Moving from Illinois

I am moving in the near future to Port Orange and I have all sorts of questions!!??
Here, I have cottage gardens, butterfly bushes, coneflower, phlox, bee balm wild indigo, butterfly weed, coral bells, peonies, HOSTA and many others. From the posts, it sounds as if you are planting now. I was recently down ther for a vist and we stopped to get mulch for my MIL and I asked him what types of flowers grew well in FL and he said just about anything but when it gets too hot they just die off! Say it isn't so!!!!
If you could let me know when your perennial garden season is and also tomato season.
Any information would be appreciated.

I'm not an expert - have been here 1 year. Moved down fm MD.
Won't find Hostas doing well down here. Thye may be fine for a season but really too humid for them to be happy. So you can replace them with Elephant Ears!!!!

The butterfly weed loves it down here & you will find a slew of other butterfly loving plants. Melaniw & wren can really give lots of that good info.

The perennial season can last almost all year with plants coming & going as the weather changes. During a mild winter, many plants that freeze off up north, will come back here in "winter". With a bit of protection (save those large packing boxes to put over plants on the COLD nites) even my turks cap hibiscus bloomed all winter.

Lilies, Gladiolis, dahlia, caladiums all do very well. There are varieties of Roses that love the heat & humidity & will bloom almost year round.

As for tomatoes - I kept my plants in the greenhouse till early April. I've been picking them for at least a month now. and the plants are still going full steam ahead. They are planted in a few sections of my yard and all but 2 plants are sheltered from full afternoon sun. The hybrids do much better than the northern varieties. Many put tomatoes in raised beds - easier to control the soil quality & critters that live in the sand.
Last year I started a 2nd planting of tomatoes in Sep and was still picking tomatoes at new years. I would move them into the GH (just made of heavy plastic) during the cold spells. This year I plan to start some later & see if in the GH I can keep then going all Winter.

Check out the Gardening thru the seasons & What is blooming today to get an idea of what is possible in FL.

There are a few plants I really miss - dafodills & tulips in the Spring - and I did have pots of each this Spring!!!!! But now I have Passion Flowers, hibiscus, Red pagoda, and Amarynthus to take their place.

I posted on your other thread, and now I see where you are moving to, the east coast I think grows better than the west coast, IMHO. I use to live on the east in WinterPark and loved my garden there, but I've not had too much luck on the west coast.

A warning for you to be aware of, if you try to bring pants from the north into FL, please please, stop and have them inspected, don't just hide them when you cross the border. The citrus crop is very susceptible to new bugs that are transported into the state. When I came down, I had to leave a few plants behind, that they destroyed. The state doesn't need anything else coming in a wiping out the oranges, etc.

Just a heads up on it. The few that were allowed in have all died from the humidity, so in the long run I wish I had not brought them.

Jan

Thank you both for your posts. I am looking forward to my garden and my husband is a tomato lover so he will be in heaven! I too lived in Bradenton a few years back and hopefully my garden here will be better.
Thank you for the info

Hello Kayos and,... Welcome to Florida Gardening Forum!

I chose this thread to reply to, as there was another you started similar to this one.

Kayos as a handle sounds so much like chaos... HaHaHaHaHa!...

When are you actually moving to our beautiful and bountiful Florida?!

We have one of the most incredible Florida native Beebalms on the planet growing right here!,... and one of the most used in medicinal studies and incredibly beautiful also. You can have Beebalm in Florida that goes right through our freezes as well as flourishing in the hottest and humid Summers. I speak praises for 'Monarda punctata', and it is the most useful and exotic beauties in the Beebalm world for me, and is in my personal top 5 favorite plants group.

These are some of my favorite pic's. I just shared some durable "Florida happy" giant Summer Phlox pic's on my 2013 Seasons thread too.

Happy Illinois Gardening until you get here...........

David

Kayos, welcome to Florida. I have several friends from Peoria that winter at the same RV resort that I do. In fact I stay down at Lake Okeechobee year round because it's cooler down here than it is in Jacksonville.
We plant tomatoes here on Labor Day and they produce until memorial day.
Coral bells will die off in 2 years, or mine did. There will be several things for sale that will not tolerate heat, so be aware.
Let me know when you get moved and I will stop by on one of my trips to Jacksonville and gift you with rooted cuttings and extra plants.
Sidney

Good to see you posting Sidney. I think of you every time I buy a coleus. I have a couple of the new "under water" frilly ones this year & they are growing like crazy. They do indeed look like coral reefs.

