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.

Back in the Game

The air is fresh and clean, the sky is clear and blue, and it's time to venture out into My Florida Backyard again! So far, all we've done is pull some weeds, but it's made enough of a difference that we can finally admire the autumn splendor of Muhly Grass and Winter Cassia.

  

Much better than when I did my last post, right? There's still a lot of work to be done, but it's nice enough that we can spend a little time out there without feeling sad and a little embarrassed. And just in time, too, since migrating birds like these little Yellow-Rumped Warblers (Setophaga coronata) are starting to make their way back south for the winter.

And pulling weeds does reveal the occasional surviving gem, like the tiny delicate blooms of Georgia Calamint (Calamintha georgiana), still hanging on in one corner of the butterfly garden.

So there's a lot to look forward to in the months ahead. And as soon as this wind leftover from Crazy Storm Sandy (as I've started calling it) dies down a little...

... it'll be time to get busy in the gardens again. First up, hopefully this weekend, is the butterfly garden. Just look at all the room we have for new plants! 

Stormy Weather

This weekend has been a bit of a case of "be careful what you wish for". After watching TS Beryl dump all its rain on the north and east side of Florida a few weeks ago, we watched with glee as forecasts called for TS Debby to bring us lots of rain here in Tampa. And bring us rain it did... our latest estimate puts us at about 8 inches since Friday here in My Florida Backyard, bringing our stormwater drainage pond up and over its banks.

Note that poor little young cypress tree, which just a couple of days ago was right at the edge of the pond. It's now many feet into the water, and more than one duck has looked a little surprised to find it there.

Other than some gusty winds, Debby has mostly been a rainmaker in our area. We hope that if you're feeling Debby's effects, they're only beneficial to you too!

White Lightning

Though My Florida Backyard hasn't seen rain in several weeks, there has been rain in the area, taunting us from a distance. The other night, a line of storms about twenty miles away to the east gave us a spectacular light show. Starting around dusk, and continuing for at least an hour, the massive clouds were nearly constantly aglow with electricity; at the peak, we estimated 50 to 100 flashes per minute. Though it takes a better camera than the one we have to truly get good lightning pictures, we gave it a shot, and got a few we thought worth sharing.

The storms were so far we away that we heard only the very faintest rumbles of thunder from time to time, and mostly the show unfolded in the quiet of a summer evening. We only hope that future storms come a little closer and bring us the rain that My Florida Backyard so desperately needs.

Spiderwebs

A foggy morning left everything covered in a layer of dewdrops, including these spiderwebs that are for some reason all over our young cypress tree.

Once again, it's difficult for man to top the beauty nature creates so effortlessly.

Shelter from the Storm

With the low here in Tampa Bay forecast at a ridiculous 29 degrees tonight, we spent the afternoon covering some of the most vulnerable plants in My Florida Backyard with all the spare sheets, blankets, and towels we have on hand.

It's always a little difficult to decide what to cover - we certainly can't cover everything, nor would we want to. Many of our plants are natives that can stand frost or even a freeze, but plenty of our residents, native or not, still can't take the temperatures in the forecast for the next few days.

So, first we cover vulnerable plants that have wildlife value. For instance, Gulf Fritillary butterflies are some of the hardiest of Florida's flyers - they're almost always the first ones you'll see venturing out when the sun warms up the afternoons above 65 degrees or so. So, we wanted to save the passionvine to allow them to continue laying eggs. We also covered some milkweed for the monarchs, and some New Gold lantana to provide nectar plants once the freeze is over.

Then we covered a few plants that just look so happy and healthy right now that we couldn't stand to lose them. The Knockout Rose by the front door is loaded with new growth, buds, and blooms, so we hope the radiant heat from the house and the sheet we covered it with will keep it robust through the cold. The Yellowtop (Flaveria linearis) is budding out again after being cut back a few weeks ago, so we covered that as well. And the pipevine (Aristolochia elegans) by the kitchen window is so green and full, we couldn't help trying to protect it.

Will they survive? Who can say. We covered the plants during the warmest part of the afternoon, when the ground could provide as much radiant heat as possible. All the sheets and blankets are draped down to the ground, keeping the heat inside, and pinned or secured to keep them from blowing away. And that's all we can do. Optimism and old sheets are cheap, so we give our plants all of both that we have, and then hope for the best!

Raindrops

Glory Hallelujah! After the driest October in recorded history (we haven't seen a raindrop in six weeks), My Florida Backyard finally got some rain today! Here are some shots of our residents and visitors enjoying the little fall of rain...

Penta (Pentas lanceolata):

Muhly Grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris):

Gaura (Gaura lindeimeri):

Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempivirens):

Knockout Rose (Rosa 'Radtko'):

Dianthus (Dianthus chinensis):

Gulf Fritillary Caterpillar (Agraulis vanillae):

Today's rain was just some gentle soaking showers off and on, but there's more rain in the forecast over the next few days. The residents, visitors, and caretakers of My Florida Backyard can't wait!

Strange Enchantment

 The rainy season has begun in earnest here in Florida. Daily afternoon or evening rains are almost guaranteed, and some days are rainy all the way through. The saturated humid air is a little tough on gardeners, especially as the weeds couldn't be happier, but the grey light of overcast days highlights parts of the garden in an almost magical way. For instance, the Dotted Horsemint we planted back in June has finally begin to bloom. The muted and fascinating flowers of this native plant seem to fit the quiet mood of a misty My Florida Backyard.

