Gardening in Florida in the month of May

I think the summer heat and rains have started here in Florida. As a gardener I love when it rains. There is nothing better for the garden than a nice soaking rain. It is a lovely feeling to walk around the garden and look at all the plants after a good rain and see how lush and green everything looks. It is particularly nice to see after many months of our Florida dry season. Although by most standards I don’t think it is ever really dry in Miami Florida. I think the rainy season has started early this year. They say that is good as far as hurricanes. I don’t know whether it is La Nina but rains early supposedly keep the hurricanes away. Let’s hope so. I have experienced several hurricanes since I moved to Miami. The worst was Hurricane Andrew. Hurricane Katrina and Wilma also did some serious damage to my yard. A huge coconut palm broke off and landed in the middle of my water garden. I would have rather my roof blown off. Anyhow I really don’t want to think about hurricane season yet, but it will be here before we know it. Right now the afternoon rains have been pretty frequent and as a gardener I know my garden loves it. The butterflies in the garden this year are amazing. The Long Wing Zebra have been tearing through the Passiflora vines. As a beekeeper hoping that hive #2 has made a new queen, I haven’t been too happy with the rains. I am trying to decide whether I should go into my hives tomorrow morning. It would be an awesome Mother’s Day present to find that hive Queen Right. I really should check on it because I added a frame of brood last weekend and I need to see if they are building queen cells on it. I hope they haven’t, and that I have a laying Queen. There’s been a plant that has been growing in the garden that I thought was Spanish Needle (Biden Alba). I have explained before that Spanish Needle is actually a weed but the butterflies and bees absolutely love it. I stopped again this week and got more seeds and sprinkled them around the hives. Well the plant that I have been watching, thinking that it is Spanish Needle, is not at all. It looks like it could be a Native Sunflower of some sort. I haven’t identified it, but here is a picture. It has been very lush and green and has thrown legs and is spreading like a ground cover. This week I noticed little yellow composite flowers.

One of my favorite flowers in the garden is my Water Hibiscus. I got this plant many years ago when I use to travel down to the Keys on business. I found it in the garden shop at the Sears store. There were two gentlemen that ran the garden shop and they always had some unusual plants to choose from. I bought this and have loved it every year when it blooms. I also call it a marijuana hibiscus. If you look at the leaves you can see the shape, and it resembles a marijuana leaf. I have never tried smoking it (haha), but I enjoy the thought that I have an illegal looking plant in my garden. If it weren’t for the big red flower people might get the wrong idea.

I also bought some replacement plants for a few plants that didn’t seem like they were going to survive. I had planted a white Butterfly Bush (Buddleia davidii) in the center among the Pink Pentas. It totally died. Believe it or not but Butterfly Bush does not do well in the South Florida environment. I potted a Pink Butterfly Bush in a container so that I could better control the water and sun. We will see if that helps it survive. I remember years ago I had planted a Purple Butterfly Bush in the flower bed on the east side of the yard. It thrived beautifully. In fact it was quite invasive. I know some species of Butterfly Bush can be invasive. I remember I eventually took that plant out because of its invasiveness. I wish I had that problem now. I have not been able to get Butterfly Bush to grow well in my garden for years. Anyhow, I took out the butterfly bush and replaced it with various shades of Pink Pentas. They seem to like the spot in the garden.

I bought some beautiful annual flowers that I placed in a container. They really won’t survive our heat in a few months, but they were so pretty that I couldn’t resist. It is a plant called “Cotton Candy” Agastache. It smells delightful!! It’s scent is a mix of cotton candy and mint. The flowers are pink and delicate and the bees absolutely love it. I am sure they can’t resist the smell. I can’t resist when I go by but to stop and smell the flowers. I also bought some pink Cone Flowers. I just couldn’t resist and wish some of these beautiful annuals would grow in South Florida. I will get great pleasure from them for the few months that they survive!

I am pleased the garden is doing well and is alive with many flowers and pollinators. I have noticed that everything seems to be flowering very well. I think that with all the pollinators in the garden they are helping my plants and increasing their blooms.