Masterful Gardening

REBECCA L. JORDI/Nassau County Extension -- Perennial plumbago provides beautiful blue blooms all year.

by MARY CHUDZYNSKI

A perennial plant is a plant that lives for more than two years. Perennials, especially small flowering plants, grow and bloom over the spring and summer. They usually die back in late autumn or winter. In the spring, they return from their root rather than seeding themselves as an annual plant. In Florida, many perennials flower until winter’s cold begins.

by CLAUDIE SPEED

Do you say “erb” or “herb?” However you say it, there is a tantalizing choice of fresh herbs in the produce section of your favorite grocery store. But you do not have to buy herbs; you can grow your own at home.
Imagine cooking dinner and running to your garden to pick really fresh herbs.

Herbs are very easy to grow following just a few guidelines. They are shallow-rooted and adaptable to containers — which is how I grow my herbs — or you can plant them in your garden.

I like to fill containers with two or three varieties and add a flowering plant for interest. They make beautiful patio pots as well as great gifts.

Rebecca L. Jordi/Nassau County Extension -- A butterfly visits the Gaillardia , or blanket flower, plant at the Nassau County Demonstration Garden in Yulee. The brilliant flowers are attractive to butterflies, and the annual flowers normally will readily reseed themselves.

by Ginny Grupe

When I drive around Nassau County, I see numerous natural areas that some time ago were major habitats for wildlife. These habitats are being lost to urban development and sprawl.

Special -- The Knock Out Double Rose is among the featured roses at the Nassau County Extension Service's Demonstration Garden at the James S. Page Governmental Complex. It is resistant to rose black spot and is tolerant of downy mildew.

By PAUL GOSNELL

Have you completed your New Year’s resolutions yet? Or, should I ask, have you put aside most of those for some other time? If one of your resolutions was to either start or revitalize that rose garden, I hope you haven’t given up hope. February is a wonderful time to be in the rose garden preparing for an abundance of color in early April and throughout the summer.

Poinsettias can have a second life after the holidays as an accent plant or an informal flowering hedge.

During the holiday season our homes are filled with seasonal greenery and a riot of color provided by flowers and plants associated with the holidays. The three most popular holiday plants are the poinsettia, the Christmas cactus and the amaryllis. As the holidays begin to draw to a close, you can extend their holiday color by following these helpful hints.

Special/Nassau County Extension -- Branches crossing or rubbing together can be pruned any time of year, but it is best to do this when the branches are less than 2-inches in diameter.

Got your pruning saw, your pruning shears, tree trimmer and a pair of gloves? Then let’s go cut something! Whoa, not so fast!

It’s October, and while our summer gardens are past their prime, there’s still some work to do in our yards. And one of the most important fall and winter tasks is pruning trees and shrubs. But, should you prune everything? How much should you prune?

Special/Nassau County Extension Service -- Bromeliads come a variety of shapes and sizes. This is an example of Vriesea which can be planted in the ground, a rockery or in a large pot.

by BONNIE JOHNSON

Although I’m a master gardener and have received more than the initial 52 hours of training, you won’t find a perfectly manicured landscape at my house. Instead, I have a garden filled with spontaneous buys and interesting treasures from special friends. I’m a Northern transplant and can’t believe the long growing season and warm weather. “Right Plant, Right Place” is a great UF/IFAS Florida Friendly concept but occasionally I long for things unusual. My Plumeria, or frangipani, is too tropical for this area, but it is blooming for the first time this year! I have my fingers crossed for no hard freezes. So, as you may have guessed, my yard is filled with many surprises.
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Masterful Gardening

Special/Nassau County Extension -- Milkweed blooms at the UF/IFAS Nassau County Demonstration Garden in Yulee. Milkweed is known for its medicinal uses as well as being a food source for bees and monarch butterflies.

by KATHY WARNER
Nassau County Master Gardener

Named by Ponce de Leon in 1513, La Florida means “Land of Flowers” — and indeed it is! Florida has more than 3,600 native and naturalized flowering species. Wildflowers are plants that grow in their natural state with little or no interference from man. Florida has 170 species of endemic wildflowers, which mean that they grow naturally in a certain area, and nowhere else. Because of this restriction, many are threatened, living on the verge of extinction. It is illegal to pick wildflowers from public property.

Special/Nassau County Extension Service -- Brown patch disease, a fungus disease, usually begins as small, 1-foot patches that turn yellow and then reddish-brown, brown or straw-colored as the leaves start to die. Patches can expand to several feet in diameter.

Masterful Gardening 7.21.07

by NELSON PETERSON
Nassau County Master Gardener

Lawn care! Some of us love it and some of us hate it. Whatever you decide for your home, just remember landscaping draws attention from people passing your home, and you want to present the best “curb appeal.”

Masterful Gardening 6.23.07

by KATHY WARNER
Nassau County Master Gardener 

Can you name the state tree of Florida? The orange tree? Not a chance. Live oak? No way. The Sabal palmetto, also known as the cabbage palm, Sabal palm and cabbage palmetto, was designated the state tree of Florida in 1953. It appears within the great seal on the state flag of Florida, and is also the state tree of South Carolina, known as the "Palmetto State." The most widely distributed tree in Florida, it grows naturally in almost any soil near the coasts, on tidal flats, islands, or elevated places in marshes, beach swales, and in moist to wet hardwood hammocks. It is found from southeastern North Carolina to Southern Florida, and also on the Bahamian islands.