Finding winter flowers? It’s a reasonable question, too, especially from many of my homeowner association clients, all of whom try to do a good job taking care of hundreds of thousands of dollars in planting improvements. They are handicapped by lack of knowledge about plant material. More deeply, though, is the misunderstanding that low maintenance requires very good design.
Still, many of our condominiums are populated by seasonal residents, all of whom rightly want to see flowers in winter.
These Yankees make the issue much more difficult, too, because our northern climes are populated with stunningly beautiful flowering shrubs and trees that simply will not grow here: the Japanese and saucer magnolias, the spireas; the rhododendrons … it’s a long list.
All is not lost. I tell my students that we have 3,500 commonly available plants in Florida. Our plants are incredibly inexpensive, too. In fact, the cost of plant material have not changed very much in the 30 years I have been working. In 1980, one could buy a 3-gallon plant wholesale for about $3.50; now, that same plant is — $3.50.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Naples News
