Springtime Snapshot

Whether you're celebrating Easter today or just enjoying spring, we hope your day is as lovely as ours here in My Florida Backyard!

Oakleaf Fleabane, Confederate Jasmine, and Blue Toadflax in bloom

Roll Out the Barrel

Now that we've finally tamed the backyard again, we decided it needed a little color. Since we just finished laying new landscape paper to block the weeds, we didn't want to cut through it and give the suckers a chance to grow again. Instead, we added some half-barrel planters to the yard.

The original plan was to buy wooden whiskey barrels, but I went to the store by myself to get them, and wow - those things are heavy! So, I found these lightweight resin ones instead. They may not last more than few years, but they were much easier to move. I drilled a few holes in the bottom for better drainage first, and then added some organic potting soil.

Then came the fun part - adding the plants! I had picked up a bunch of calibrachoa and petunias on the Lowe's clearance racks a few weeks ago and hand't yet decided what to do with them. I wound up mixing them with some Agastache rupestris, sometimes called Rose Mint Hyssop, making for containers full of butterfly attractants.

Agastache rupestris

Calibrachoa 'Coralberry Punch'

Petunia and Calibrachoa 'Coralberry Punch'

Plants in containers may require a little extra water, but fortunately we had some nice rains last weekend to fill up the rain barrel. This color and plant combination should be irresistible to butterflies now that our Florida weather has finally returned (what's up with 40-degree nights at the end of March, anyway?). These barrels give My Florida Backyard just the kick of color it needs to welcome spring!

Early Years

It's been another warm winter here in My Florida Backyard, and coupled with last year's complete lack of a hard freeze, some of our plants are getting a very early start. We were astonished this year to find our hippeastrum already pushing up shoots in mid-January, at least 3 weeks earlier even than last year, and more than six weeks ahead of the extremely cold winter of 2010. There's no doubt that, even in Florida, changes in average temperatures can have a real impact on plants and animals.

In the mid-1800s, Henry David Thoreau began keeping a very detailed journal documenting the first flowering dates of plants in New England. Scientists recently compared Thoreau's flowering dates to those from recent years, and discovered that, on average, plants are blooming about 11 days earlier than they did 150 years ago. In that same time, average temperatures have climbed, and scientist have worked out that flowers are blooming "up to 4.1 days earlier for every 1 degree Celsius rise in average spring temperatures, which translates to 2.3 days for every 1 degree Fahrenheit" (via National Geographic).

This doesn't come as a surprise to gardeners, or to scientists for that matter. Just last year, the USDA released a new Plant Hardiness Zone Map, reflecting a shift to warmer average temperatures since the last map issued in 1990. (My Florida Backyard shifted from 9A to 9B, although our urban environment means reflected heat that really puts us in zone 10A.) This winter seems to be keeping line with those changes, with no hard freezes in the area so far, and none in the forecast despite some chilly mornings in the 40s.  Other plants and trees are blooming early, with redbuds and toadflax already putting on a good show in many areas, and willow trees leafing out even in cooler inland areas.

Regardless of your belief in the impact humans are having on our climate, there's no doubt that it's changing, and at a very fast rate. Gardeners in all climates will have many changes to adjust to, and many surprises in store, in the years to come. What's blooming early by you this year? I'd love to hear some other examples of how frost-free winters are affecting Central Florida gardeners.

Always Spring

Just when we thought summer weather had arrived for good, spring came back again! Cool nights, soft breezes, and sunshine that's warm on your back instead of making you sweat... these are the days we love in My Florida Backyard. We've even had a few good rains over the last couple of weeks, so the the gardens are blooming and thriving.

With spring comes the amazing scent of Confederate Jasmine in bloom (Trachelospermum jasminoides). The vines along the north side of the house have prospered amazingly over the last four years, filling in the latticework to provide a living privacy screen just as we hoped it would.

Our jasmine perfumes the whole neighborhood when it's in bloom, and my only regret is that it doesn't last longer. Still, the shiny leaves are attractive year-round, and the nearby Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) has spread over the latticework too, making a really nice mix.

We've even had the gift of a hummingbird over the last few days, though we haven't managed to snap any pictures. She's been enjoying the honeysuckle and mexican sage (Salvia leucantha). Fingers crossed that we may get a picture or two before she continues her migration to the north. As for us, we're staying right here in My Florida Backyard, where we hope spring lasts and lasts and lasts.

Strange Things

Happy Spring! Although it's been feeling like spring since about mid-January here in My Florida Backyard, we're definitely enjoying the longer days and the recent time change allowing us more time outside in the evenings. A few extra minutes to take an evening stroll keeps us from missing the little things that are happening, like the strange and fascinating rue flowers that are blooming now.

