Central Florida Fall Landscaping And Planting Report ask a professional
Screening with Plants
If your yard does not have a fence, you may wish to consider planting a row of hawthorn, juniper, arborvitae, or a combination of these bushes to provide privacy and give a backdrop for future flower beds. A strategically placed evergreen screen will also provide a windbreak from wind.
The gardening season hits its peak in September in Central Florida.
This is the month when the largest number of different garden varieties can be planted, including most warm-season vegetables and the first of the cool-season vegetables. The intense heat should start to break and tropical storm systems may bring us some much-needed rainfall.
- Here are the vegetables to plant in September:
- Beans (bush, pole, lima)
- Broccoli
- Cabbage
- Celery
- Collards
- Corn
- Cucumbers
- Eggplant
- Endive/Escarole
- Kale
- Lettuce
- Okinawa spinach
- Onions
- English peas
- Southern peas
- Peppers
- Radish
- Summer squash
- Tomatoes
- Turnips
- and most herbs.
The earlier you plant the warm-season varieties, the more production you’ll get from your garden before frost. So don’t delay, plant today!
Planning a Border Flower Bed
The most difficult area of designing a border is choosing flowers that accentuate each other, both in color and height. The list of perennials I suggest here is for a six foot wide bed in a primarily sunny situation. Wide, in this instance, means outward from the plant screen or fence, not the length of the bed.
Use 3 or 5 plants for each type of flower and allow 16”–18” between each plant. Allow 20”–22” in between the various plant groups. Planting an odd number of plants is more visually attractive than an even number.
Allow sufficient space at the rear of the bed for access. This will also stop choking off necessary air and light from the plants in back.
Island Bed
An island bed, as the name suggests, is planted within the middle of the yard surrounded by a sea of grass. It can differ in shape and size according to your imagination and available space. Scale the plants from tallest in the center to shortest at the edges.
Preplanned Gardens
I understand all of this can be daunting for first time gardeners.If you want a ready made solution, Matts Meticulous Landscaping provides a wide assortment of Landscaping designs to take all the guess work out of plant assortment and placement.