Florida Gardening Newbie!!!

Hello All!

I'm a Chicago native who recently relocated to Central FL. As I was living in an urban environment, my previous gardening efforts were limited to houseplants and patio container gardening. Super excited to be somewhere I can garden year round, as well as moving into a house with a yard for both a vegetable garden and space for some other types of gardening efforts as well.

Still, I'm in a completely different region with totally different soil and environmental factors :( I'm hitting up the library to grab some books on Florida gardening this week, hopefully those will get me off to a decent start.

In the meantime, I'm hoping to meet some fellow Central FL gardeners and I'll take all the advice I can get from those in the know :)

Hi.

When we left Montreal to live here permanently 10 years ago, I had to realize that everything I knew in Zone 5 was wrong here in Florida. For example: who plants tomatoes in November up there? I contacted my county extension and enlisted in a master gardener course. That was so helpful. Welcome to Florida. There are quite a few of us here and I have yet to come across anyone who isn't kind and generous with their plants and advice.

Keep well.
Sylvain.

Lynn -- chicago city, or 'burbs?

I moved last fall to Leesburg, not too far from Orlando, though I still summer in the Dells area.

I'll be back down in a few weeks.

I miss a lot of my other perennials that dont do well in the south but loving the tropicals.

There are many great gals in central FL who are very knowledgeable.

~~ Hey Sylvain, hope things are great in the south, and Lucy is doing well.

Terese

Welcome aboard Lynn. Gardening is different here but I find it more accommodating than in the north (Conn.) where I came from 46 yrs. ago.

I am in Clermont which is about 23 miles west of Orlando. Zone 9B. Hope we can help you with any questions you might have.

Bonnie D.

Hi, everyone.

Terese, thank you for asking. Yes, things ARE great in South Florida and Lucy is doing very well. Oh, how we love that snake.

I am in Delray Beach, the first town North of Boca Raton. If you're ever in the area, anyone, let me know. I'd love to see you all.

Take care.
Sylvain.

Welcome, lynncalbers,

I live pretty close to you in Winter Springs. Zone 9b can be a challenge since we can get freezing temperatures here, but pretty much everything grows in our zone.

We're here for any questions you have...just ask away.

This is a good site to get to know plants that will do well in your FL garden....http://www.floridayards.org/

Thanks everyone for your kind and welcoming responses :)

Terese - city all the way! Downtown in the gold coast area for the last 5 years, and north side in Lakeview for 15 years before that.

Hi Lynn!

Welcome to Florida. I moved here from lovely frigid Massachusetts back in the early part of this year {7 1/2 ft of snow on my front lawn when I departed for the South} and my garden here is a continuing experiment. I am still scoping out the amount of sun and shade I get in the back yard because of a huge tree and the fence. I am trying all sorts of plants that I have gleaned from local plant sales {figuring that if it grew well for them, it should grow for me!} and generally enjoying the fact that all of my houseplants can grow outdoors here. I am currently thrilled that the hibiscus I bought with one bud on it on Saturday has bloomed and is pink!
I live in Oviedo which is to the northeast of Orlando in Seminole County. The picture is of my 30 year old red double hibiscus {a former houseplant} that just finished a bloom cycle last week out on my patio table.
Martha

Just have to chime in.... We are back in FL, still a day away, up in Madison - about 3 hrs from home. it will be sooooo good to be back.

an aside... I got a notice via our Garden Club... there is a festival / Plant sale at Bok Tower next weekend.

I had a dear friend that always wanted to take me to Bok Tower, never got to go, [sadly, she recently passed away, but now we Dh will go with me.

if there is not a thread for it, I will start one....

Boktoberfest is on Oct 17th with a plant sale at the gardens. They are beautiful and the visitor center is handy for a rest stop and the food was good at the cafe. We were there last on one of the two days that pets are allowed in the park so we will be leaving our Toby home when we go there this time.
Meantime I am going tomorrow to Central Florida Ferns in Zellwood. 8-5 and they will be having a fairy garden workshop.
Martha

I really wanted to go to Boktoberfest, but have a previous engagement. I see Meade Garden's is having a Backyard Biodiversity Day and Native Plant Sale day the 24th, I might go to that.

http://www.meadgarden.org/events/bbd-102415

Be glad to see you. I will be there that day.
Martha

Hello all - Martha, nice to meet you :) I'm moving from Longwood into Orlando this week. I'll be around the Valencia area. I'd love to go to Bok Tower, but I have a previous engagement. I'll check out the Mead Garden event though!

The Mead Garden Growvember Plant Sale is on November 21 8 am to 4 pm. This directly benefits Mead Garden.
I am going to Bok Tower on Sunday Morning. I am going to the farmer's market in Geneva on Saturday.
Martha

I didn't know Geneva had a farmer's market...where is it?


I'll mark my calendar for the plant sale the 21st. Thanks.

Geneva Farmer's Market is the third Saturday of the month. Oviedo's is the first Saturday. The Orlando Sentinel has a list of everyone's farmers market in their weekend entertainment section. Winter park has one every Saturday.
Boktoberfest was fun, I went but I have a cold so didn't enjoy it as much as I could have. {No beer!}
Got a t-shirt and a cute hoya.
Martha

Thanks Martha. It was a beautiful weekend for a plant show.

Hi Lynn and welcome to Florida.

Sylvain, when I moved back home I finally got into the MG program, oh what a help.

Another source of information is the University of Florida, IFAS.
http://solutionsforyourlife.ufl.edu/

Lots of great information that WORKS here in Florida.

Then there is your local extension office they have an incredible demonstration garden that you can visit and get information publications for free.
http://orange.ifas.ufl.edu/

Jan

I specially like UF's searchable database, EDIS. I use it often.

Sylvain.