My garden

1998; annotated and updated in 1999
"We're nearer God's heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth."
What Adam and Eve exerienced? ~bkl

For the two years we've been in Florida, we have rented a small house with a small fenced back yard. In early April 1998 I planted into the ground for the very first time ever, after years of container gardening and windowsill gardening here and elsewhere. It was exciting! We live in Tallahassee, Florida, which is Zone 8a... the Gulf coast region... the southern, coastal edge of the deep south.

I wanted to add greenery to our back yard, along with color (purples, reds, pinks, a little yellow and white); scent; and enjoyment for butterflies, hummingbirds, and my two-year-old son. On the other hand, we rent and aren't very committed to staying in this house. I can't spend too much money, and I would like whatever I plant to be able to survive future neglectful tenants who haven't a clue about gardening. I would also like to avoid inflicting any invasive plants on the area, so (for instance) I decided not to plant morning glories. On the other hand, I hear that butterfly bush and four o'clocks can be a nuisance too. Aargh!

— Skip to April 1999 —

I've added the most to the back yard, where we spend time outdoors daily. Here's a clockwise tour.

The back yard is on the north side of the house. It's about 40 feet by 40 feet, and fenced on all three sides with a six-foot high wooden fence. There is a deciduous mystery tree (to me) just outside the west fence that provides filtered shade to the west half of the yard. There's a tall gate in the middle of the west fence. The northwest corner is taken up with the garbage can and the I-think-it's-doing-okay mid-size long-needle pine tree (pine straw mulch!).

At the center of the north fence I planted a butterfly bush, Buddleia davidii, which should grow to 5 feet high by 5 feet across. Visually this would fill about a third of the fenceline! The flowers are supposed to be "violet-blue." Originally I planted a different buddleia that I ripped out two weeks later when I re-read the plant label and found out it grows to FIFTEEN feet high!! That's a little too much for our back yard... Update: the buddleia died in midsummer from lack of water during July and early August, when I mostly couldn't face the heat and humidity to tend the garden. Aargh.

East of the buddleia, but still in the sunniest part of the fenceline, I'll plant seeds of a 3-foot, branching annual sunflower, "Music Box," which will have flowers in cream, gold, and deep bicolors. They're specifically for my two-year-old son to enjoy. I've waited on planting those seeds until I could get berry baskets to protect the seeds and seedlings from our neighborhood birds, but then we were beaten back by fire ants and I haven't gotten back to the garden since. Update: I never planted the sunflowers

Violet-blue, accompanied by creams, golds, and maybe deep rust (sigh -- I guess I'll cut those and take them inside if I can't take the color combination).

Butterflies, birds

Along the east fence I've planted (from the back to the front, north to south):

All of these in-ground plants are mulched with our own pine straw (long-leaf pine needles).

Lots of purple and red, with bits of deep pinks and yellow.

Butterflies, hummingbirds, and the frog we keep startling under the anise hyssop... and the lizard that hangs out near the top of the fence

I have a pot hanging on the fence above the four o'clocks and the nicotiana; it has little white zinnias, about 6 inches high; cascading purple-blue Mimulus (I think -- gotta check this); and a deep red Gerbera daisy. I usually avoid red, white, and blue combinations, so I may replant the Gerbera daisy somewhere else if I just don't like it at all. Update: In midsummer I removed the heat-killed zinnias and moved this pot to the part-shade other fence. In early fall I cut back the Mimulus because it was really suffering from the heat. It did okay, and then was probably killed by our freezes this winter. Yes, it does freeze in north Florida!

I want to plant seeds of pale green cathedral bells (Cobaea scandens) and deep purple-green hyacinth bean (Dolichos lablab) somewhere along this east fence, to replace the seedlings in a pot that a week of late frosts slayed in March. I know, I know, I shouldn't have planted tropical vines until at least mid-April! Update: Never did it.

I also hope to take up a friend on her offer of more four o'clock starts, which I'd put in along the north and east fences.

