The Flowers that Bloom in the Spring

"The flowers that bloom in the spring

Breathe promise of merry sunshine."

"We welcome the hope that they bring

Of a summer of roses and wine."

"And that's what we mean when we say that a thing
Is welcome as flowers that bloom in the spring!"

Today's post brought to you by Gilbert and Sullivan, The Mikado, and viewers like you.

Looking for Space

My Florida Backyard took another step this week toward the goal of eliminating as much boring, fairly useless grass from our front lawn as possible. This gives us more room for interesting plants that can attract wildlife and, quite frankly, look much better than patchy grass.

To that end, we decided to expand the front garden from two arcs:

Into one big arc:

Now the tantalizing question remains... what to plant in all the new space? We already have a lot of fountain grass and muhly grass lining the walkways, with plumbago bushes on the right side and beach sunflower under the tree. We'd like to continue with more yellows, purples, and blues - we do have some Blazing Star (liatris) bulbs to scatter throughout the new and old beds, so their purple should mix nicely with the purples of the muhly grass in the fall.

Any suggestions? Bear in mind that we have some pretty firm rules about not using supplemental irrigation once a plant is established... it needs to survive on the rain Mother Nature provides (or doesn't). This area faces southwest and gets lots of sun in the hottest part of summer. We'd like some low plants along the edge in front, and higher plants or even a shrub in the middle. We prefer native plants, though we're flexible as long as they're Florida-Friendly, and we really don't like to have to do a lot of maintenance in the front yard. Now, with all these thoughts in mind, what should we put in our newly-expanded garden?

Eye in the Sky

Yesterday was a long day of sitting around waiting for the termite guy to finish his work here in My Florida Backyard. (Yup, we've got termites. Who doesn't in Florida?) Around mid-afternoon, I wandered out to the mailbox and was distracted along the way by a fluttering shadow on the pavement in front of me. I looked up in delight - could it be a butterfly?

It's been a long time since I've spotted a butterfly in My Florida Backyard - more than six weeks. I've started using a site called Butterflies I've Seen to track butterflies in our gardens, and the last sighting I had was a Monarch on Feb. 4. Yesterday, even though the breeze was a bit cool, the sun was plenty warm enough for this Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia) to catch some rays in the front yard.

Buckeyes seem to be a spring butterfly to me - I tend to spot them early in the year along with Red Admirals, and then not see them again for months. In the air, they're nearly impossible to identify, as they're small and quick, but once you see them holding still for a few seconds, the markings are impossible to mistake.

Those wonderful spots on their wings are intended to mimic the eyes of a much larger creature, to scare off any possible predators. If you stare at a Buckeye too long, you may start to feel like it's staring back at you!

The Buckeye uses several different plants as hosts for its caterpillars, including Plantain, members of the Snapdragon family, and various types of Ruellia, including Mexican and Wild Petunia. We have plenty of the last two in My Florida Backyard, so I'll be keeping my eye out for caterpillars in the next few weeks.

Having butterflies in My Florida Backyard again is a real treat. As much as I love the birds of winter, I guess my heart really lies with lepidoptera in all their wonderful forms.

La Vie en Rose

My Florida Backyard has a very special visitor right now, a snowbird from up north who finds her way to Florida for two weeks every winter - my mom! She always makes wonderful contributions to the gardens when she's in town, and this year is no exception... My Florida Backyard now has its first roses.

My mother has an amazing rose garden up north in the summer. She babies her roses and they reward her delightfully. She's been urging us to grow roses here for a long time, but I've always resisted, for several reasons. First, roses can find it very hard to deal with Florida's hot and humid summers. Second, roses take a lot of care and specialized knowledge, and I wasn't sure they were a good fit in our mostly native gardens.

So what changed my mind? First of all, a prime piece of sunny real estate became available in my gardens - the croton bush by the front door went kaput in the freeze, and since I've never been that fond of it anyway, we decided to pull it out entirely.

Second, I've become acquainted with the amazing plant called the Knock Out Rose. Fellow gardeners have informed me that this is the rose for people who don't think they can grow roses. It's disease-resistant, heat-tolerant, and almost impossible to kill, even in Florida summers. Perfect!

After removing the old croton bush, we prepped the hole with some bone meal and blood meal, and popped the rose in. We added fresh mulch around the base, but left room for the plant to breathe. We watered it in thoroughly, and voila, our Double Knock Out Rose is in place to welcome visitors!

My mom also bought a couple hybrid tea rose plants for us to try as well. We planted these in the backyard where they can get some dappled shade in the hot summer afternoons. I'll be curious to see how these little fellows fare as the season progresses.


All of gardening is a bit of an experiment... even native plants can sometimes be a challenge. I'm not sure how successful My Florida Backyard will be with its roses, but we look forward to the effort and the possible rewards!

Hail! Hail! The Gang's All Here! (Reprise)

This morning, My Florida Backyard experienced another bout of Bird Frenzy, and I managed to capture a few more pictures to share...

We also had a visit from some more migratory ducks, this time some lesser scaups:

Since the butterflies still haven't really returned to My Florida Backyard yet, it's nice to have so many other creatures with wings hanging around on a sunny Saturday morning!

Rain Drops

After two steady days of rain, My Florida Backyard is looking a little soggy. The ducks are loving it though... and proving the old saying about water off a duck's back.

Extreme close-up!

To be honest, we're loving the rain as much as the ducks. The dry season is on the way, and we need to store up as much water as we can before it gets here. Plus, it's been a warm rain, and promises to be followed by several days of warm sunshine - what more could the plants ask for?

Out to Lunch

Ah, good, a big tray full of seed. It's been at least 15 minutes since my last snack.

I wonder what's on the menu?

 

Ah, safflower seed. I do enjoy some nice safflower. This one looks nice.

Now, if I can only crack open this tricky shell. First, I'll hold it between my feet...

 

Now, a little beak action.

Hey, did you hear something? Because this is my seed. Stay away, interlopers!

 

Now then, back to work. This sucker is tricky!

A little more...

 

Almost got it...

Ta da!

Oh, yeah, that's some great safflower!

 

Now, what's for dessert?