Your Monthly Grow-zine
September 2021
PentasThings to do in the garden this month...
Add perennials to the garden such as the Pentas pictured. We're at an in-between time for annuals...too late to plant summer ones and too early for winter ones. Perennials help fill in the gaps and give us on-and-off color throughout the year and for years to come.
For more perennial ideas, see our page on Flowering Perennials.
Do a light trimming to shape any shrubs that have grown shaggy from summer heat and rain.
Stake young trees to get ready for hurricane season.
Have large trees trimmed now to remove dead wood that can cause damage in strong winds.
Run irrigation twice a week if it hasn't rained.
What is it?
That's what someone asked me.
I knew I'd seen it before - or pictures of it, anyway - but couldn't remember its name.
So I asked my oh-so-smart young botanist friend. He knew.
Curcuma.
It's a plant for partial shade that blooms all summer - with beautiful flowers that come in lots of different colors.
It also dies back completely in winter, coming back in spring.
Best in Zone 10 it can be grown in Zone 9 in a container you can bring in during cold weather.
These are fairly rare plants...you can sometimes find them at specialty plant sales, or get a rhizome from a friend.
There are quite a few Curcuma varieties and species - here's an article about them.
But the real question is...how can you ID a plant you don't know?
Of course you can take pictures or cuttings to your local nursery, email them to your county extension service office, or even send them to me. But plant identification apps can make life easier.
I've seen nursery customers use them with astonishing accuracy. If there's an app you use and find helpful, let me know so I can pass it along in a future Grow-zine!
What's new at South-Florida-Plant-Guide.com
I added this photo of the colorful seed pods to the Plant Page on Bamboo Palm.
These are great backdrop palms for a shady garden bed...and they grow upright so you can plant other things near them in a mixed bed.
I also enlarged the photos on the European Fan Palm page, and added two new pictures to the page on Chinese Fan Palm.
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'Golden Globes' Lysimachia
Beautiful yellow flower clusters decorate this plant (Lysimachia procumbens) during warm months - meaning most of the year here in South Florida.
It's a perennial that you can grow as a groundcover, but it also makes an excellent hanging basket or windowbox plant.
Golden Globes likes part sun to partial shade and needs regular water so be prepared to baby it a bit.
Zone 10 is best for in-ground planting, but in Zone 9B you can use it in containers to enjoy.
Grown as a groundcover, Golden Globes Lysimachia grows about 8 inches tall and a foot wide. Use it along a walk or to surround a palm or other specimen.
It's occasionally in stock at nurseries or ask your nursery to order it for you.
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