The next time I come up to Jax I will jog over and get some cuttings.
Let me see if I can do some pictures.
First is a coleus Henna in my donkey.
Second is a Hibiscus tree that I cant turn because the frilly white edged minty vine has grown to the deck and surrounding plants.
Third is a new almost red Mandevilla. with Moss Rose.
Lots of milkweed. I harvested and planted all the pods I could catch.
Forth is a great Hibiscus that has shown me one or two blooms a day since March. The blooms were about 6" for several weeks.
They are only about 5" now.
So Kayos which ones do you want me to root for you?
Sidney
Fifth is one of my rail planters. (with my solar power boat behind it.)
I am going to get that tarp out of my bicycle basket and put some plants in there. I'll also put some plants on the boat too.

Sidney,
Still have that brug for you and I think it could fit into your car with a little adjusting and should be safe it well wrapaped.

Quilter can you telll me where I can order those coral reef coleus from. I haven't been able to find them around here. Coleus grow very easily here for me and I would love to have some different ones.

Happy gardening all.

Bonnie

Bonnie - I bought mine at Trad's in JAX. GREAT nursery!!!! They had a couple varieties and I went with the golden. Come on up & get some cutings!!!

Beautiful Planters boxes and really nice pictures Sidney. If I ever sell this place I am definitely looking for a waterfront property...so peaceful.

These pictures are of the "Gold Anemone" and "Bonefish" Coleus. They were designed in Canada a couple of years ago and I bought mine from there via the mail. It took a couple of years for them to acclimate to our climate and they were harder to propogate then any Coleus I have ever seen the first year. Now they are flourishing after a several generations of cuttings here though!

I believe the Gold Anemone is what I have. I've made quite a few new plants. After all this rain he probably needs trimmed again.

Beautiful pictures, thanks for sharing.

Jan

Bonnie, I'm headed to Jax on the 14th I will look over the end of season selection of coleus. I'll come by on my way back down the last few days of August, leaving you cuttings and getting a brug.
I could also maybe get by Quilters and trade off cuttings for both of us.
Kayos, you will be on my usual route, so let me know and I'll get you started. I have inpatients growing in Jacksonville that I planted in 1996. That can give you an idea of what gardening is like down here.
There are many plants to have a new romance with down here. You will love it.
Sidney

Sidney - let me know when you want to trade. Look forward to seeing you again.

Give me a buz just before you get here as that brug is going to take some digging up. It's not small.
I call you the coleus queen. I love the great variety they come in. Garden Gate did an article on them and sure was some beauties in there.
Look forward to seeing you again.
Bonnie

kayos welcome to Florida
I am a native, living up here in Jacksonville
I grow mostly stuff for the butterflies, bees and hummingbirds
I do have one kind of daffodils that does grow and bloom in Florida. Have had the for over 50 years a very old form This winter I will try to remember to mark where they are and dig some up for any one who is interested.
I have seen them grow as far south as Gainesville

Sandy

Glad I found this thread.... I should be living in FLA 2 yrs from now, if all goes well in selling our home.

As I was thinking of the seeds I have on hand, currently -- I was wondering how impatiens do throughout the year. Are they perennials? do they survive the hot and humid summers?

I, like Sandy, love to grow plants for bees and butterflies ... can not wait to have Salvias growing all year long.

We are planning on moving to Leesburg, in Lake County some time in 2015.

Terese
~~ also from IL

I have had impatiens survive more than one year, it just depends on the winter.
But they do need shade down here.

Sandy

Sandy -- I figured they'd need shade, just as they do up here. I'm hoping the winters aren't too cold that they keel over. I do love impatiens.

In Feb I"ll get to see the home we hope to purchase, so I'll get an idea of what I can plant -- for sun or shade.

as was commented above... Did not think of the issues that could arise from bringing plants from my current yard to FLA... will have to rethink that.

Leesburg is in the middle of the state and I know that it get colder in Gainesville that up here in Jax and that is just north of there. I just checked the planting zone and it is 9a which is the same as my area thought I am very close to the edge of 8b
Our problem on some of the norther plants is not so much the Temps. but the shorter days.