White, purple-blue, deep red, tiny accent of yellow zinnia centers

Butterflies (zinnias)

On the edge of the patio, near the east fence, I have a really big pot (18 or 20 inches across, about two feet high) in which I attempted to grow tomatoes last year (planted much too late, they expired from the onslaught of summer heat, humidity, and insects). Along with fresh potting soil, I put all sort of seeds in there. The climbing nasturtiums have come up, as have a few seedlings that might be the Legion of Honor poppies, and a whole lot of something else, which ought to be the "Sonata Fairy Mix" and "White Sonata" cosmos. I just did another severe round of seedling thinning, which I hope will give the rest of the seedling and little plants a chance to take off and grow with our good weather. I planted seeds for miniature sunflowers there, but the few seedlings that came up... disappeared. Courtesy of our neighborhood birds, I believe! Update: The nasturtiums did okay for a month or so, and then it got too hot for them. The poppies and cosmos basically didn't mature. I think I planted something else, but I forget what! In early December I planted cool weather things in this pot, and they've been blooming ever since: lots of tiny pansies (blues and yellow), five tulip bulbs (pink and white), stock (pink, purple), the heat-striken deep-pink pentas from elsewhere that may not recover, and a white petunia.

Pinks, purples, white

Butterflies

In the center of the "lawn" edge of the patio, still a sunny area, there's another really big pot, empty now but intended for cherry tomatoes and borage, which I will dare to buy and plant this week. Next to it is a quart container with Mexican marigold, known around here as Texas tarragon (Tagetes lucida; it has good tarragon flavor in a plant that grows okay in our hot, humid summer), and lemon verbena (Aloysia triphylla). Then an 8-inch pot with four little seedlings of basil. Go, grow, go basil!

Butterflies (borage)

20 April: I planted two cherry tomato plants and two borage plants in that big pot. The lemon verbena is very happy, but the Texas tarragon isn't quite so happy. Update: The tomato plants got big and tall, and despite my summer struggle to tend the garden actually managed to ripen about ten tomatoes. The borage was fun, with fuzzy leaves and beautiful (to me) drooping deep periwinkle star flowers, and attracted butterflies, I think. Or was it bees? Eventually they just got too big so I ripped them out. I think they needed too much water to coexist well with the tomatoes in a north Florida container, anyway. In early December I replanted this pot with sweet pea seeds, which did great and are now cascading out of the top of the tomato cage and flowering happily, and underplanted with white alyssum, tiny pansies (purple and yellow), a stock (flowered then struggled and I took it out), two white petunias (one withered and I pulled it out), and a few more tulips (pink and white). The lemon verbena and Texas tarragon had a few struggles over the summer, but survived in decent shape and are happily settling into this growing season. The basil was leggy; I bet I planted the seeds too late; perhaps it would've done better if I'd started with a small plant instead.

On the west corner of the patio, in filtered shade from noon on, I have another really big pot. This is my herb corner. The sage, thyme, garlic chives, and foot-tall pineapple sage (Agastache something) wintered over just fine and are revving up their growth. I just added some small starts of bronze fennel (Foeniculum vulgare 'Rubrum', I just learned), which is a wonderful, and needed, visual contrast in texture and color. A few "Glorious Gleam Mix" trailing nasturtium seeds sprouted, as did the flat parsley seeds, and lots of tiny seedlings of another sort -- maybe Shirley poppies or cinnamon basil -- what did I scatter there?? All I know is they're maybe 1/16th of an inch across, and perhaps that high. Again, I hope these finally take off with the settled good weather we're getting. Update: All of the herbs did great. The Agastache provided a few little red tubular flowers before getting grumbly about all our summer rainshowers, then bloomed again in the fall. It got about two feet tall and wide. We definitely got butterflies, too! I cut it back in late winter/early spring, and it's leafing out really nicely. It was too lanky, and I'm pinching out growing tips from time to time to try to keep it bushy. The nasturtiums did okay until July, when I discovered this was a pretty sunny spot after all and they just couldn't take it here. The parsley and other seedlings never got above about an inch high. Oh well.

