April / May 2009 | Home Magazine Article

- For the Virtual Magazine Click Here | April / May 2009 article in Home Magazine.

- To download the magazine Click Here (PDF) - our article is on page 25

- Jon George is the writer of these articles and the owner of Cottage Gardens Inc., a Gainesville based landscape design and installation firm. He has been gardening in North Central Florida for more than 30 years. You may contact his staff for questions at cottagegardensinc@yahoo.com.

April / May Article

Warm days and pleasant nights make this one of the most pleasurable times of the year to be outdoors here in North Central Florida. Cool weather plants are putting on their last show and giving way to hot weather perennials for a symphony of late spring color. As the thermostat goes up so does the need to water. The saying that “April showers bring May flowers” holds true, but often by late May we are asking for the showers to come back to water our lawns and gardens.

Water-wise gardens are the most requested type of landscape we have been asked to do in the last three years. Concerns for the environment and saving money have driven the need to find strategies to conserve this precious resource. Selecting drought resistant plant material and using products that help retain moisture at the root zone are some of the ways we have enabled our clients to run their sprinklers less.

The Mediterranean style offers bold foliage, sun-washed rocks and plants that have adapted to drier climates with little rain. One principle essential to this type of landscape is a well-drained site. Before we installed this Mediterranean inspired garden in downtown Gainesville, topsoil had to be brought in to raise the corner bed. A Canary Island date palm crowns the top of the bed with its feather-duster-like plumes. Smaller plants like aloes, sedums, and sun-loving dyckia bromeliads are being planted among the rocks, providing blooms at different seasons.

Bromeliads, added to an urn on the front patio of this historic home, provide a tropical touch. There are many families of bromeliads (pineapple being one of them) gathered primarily from the New World. These plants often collect rainwater in cups formed by newly emerging foliage. This particular bromeliad, from the Bilbergia Family, is also known as "Queen's Tears," and is particularly suited to Gainesville because of its cold hardiness. These plants make great container specimens with wide grassy foliage and weeping pink blooms.

Gaillardia or Blanket Flower is one tough native perennial. This selection called ‘Fanfare’ has fluted trumpets and burgundy stamens that butterflies find hard to resist. ‘Fanfare’ blooms through summer and even stays evergreen in the winter. This plant is so drought tolerant that once established no irrigation is needed.

Rock gardens add drama to any landscape and are an obvious choice for the water-wise gardener. Forget ugly rock mulch and think about bringing in larger pieces of etched rock and native limestone boulders. Many plants will root directly into the cracks between the rocks and provide a living carpet of greenery to soften hard edges.

We have had success using moisture retaining co-polymer gel like Soil Moist in the bottom of each planting hole. This granular product absorbs many times its weight in water and slowly releases it to the roots of the plant. Once hydrated, Soil Moist looks like blocks of gelatin and remains in the soil up to two years before dissolving.

A well-designed landscape with layers of height and texture will add value to your home. With the right selection and placement of drought tolerant plant material, you can have low maintenance color in your garden all year long.

Jon George is the owner of Cottage Gardens Inc., a Gainesville based landscape design and installation firm. He has been gardening in North Central Florida for more than 30 years. You may contact his staff for questions at cottagegardensinc@yahoo.com.