Timely Tips Week 46

November 14, 2012

Get out and plant!

One of the most confusing things about gardening in Zone 10 Florida is when to plant your bedding plants. Well the time is NOW! The second most confusing thing to Florida gardeners is what is an “annual” and what is “perennial”. We find that so many folks who choose to plant flowers believe they are getting a better value with “perennials” than with “annuals”, but the investment is truly comparable when what you seek is ease of care. If what you are after is a spot of color, than hands down it will be “annuals”, or as we prefer to call them, seasonal color. Here’s why and how to plant Seasonal Color in your Zone 10 Garden.

An annual in the purest sense, is a plant that lives it’s entire life cycle in one growing season. That is to say, it starts from seed, grows up to maturity, flowers, sets seed and dies, all in one season. Up north, that season begins after the last frost (April or May) and ends with first frost (September or October). Because that season occurs only once a year, the term “annual” applies.  That definition is muddied here in Zone 10, because we have weather conducive to growing all year long. And though the newly Transplanted Gardener might argue there are NO seasons in Florida, there truly are. The most prominent division of seasons here is the Wet/Hot Season that coincides with hurricane season (May-November), and the Dry/Cool Season (November-May).  It is at the start of those seasons that one should plant their annuals, or as I stated before, the preferred term here is seasonal color. So now is the time to plant for the biggest bang for your buck. Plant in November, enjoy the plants through May. Plant in April, enjoy the plants through November.

The fact is, planting now allows plants the opportunity to establish during a period of decreasing heat stress, resulting in an overall improvement in the plant’s ability to tolerate stresses of all kinds throughout its life in your garden. In fact, I have observed that plants planted in November last longer into June and July than the same species planted in March. So for someone like me, who chooses not to re-plant bedding for the Hot/Wet Season I get to appreciate my cool weather efforts longer into the summer. If you desire seasonal change-out of color, then you do want to remove and replace bedding by Mother’s Day, rather than waiting for your cool season color to collapse under our summer heat (yes, it’s the heat that gets ‘em, not the first frost).  This allows you to establish your warm season color during shorter days and lower heat & humidity than what you have in June or July. So here, at the outset of the Cool/Dry season is when you want to place the color of your garden!

But, you are wondering, isn’t it more work to have to replace them every year? My response to that depends on the amount of area you have dedicated to color beds. If you are Disney or the Gaylord Palms, yes it is very labor intensive to plant vast beds of seasonal color. But you are not going to plant vast beds of color. You are going to use this landscape design technique strategically to enhance your experience of your outdoor space. That means choose a few small (15 – 50 square feet) locations where the bold color will make the most impressive impact on you and your guests. Consider areas in the front of your house (mailbox, entry way, area between the drive and front walk) that are highly visible. In the privacy of your back yard, choose locations where your gaze falls when sitting at your patio table, or while lounging on a chase.

You get the picture, plant sparingly and plant for IMPACT! Once you have selected the locations for your color, the next step is to properly prepare the beds. Stay tuned for the skinny on just how to do that.

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