The Neighborhood Gardener –
December 2010

Happy gardening!

Florida-Friendly Plant List and Landscape Design Guide Released

This new guide is intended for homeowners who want to take the next step and design their own Florida-Friendly Landscapes. There's information on design strategies, worksheets, and the Florida-Friendly Plant List, with UF/IFAS-recommended plants for each region of the state. It's available in limited quantities at your Extension office and in PDF format. Download the PDF

Great Gardening Gift Books

The IFAS Extension bookstore offers many books, ID decks, and other gardening paraphernalia, all of which make great gifts or stocking stuffers for the Florida gardener. Here's a few our favorites:

Plant of the Month: Nellie R. Stevens Holly

Many people like to use holly sprigs in their holiday decorating. Planting a 'Nellie R. Stevens' holly can provide plenty of seasonal color each winter with its bright red berries, and will give any Florida landscape an evergreen plant that looks good year-round. More

December in Your Garden

Winter shifts the focus from outdoors to indoor plants. Temperature, light, and humidity are key to insuring that indoor plants thrive.

For more month-by-month gardening tips, check out the Florida Gardening Calendar. Three different editions of the calendar provide specific tips for each of Florida's gardening regions—North, Central, and South. More

Friend or Foe? Foe: Peach Fruit Fly

The peach fruit fly was first found in Florida on November 10, 2010 in Miami-Dade County, and is considered one of the most serious of the world's fruit fly pests due to its potential economic harm. Despite its name, the peach fruit fly actually attacks a wide array of fruits, vegetables, and nuts. The flies lay their eggs in fruits and vegetables. In a few days, the hatched maggots render the produce inedible.

Cooking with Fresh Herbs

food Herbs are a staple in Florida gardens. But once you’ve grown them, what do you do with them? This new EDIS document answers that question with a variety of cooking methods for herbs, along with some recipes.

Master Gardener Specialist Update

This month, Erin Alvarez will explain some of the ways in which plants affect our physical and psychological health, and how the phenomenon of 'plant blindness' can affect our lives. It will also show how you can use plants to promote a healthier environment at work and at home. (Please note that this presentation requires the free Windows Media Player.) More

Red poinsettias