Hope this helps
Maybe if you post a list of the plants you would like to bring down we can give you some idea of what will and will not do well down here.

Sandy

I moved to Jacksonville in 96. I planted 18 pink coral impatiens. For years I'd take several trays of cuttings to root and pull the leggy, fleshy old plants. It didn't take but about ten days to have them ready to plant out. I would keep them under & behind bushes until ready.
I also got some seeds of a different kind of impatient that's seed popped open. They distributed lots of seed but I haven't seen any grow.
The ones I first mentioned manage to live on in nooks and crannies.
Sidney

Sandy -- right now, I'm thinking some Penstemons that I grew by seed and want to keep.

Some of my plants I'll be taking to WI next season, BUT, i have mostly shade up there.

How does Rhubarb do in the south? MY bet is not good. I have 3 plants that I need to move.

Rhubarb does not do good down here as far as I know. Maybe some one else will pop in who knows more about it.

Sandy

Sandy

When I brought plants from my garden up north, I had to have them checked at the station here in FL. FL is very strict about bringing plants in from outside the state. The problems that have caused a decline in the oranges has been attributed to pest being carried in on plant material that wasn't checked.

All of my plants did make it through to only end up dying, but it could be do to the fact that I was in 9b then and now I'm in 9a which is a huge difference. We have cool weather here as it looks like you are just north and central to me. (I'm on the west coast).

The first year folks move down is the hardest for lots of folks to get use to, just remember to plan activities for early morning and late evening to avoid the hottest parts of the day during the summer.

You will love it here. I'm from FL and when we left northern OH DH wanted to moved back to KY, he was to afraid of the heat and the hurricanes, but once we got here he loves it and doesn't ever want to move back north, which is fine with me...LOL

I wish I could help with what will grow down here as I'm still figuring that one out...LOL

Jan

thanks for that info Jan...

we will be doing the snow-bird thing as we have a summer place in South Central Wisconsin. I already know I could not handle FLA summers.

You will still love it. You would be surprised at how fast should you ever come year round how fast you adjust to it here.

Jan

Our strange winters will be the hardest thing to get use to. We never stay cold long enough to get use to them. It can be in the 80's one day and down to near freezing the next. I have even gone swimming at Christmas one year.

Jan I was born and raised here in Jacksonville. I live on the east side of the St Johns
river and near a few of the creeks. Plus we live on a tiny hill so my temp here are usually about 10 to 15 degress warmer than the west side of the river.

Sandy
Sandy

I am finally on my way to Port orange! Looking at all your pictures and posts I am really getting excited. Growing season is way done here, 25 degrees in Illinois. The beebalm is gorgeous! !
Sidney and David your pictures are amazing. Thanks for all your great expertise

You will love it down here most of the time.
Just warning-bug season is all year around.

Sandy

Rather swat a few bugs than shovel loads of snow!!!!!

There is bug repellant but nothing can stop that snow (and cold)!!!!!!

amen to that.

LOL

I would not know about snow

I used to live in Bradenton so yes I know the bugs!!!! But I am looking forward to planting now. I love butterfly and hummingbird gardens so that will be my first adventure.

Hi Kayos,

We definitely have lots of butterfly and hummingbird plants that grow well and thrive down here. the adventure will be having to decide which plants you want to start with. I started a hummingbird/butterfly garden one last year and am still working on trying to fill the area. LOL

Shauna

kayos

I would suggest you use native plants to ensure you have great success at first then once you get a fell for here branch out. Our hummers/butterflies love, love the natives.

Glad to have ya here. They crazy weather person is calling for 31 temps tomorrow night, now way, I don't know if I will be able to handle the cold in a year, we just might have to head south, maybe around ft Myers... but I do like the idea of what a cooler area will allow me to do with plants here, so it is a toss up.

Will just have to see how I do this first year here.

I am still seeing Hummingbirds here

They will be chilly hummers tonight and tomorrow. I am down here in Jullington Creek for TG and it is darn cold.

I am up here near down town. I have water ways all around me and I am on a tiny hill so we usually run 10 to 15 degrees warmer than the west side

You are not far from our vet. We have been taking our pets to Julington Creek vets for over 30 years. The vet we usually see is the son of the owner and I remember when he was a kid. LOL

sandy

I'll have to ask who the kids use for their dog.