Dotted Horsemint (Monarda punctata) is a member of the same genus as the more commonly known Bee Balm (Monarda didyma), a popular plant with butterfly gardeners. Dotted Horsemint holds the same attraction for butterflies, but is better adapted to Florida's wet summers - Bee Balm is very susceptible to powdery mildew, and Florida's rainforest climate in the summer months makes it difficult to cultivate successfully. Dotted Horsemint is a good alternative in a Florida native garden.

Although it's commonly called "horsemint" and is indeed a member of the mint family (Lamiacaea), this plant's leaves actually smell like oregano when crushed, and some people use it as a substitute. Native Americans brewed it into tea to treat colds and flu. But for us, the best feature is the enchanting little dotted flower blooms, so strange and unexpected. The delicate colors of the leaves beneath almost glow in the soft light of a clouded afternoon. We feel so fortunate to have this native treasure add its magic to My Florida Backyard.

Daisy Bell

March went out like a lamb today, providing a great morning for adding plants to the outside edge of our newly-expanded front garden. It's hard to see the new additions in this photo, so see below for close-ups and details.

These cheerful little guys are Dahlberg Daisies (Thymophylla tenuiloba). We found these at our local Lowe's and decided to give them a try, since they love full sun and dry conditions. They are actually a native of South Texas, and grow to about 12 by 12 inches. They may not flower quite as well during the wet heat of our summer, but we're hopeful the well-drained sandy soil in the front yard will provide them with the conditions they need to flourish. The feathery foliage and happy yellow flowers make a nice contrast to plants we alternated them with...

... Purple Queen (Tradescantia pallida), also sometimes called Purple Heart. This native of Mexico caught my eye in the MOSI BioWorks gardens when it began to recover immediately after the hard freeze in January. It tolerates wet or dry conditions and loves full sun, making it a plant that should last for years in the garden.

Our little plants are very small right now, but will grow and spread into a low groundcover around the front edge of the garden. The sunny daisies make a nice contrast to the deep color of the purple queen, and we can't wait to see what they'll both look like after a few months of lots of sunshine!

P.S. Check out the weather forecast for the next week - it's beginning to look a lot like Florida!

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?

Against the Wind

March came in soft as a lamb yesterday, with sunny skies and balmy breezes. Unfortunately, the proverbial lion followed with a vengeance today, as yet another cold front pushed through the region, this one with wind gusts topping 30 miles an hour long after the storms of the morning had passed.

So, we settle in for a few more days of highs in the 50s, and hope the 70s forecasted for early next week are a sign of much better things to come.

"Springtime is the land awakening. The March winds are the morning yawn." 

- Lewis Grizzard

Signs of Life

As yet another cold snap hits the Bay area, I'm pleased to report that the plants in My Florida Backyard are soldiering on, and even the slowest to recover are finally beginning to show some green.

The hibiscus has been the slowest of all to show some improvement, but in this weekend's warm sun, I noticed some leaf buds finally beginning to break along the branches. If we could only get some more warm sun, instead of these everlasting 50 degree days, the hibiscus would be putting out large green leaves in no time.

The Christmas Cassia is also starting to recover nicely, coming back from the ground slowly but surely. I'm working hard to get some cassia established in My Florida Backyard this year as larval plants for sulphur butterflies. I'm hoping Florida's hot summer will help this plant be a small shrub by the time late fall rolls around. Sulphur caterpillars are some of my favorites, and I'd really like to be able to raise some bright yellow beauties when the Christmas Cassia flowers late in the year.

The Candlestick Cassia is coming back as well, giving me hope that it will be able to rival its former glory by summer's end. We actually had a bunch of sulphur eggs on the Candlestick Cassia around New Year's, but the freeze, of course, made short work of both plant and eggs, leaving us to start again from scratch and hope for better luck next time.


Gardening in My Florida Backyard for the last few months has been all about waiting and hoping. It's nice to see some of that waiting and hoping pay off, although we just can't wait for this wretched winter to finally end!

Red Wing

This winter has been pretty ridiculous across the entire country - there's snow on the ground in 49 states right now (but not here, thank goodness). We're expecting yet another week of below-average temperatures here in Tampa, ushered in by a very rainy, windy, and chilly day today. 

When I looked out the window this afternoon, there seemed to be nothing but gray, gray, gray to see. Then, on the feeder, was that familiar flash of red - a cardinal dropping by to brighten up the afternoon.

A picture through the window screen never turns out well, but the flash of color is still evident. I'm so grateful for visitors like this who help keep My Florida Backyard cheerful when the weather is dismal!

The Aftermath

With the worst of this unbelievable cold spell behind us (although another freeze is possible tonight), I took a walk in My Florida Backyard today to assess the damage. Despite my optimism last week that my mostly native plants would be able to survive reasonably well, the destruction in the gardens is pretty complete, at least above ground.

This porterweed is pretty indicative of the damage in the butterfly garden.
The milkweed, butterflyweed, and most of the lantana took similar blows.

New shoots on the tropical sage didn't fare well, and even the Golden Dewdrop is showing some frostbite.

The salvia is pretty much a total loss:

I expected the hibiscus to take a pretty hard hit, and it did:

What I didn't expect was for the firebushes to sustain so much damage.
I've never seen them affected by winter weather before.

All this devastation, combined with the brown dead grass everywhere, makes My Florida Backyard suddenly seem very bleak and uninviting. It's a harsh reminder that no matter how well you prepare and plan, you can never control nature. My Florida-Friendly gardens just didn't stand a chance against weather that hasn't been seen in 50 years.

Still, the damage can be removed, and many of the plants will survive and regrow. What My Florida Backyard needs now is sunshine and warm rain, some TLC, and lots of patience. We'll give it what we can, and wait for the healing to begin.