As we've noted before, rue as an herb doesn't play much of a role in most cooking these days due to its sharp, fairly unpleasant scent and flavor (Ruta graveolens literally means "Bitter herb with a strong, unpleasant smell"), but we love having it in the butterfly garden, where both Black Swallowtails and Giant Swallowtails use it as a host plant. Interestingly, this herb is apparently quite admired in its native Southeastern Europe, where it's the national flower of Lithuania and is frequently carried in bridal bouquets. To each their own, I guess.

Strange flowers and a stranger smell... rue certainly doesn't work in everyone's garden. But My Florida Backyard is a wildlife garden, and rue is a wildlife plant, so we like it. What's the strangest thing growing in your garden, and why do you grow it?

Ides of March

The 15th of the month is Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day! If you haven't already seen my post over at BirdsandBlooms.com, here's what's blooming in My Florida Backyard right now. Highlights include our African Iris, snapdragons, and a new red-centered yellow hibiscus we planted last fall. What's in your garden today?

Two Little Flowers

The spring rehabilitation of My Florida Backyard has begun at last! We started small, with our favorite cool season wildflower - it's Tampa Vervain time! Each year, we wait eagerly for Tampa Mock Vervain (Glandularia tampensis) to start showing up at nurseries. Butterflies love it, and it flowers non-stop from now until the hot and humid summer days set in.

We mixed it with another tiny flower that butterflies adore, gold lantana (Lantana camara 'New Gold'). We like this lantana because even though some varieties of L. camara are found on the invasive lists, 'New Gold' is considered sterile and doesn't spread beyond where you plant it.

Purple and yellow is one of our favorite color combinations - together the two just look so happy and spring-like. And this will make a nice little corner for butterflies to visit while we work on the rest of the yard and gardens.

There's plenty more planting ahead this weekend in My Florida Backyard, so drop by in a few days to see the changes!

Prettty Visitors

Spring is rapidly heating up into summer here in My Florida Backyard, with afternoon highs reaching 85 and higher most days. It's ideal butterfly weather, and today we saw a couple of our favorite springtime visitors.

Buckeyes (Junonia coenia) are some of the first butterflies to appear in the spring in Florida, and we've been seeing them regularly in the gardens since mid-February this year. Before too much longer, they'll start to head north for the summer, as our Florida temperatures get to be a little to much for them by June.

Another common spring visitor is the Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta). They're about the same size as the Buckeye, and lately they seem to be everywhere! Red Admirals are one of those butterflies that have the ability to land and pretty much disappear from sight, as their underwings are colored perfectly to blend in with their surroundings.

We've been enjoying these perfect spring afternoons in My Florida Backyard, knowing that before long the sultry heat of summer will keep us indoors a little more. It's wonderful to share the gardens with butterflies enjoying the spring sunshine as well!

Heaven Scent

Ask people to name the flowers of spring, and you'll inevitably hear daffodils, tulips, lilacs, and so on. Florida's spring brings different blooms, and in My Florida Backyard, the bloom that means spring is Confederate Jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides). We have a whole wall of it growing along the north side of the porch, and for the few weeks it's in flower, the scent dominates the neighborhood.

We planted our Confederate Jasmine three years ago when we added the latticework to the porch. We needed a drought-tolerant vine that would grow in mostly shade, as this side of the house faces north. We also preferred a vine that would be evergreen, so it would look good in the cooler months of winter as well. Confederate Jasmine fit the bill perfectly.

Confederate Jasmine is not a true jasmine, and despite the name, is not native to the U.S. - it's actually from Southeast Asia. It gets the name "Confederate" from the fact that it grows best in the part of the country that was once the Confederacy. In other parts of the world, it's more commonly known as Star Jasmine.

Whatever the name, the scent is just as sweet, and we love having this bloom signal the true start of spring in My Florida Backyard!

Fuzzy Fuzzy Cute Cute

It's baby duck season again! There are proud and protective mama ducks everywhere, with little lines of babies following behind.

It's a sure sign of spring in My Florida Backyard!

Anticipation

The Confederate Jasmine on the north side of our house is entirely covered in buds right now, and we know in a few days the whole neighborhood will be full of their scent. In fact, My Florida Backyard is full of buds right now, little packages of promise of the colors and fragrance to come.

Confederate Jasmine:

Zinnia:

Gaura lindheimeri:

Salvia farinacea:

Tropical Milkweed:

Yarrow:

Hibiscus:

While the buds may not be as flashy as the blooms, they give such a delicious sense of anticipation that we enjoy them nearly as much as the flowers that will follow.

Sweet Painted Lady

Having spent most of yesterday getting the gardens in shape for spring, including sprucing up the butterfly garden, it was satisfying to catch a glimpse of this American Painted Lady (Vanessa virginiensis) butterfly stopping by to sip from the lantana today.

"I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden."  ~Ruth Stout

Well said, Ms. Stout. Well said indeed.