On the ground next to this big pot is an 8-inch pot of peppermint and lemon balm that wintered over very well. I think I added some cinnamon basil seeds to this pot, but I haven't seen any evidence of it! I have a nice pink and white pelargonium next to these herb pots, and it sure feels good to see those flowers in this corner. Update: The peppermint and lemon balm are consistently doing great. Even with bug attacks and occasional lack of water, they survive and bounce back great. The pelargonium was a stalwart all summer and fall, and I brought it inside before a freeze; it's flowering on the front windowsill nowadays.

Hummingbirds (pineapple sage), butterflies (bronze fennel)

Between the west edge of the patio and the west fence there is a two-foot wide area with the stubby remains of four overgrown shrubs (I'm guessing). With our limited tools, we cut them down from two feet high, so some are almost to ground level and others are about a foot high. In amongst these stubby bits is lots of leaf litter. This is in bright shade except for an hour in midmorning, so I planted a double pink columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris plena, the tag says), an old-fashioned pink and white bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis), soft and fuzzy lamb's ears for my son to enjoy, and blue-flowered sweet William (Asperula), with the leaf litter as mulch. Awaiting my acquisition of a spade is a quart container with a small-leaved azalea I bought at a local plant sale, along with the columbine and Mexican tarragon. Update: These plants did fine until the later spring / early summer sun angle heated up this spot with more sun than I expected. They struggled, but it was a losing battle. Now my husband has taken over this little spot to stow the lawn mower.

I think I'm going to buy some tuberous begonias for the pot hanger up on the fence. I'll look for my weakness in this hot climate -- nice bright colors -- to accent this shady spot with lots of foliage herbs and early-spring flowering plants.

This sounds like a lot of plants, but right now it seems very spotty. I try to enjoy it as it is right now and also see in my mind's eye what it might look like in two months if all goes well.

Hummingbirds (bleeding heart, columbine)

20 April: I planted up an 8" pot for the hanger with an upright pink-edged white tuberous begonia, a draping deep pink-red tuberous begonia, and a draping small red fuschia. I love feasting my eyes on that little composition in the shade against the weathered gray fence. I finally figured out the reason I kept seeing "begonias are good in sun" AND "begonias are good in shade" -- it seems that sun makes wax begonias happy and tuberous begonias unhappy. Update: These begonias and fuschia didn't do well in the heat. I think I didn't quite know what to do to help them against bugs, either. I eventually bought more tuberous begonias (hot pink, pale pink, scarlet) and put them in a wide, shallow pot next to the easternmost pot on the patio. They did pretty well, and I brought them inside to a sunny window for the freezes. It's time to put them back out again.

Much more briefly, here's the rest of our outdoor space.

A quiet street borders the west edge of the property -- along the west fence, the west side of the house, and the west edge of the front yard. Thanks be to God that someone planted five mid-size trees along this 15-foot wide strip of land! There's that deciduous mystery-to-me tree that shades the back yard. A bit south of that is some sort of maple that shades the house; then a broadleaf small tree with red berries that shades the kitchen wall; a totally overgrown shrub thing that shades the southeast corner of the house -- walls and roof (it has red and deep green leaves, red berries, white clouds of tiny blossoms in the spring; birds love it). South of this is a small maple of another type where the yard turns the corner from the side to the front of the house.

Birds

Underneath all these trees is the occasional blade of centipede grass, mostly right along the curb, and lots of almost-bare ground, some leaf mulch, and all sorts of "weeds" that also are the main feature of the back yard "lawn" -- but I think I recognize wild geranium, and there are leaves that remind me of wild ginger, and other intriguing little things. Also volunteers from the trees. Since it's a rental house, I suspect the yards are essentially organic -- it's likely no one has bothered to spread herbicides for a long while! I have spent some time pulling the larger dandelions, but we've decided to mow under the trees just to keep the weeds/wildflowers? to a reasonable height.

