The Neighborhood Gardener – April

Happy Gardening!

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Plant a Tree, Conserve Energy

Earth Day is April 22 and celebrations to demonstrate support for environmental protection are taking place throughout the state. One way to observe Earth Day is by reducing household energy use, which in turn can save you money. Strategically planted trees, shrubs, and even vines in the landscape create shade to cool your home, helping your AC unit run more efficiently, and even less often. Trees also cool outdoor spaces for you and your family to enjoy all summer. For more information on using landscape plants to cool your home more efficiently, read Planting Trees for Energy Savings on Gardening Solutions.

Walkways in the Landscape

At its most basic, a path directs visitors through your garden, keeps your feet dry, and reduces soil compaction to the rest of your landscape. However, your walkway can serve more than these utilitarian purposes; it can be a place of relaxation with the addition of seating and other design elements. And walkways can be made with a variety of materials including gravel, pavers, or mulch. With some planning and imagination you can create the perfect walkway for your home landscape. More

Plant of the Month: Spanish Bayonet

Spanish bayonet is a great accent plant for the Florida landscape. With its dramatic flower spikes and sharp, pointed foliage, this plant is sure to grab attention. Its leaves have been known to pierce through even thick clothing, so select a planting location away from walkways. Spanish bayonet has a high salt tolerance, making it a excellent choice for coastal gardens, and requires little maintenance; it's highly drought tolerant and once established, requires almost no supplemental irrigation.  More

April in Your Garden

With temperatures on the rise, be on the lookout for garden pests; monitoring insect activity can help you to catch any potential problems before they get out of hand. Gardeners in north and central Florida can plant coleus, while those in south Florida should plant vinca, portulaca, and other heat-tolerant annuals.

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.

Friend or Foe? Friend: Hover Fly

Hover flies are abundant year-round in south Florida and common throughout the rest of the state during spring and summer. Often mistaken for harmful fruit flies, these colorful little flies are actually beneficial; mature hover flies are pollinators and their larvae are important aphid predators. When hover fly larval populations are high, they may be able to control 70 to 100 percent of aphid populations. More
(Image: Susan Ellis, Bugwood.org)