The Neighborhood Gardener – July

Happy gardening!

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Ten Beautiful (and Resilient) Plants for Hot Southern Gardens

With record heat so far this spring, gardeners are looking for plants that will still be showstoppers in their gardens. With these recommendations for flowering plants that can withstand the Florida heat, you can enjoy blooms from spring to fall.

FruitScapes

Many Floridians are lucky enough to have fruit trees in their gardens, but practical information on how to plant and care for these trees is necessary in order to enjoy this edible landscape. The UF/IFAS Tropical Research and Education Center hosts FruitScapes, a helpful website featuring fact sheets and videos to help home gardeners understand how to successfully plant and grow fruit trees.

Plant of the Month: Powderpuff Mimosa

Few groundcovers offer a more cheerful appearance than powderpuff mimosa. From spring through fall, this versatile native plant blooms nonstop with pink, ball-shaped flowers that look like small powderpuffs. Once established, powderpuff mimosa has a fairly deep root system that can help it control erosion and that also makes it drought tolerant. More

July in Your Garden

Plant heat-tolerant annuals like celosia, coleus, and ornamental peppers. Use the summer heat as a tool in preparing the vegetable garden for fall planting. Soil solarization takes four to six weeks to kill weeds, disease, and nematodes, so start now.

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: Silverfish

Silverfish are gray, carrot-shaped insects. Adults are about a half-inch in length and have long antennae and three long tail-like appendages. Silverfish are very common in homes, often coming in with storage boxes, and may cause damage by feeding on paper, wallpaper paste, fabrics, and book bindings. Reducing humidity in the home helps control silverfish.