Along the west side of the house I wanted to add some minimal-maintenance, 2- to 3-foot high shrubs, so I planted a deep pink-red pentas (Pentas nova? Come on over, butterflies!) in a sunnier spot where the various cable TV, telephone, and electricity connections catch the eye. I also planted a plumbago ('Imperial Blue;' sprawling, gets sort of big, and has blue flowers!) in a corner where the fence makes a right-angle turn back to meet the house. This corner faces southwest and is bright shade; I hope the plumbago likes it okay. These were just 4-inch pots, so I hope they get established and grow bigger. I'd like to add more, but we'll see what the budget says.

Deep pink-red; medium blue (40 feet apart, though)

Butterflies

20 April: The plumbago is happy, and I just bought two plants, pink Gaura lindheimerii "Whirling Butterflies" and two more pentas, one in the same plum color and the other a deep pink. The pentas will join the one in the ground, and I'll plant one gaura with the plumbago and the other with the pentas. Update: Shame, shame: The gauras were slayed by heat and lack of water before I got them in the ground. The plumbago and pentas? Well, they were getting established, in my eyes, but to my husband they were indistinguishable from weeds, so he mowed them down, literally, and that was that. Sighhhh.

In the front yard we have centipede grass and those weedy things. Underneath the front windows is a 4-foot-high hedge of a green and white variegated broadleaf shrub that has to be sheared brutally because its natural height is something like 6 feet. Aaaaargh!

But... when weeding along the front of the hedge yesterday, I found a foot-high seedling of the gingko tree across the street, which I'll attempt to move to a better location for a potential tree. While weeding around the base of the tree-shrub at the southeast corner of the house (at the end of this hedge), I discovered that the vine I kept pulling out of the hedge other times was now flowering and is honeysuckle (Lonicera, probably L. japonica)! It looks and smells wonderful. If it's the invasive L. japonica, I guess my occasional yanking of runners is keeping it well under control. Update: I didn't bother with the gingko seedling. This spring the honeysuckle is everywhere; I'm not sure what I'll do about it -- but I think I need to be vigorous!

There is a narrow planting strip, maybe 2 1/2 feet wide, between our house and the house next door (truth be told, we share an interior wall; I guess they're townhouses, then). It's actually between our front walks. There are two azalea bushes squeezed in near our doors, and then a 6-foot-long low hedge of juniper from the azaleas halfway to the street. The juniper also must be sheared back to keep it from overtaking the front walks. If I owned the house, I'd rip out both hedges and put in things that match the spaces! As it is, I just try to weed it all and my husband does the necessary shearing. I may look for azalea runners I can transplant to the west wall of the house. Update: I didn't do anything with the azaleas. Right now is time for pruning them; I may try to do right by them.

Birds (juniper berries)

That's our place. It's fun.

In April 1999, all three big containers on the patio are doing fine, and two have flowering plants that soon will peter out and need to be replaced. The two hanging pots, one on each fence, are doing fine. The sunny one has a bright pink Gerbera daisy that recently flowered, and a pink miniature rose that is leafing out. The part-shade one has the Mimula, which may not come back this year, and another Gerbera, which is budding now. The container-growing mint, lemon balm, Texas tarragon, lemon verbena, tuberous begonias, and pelargonium are all fine. Everything I planted in the ground is gone except possibly the lantana, which I will cut back to where the dead wood ends (from our freezes).

I have ideas for this year (yet, little money), but I need to remember that from mid-July until September it will be very hard for me to be in the garden for long. It's just so hot!! Maybe I should remember Mrs. Whaley's garden, which was oriented toward fall, winter, and spring, and was simply greenery for summer since in Charleston, South Carolina, she considered summer not a time to be outside enjoying the garden. Hmmm.

I might also focus on the pots, which are up close, a very few big plants along the fence (the lantanas, if they've survived) and maybe some flowering vines on the fences. That was such a nice effect while the vines were green!

The other thing for me to remember is: fertilize and mulch!! to give the plants more of a fighting chance for health and summer-resilience.

Perhaps I'll...

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This page was created 13 April 1998.
Last modified 30 December 2003

Copyright © 1998-2003 Barbara K. Laufersweiler.