Wendy's Wanderings
April 7, 2022
Share the Love of Gardening
Did you know that April is National Gardening Month? With all the plant sales and garden festivals going on you don't need to read your newsfeed to figure out that the gardening season is upon us. This is the month when your spring fever sets in to be a more serious condition. If you are enjoying your gardening efforts consider sharing them with others because gardening, like happiness, is not perfected until it is shared.
You can share your gardening passion by giving sage advice (pun intended) and helping new gardeners. You may aid them in avoiding some of the mistakes you may have made along the way, like thinking mint will stay in the place where you plant it. You can also get new gardeners in touch with all the resources that are available to them in the community. Resources like where to find best nursery, free mulch, seed libraries, and how to contact their local UF/IFAS Master Gardener Volunteers.
To really help others catch the gardening bug, share your extra plants and seeds. Seeds from native milkweed and scarlet sage would be welcomed by a novice butterfly gardener. Slips from the native passion vine are an easy one to share too. Seeds from edible plants such as Seminole pumpkin, luffa squash, or roselle will get the new food forest gardener hooked in a hurry.
The next time you are dividing daylilies, agapanthus, or walking iris, pot a few up to share with a new gardener or a gardener that is new to the area. Your gift will long be remembered and probably will be shared again down the road. The best time to divide your plants is opposite their blooming season, so if they bloom in the spring divide them in the fall.
Other passalong plants for Florida are orchid cactus, frangipani, crinum lilies, bromeliads, and gingers. A favorite Southern passalong plant is four o'clocks. They bloom in pink, white, and yellow from late spring to the fall. They can be easily shared by seed or by rhizome, but they can spread in some landscapes, so warn your giftee. Before you share any plant make sure that it is not considered an invasive exotic weed. You wouldn't want to give someone a plant that is nightmare dressed as a daydream. Double check with the IFAS Assessment of Non-Native Plants in Florida's Natural Areas to make sure your plant is safe to share.
One of the best things to share with new gardeners is encouragement. Get newbies started with easy-to-grow plants and build on their success. Emphasize our Florida-Friendly favorites and suggest that they shouldn't be afraid to try something new. Let them know that gardens are always a work in progress and that is the greatest garden enjoyment of all.
-- Wendy Wilber