Mid-summer Gardening

We're now in the middle of a typical South Florida summer. Hot days, hot nights, high humidity and plenty of rain. The good news is you don't have to water your garden and your plants are growing like gang-busters. The bad news is that the weeds, insects and fungi are also thriving. Plan on doing a lot of trimming and weeding over the next few weeks. Caterpillars are big problem this time of year. The best way to control them is to monitor your plants closely, try to catch them early and physically remove them. If you have to resort to chemicals, Sevin is a good all purpose caterpillar spray that is relatively safe to use. The trick is to find a chance to spray between rain storms. Your best bet is to do it in the morning before it gets too hot and when the insecticide will have a few hours in which to work before the afternoon thunderstorms start. Good luck.

Welcome to Florida Gardening

South Florida is one of the best places in the world for gardening. A huge variety of native plants as well as tropical and subtropical exotics thrive here and you can garden 12 months a year. But Florida gardening is not without its challenges. The bugs and the weeds also thrive 12 months a year and if you are from another part of the country, most of the plants here may be unfamiliar to you. And for the ones you know, the rules for growing them may be different.

I've lived in south Florida my entire life and have been in the landscaping and nursery business for almost 25 years. I've decided to start this blog to share some of the information that I've learned regarding Florida Gardening. I'm still working full time in the landscape business, doing primarily residential renovation projects, so I plan to write about real life gardening experiences, problems and solutions as well as my experiences with and recommendations for specific plants.

If you live in Florida or plan to soon and you are interested in gardening and landscaping, please come back often.