Week of November 7, 2021

When gardens in the North go dormant in late autumn, the Florida Garden maintains a display of color as it awaits the winter Camellia bloom. In addition to the gingers featured in last week’s blog, the Coleus, Plumbago, and Lantanas continue to brighten the yard. Our native Lantanas have done exceptionally well along the garden’s north border, where it is too hot and dry for most plants. The front yard will have Mexican Heathers and Blue Daze and the back yard will have Pentas and Firebushes continuing until the first frost. Our tricolor Prayer Plant in the shade garden has recovered from its pruning and is especially vibrant. Several other plants are blooming now, including some of the Sasanqua camellias, the bright red Turk’s Cap Hybiscus by the front drive, and the yellow Thryallis under the Cabbage Palm. This rainy year has produced a very robust crop of American Beautyberries in the back shade garden. The most showy bloom right now is certainly our Bahama Cassia, which after cutting back to its base each year, explodes to a mound of bright yellow blossoms seven feet high and around, to dominate the north border. The 12 month enjoyment of flowers and fruit from the Florida Garden has been a wonder to those of us who lived most of our lives in the North.