Seeing the spectacle of Southern colour
The Gardener's Corner
By Judith Rogers

Naval oranges were growing in the warm Flordia sunshine.

Camera in hand and an appreciation for warm weather and all things green and colourful, I recently enjoyed the southern life in Florida for a couple of weeks.

At the Sunken Gardens in St. Petersburg, the botanical finds were not as rich as one would experience in the summer season, but never the less there was plenty of colour around. An exciting find growing up a fence was Aristolochia elegans, commonly known as Dutchman's pipe or Calico vine. This is a vigorous vine grown for the large heart shaped leaves. Before the flowers open, they are shaped like a Meerschaum pipe (think of Sherlock Holmes) that open to reveal a pretty burgundy and yellow calico print. The flowers are a favourite food source for the pipe vine swallow tail butterfly larvae and will also attract birds. Here in Canada, we have a smaller version of Dutchman's pipe (A. durior) that is also promoted as a quick growing vine to use as a screen. The only downfall with this plant is that the flowers have an unpleasant smell to them.

A picture of a powder puff plant.

Bougainvillea, with its paper-thin blossoms that can grow to 12 metres tall in subtropical climates like Florida, was beautiful. It's easy to see why it is often referred to as the paper flower vine.

If I could choose one plant that I wished we could grow here, it would be the Calliandra haematocephala that is a native shrub to tropical and subtropical regions. Growing in a sunny to partially shaded area, it reaches 3.6 to 4.7 metres tall and attracts birds, bees and butterflies. The flowers have numerous long slender stamens that are produced in a globe shape which gives the shrub the more popular name of powder puff plant or fairy duster. It was these flower globes I found so attractive which are not as plentiful during winter, but cover the plant in spring and summer.

Staying with relatives for a few days, it was interesting to hear my uncle, a southern gentleman and real gardening enthusiast, explain the virtues of gardening in the South. Even in winter there are issues to resolve such as the red spider mites on the underside of the foliage of the azaleas, and navel oranges on his tree that are constantly covered with surface mould from the humidity. I had to ask Ted what variety of orange they were as his were not the thick and deeply coloured skin of California navels we are familiar with at the supermarket.

Everyone marvels at finding the indoor plants we grow sprawling along walkways or filling in large areas in the warmer climates. I envied my uncle's shady area behind a tree, where other plants had not been happy but then peace lilies were utilized and content to spread across the spot.

Ted uses a lot of impatiens for a big splash of colour and although they last a long time, he prefers to pull them out and plant fresh ones in the spring. Daylilies are another favourite border plant and their foliage was up about 20 centimetres, with the promise of more colours to come.