it’s far from my ideal. The lesson: weed diligently and regularly and use mulch to deter seedlings from getting established.
The Florida Gardening Calendar is a good resource for advice on topical gardening activities: https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/ep451. This year, I will dress up my front yard a little to divert attention from the standing seedheads and native perennials that are dying back for the winter. These are farther up, toward the house, so that’s a plus. Although the habitat they provide for wildlife is indisputably valuable, not everyone appreciates that. I’ll choose less flamboyant plants like violas which are understated enough; not many native plants are particularly flamboyant and combining them with exotic plants takes skill.
“A New Leaf – Yard and Garden,” the Extension newsletter for Duval County, also offers timely advice. Current and past issues can be found here https://tinyurl.com/2ycs3yp5.
Although it’s a good time to plant woody shrubs and trees, we should pay careful attention to watering, since the weather seems to change from very dry to wetter periods. This is a useful “how to”: https://tinyurl.com/2defmueb.
We can divide clumping perennials, as long as our milder weather continues. It’s a way to both revitalize aging plants and to get more plants for free, which is always a good thing! Strictly speaking this is a task for early fall, but since our climate is generally mild until later in the season it should be worth the effort (https://tinyurl.com/437c9a6h). As with woody plants, make sure to water divided perennials as needed, until they are properly established.
With the winter holidays fast approaching, I find myself thinking about the traditional greenery my family used to decorate our home. Sprays of holly full of berries above the mantelpiece, sprigs of mistletoe hung in doorways, and the modest freshly cut Christmas tree that came home — on a bicycle! — often covered with a dusting of snow. Whatever your family beliefs and traditions, in a time of such uncertainty, hold your nearest and dearest close and cherish your wider community too. We all need peace, tolerance, and to know we belong.
Photo courtesy Lesley Arrandale
Yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria).
