Your Monthly Grow-zine
February 2024
Things to do in the garden this month...
There's still time to plant winter annuals, like the Violas pictured. Annuals can fill in open spots in the garden while you wait for new plants to fill in, or to add bright color around the entryway - either in pots or in the ground.
Enjoy early spring flowers such as the delightful pink Tabebuia tree, as well as Azaleas in all their colorful spring glory.
It's been a somewhat cold winter for South Florida so far, so avoid cutting back plants (cold damaged or not) till next month. Best time for any heavy pruning is mid-March or later.
Water once a week (or at least every 10 days) if it hasn't rained.
Look for bug damage. Take cuttings, bag in sealed plastic, and take to your local nursery for diagnosis and treatment options.
Year-round flowers
There are just a few plants that provide flowers every day of the year...as long as they get enough sun, that is. Here are two good ones:
Jatropha can be grown as a large bush or as a small tree, and butterflies love it. Ruella AKA Mexican Petunia loves to spread, so be sure to plant it in a contained area.
A visitor asks...
"Looking for plants for a raised walled bed below a window against a north facing wall mostly shaded except for late afternoon sun. Gets rain overflow from gutter above. Suggestions?"
I'm not sure how large the plants are that you're looking for, but here are some ideas of plants that would work (some with regular trimming for height) below a window, take the gutter runoff, and do fine in the light you describe:
- Petra Croton
- Indian Hawthorne
- Green Arboricola
- Variegated Arboricola
- Viburnum Suspensum
- Japanese Boxwood
- Dwarf Podocarpus
- Liriope
- Foxtail Fern
If you need more info on each, use the Sitemap with links to all the plants.
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