Planning Seasonal Colour That Actually Lasts in Florida

Seasonal colour fails in Florida most often because somebody planted the right flower at the wrong time of year — using a planting calendar written for a climate with a cold winter and a mild summer.

Our seasons are inverted

In most of the country, summer is the growing season and winter is dormant. Here, the cool months are the comfortable growing season for a lot of annuals, and the summer is the punishing one.

Petunias and pansies that are a spring plant elsewhere are a winter plant here. Planted in May they are dead by July.

What handles Florida summer

Heat, humidity and afternoon downpours are the test. Plants that succeed through it tend to share the same traits — heat tolerance, disease resistance in humidity, and tolerance of being soaked repeatedly.

• Vinca, which is close to indestructible in summer heat as long as it drains.
• Coleus for foliage colour in shade and part sun.
• Caladium, which is a Florida staple for shaded beds through the hot months.
• Salvia and pentas, both of which bring pollinators.
• Ornamental peppers and portulaca in full sun.

What handles the cool months

Once the heat breaks, the range widens considerably.

• Petunias, which flower prolifically through a Central Florida winter.
• Snapdragons and dianthus.
• Pansies and violas in the coolest part of the year.
• Alyssum as an edging plant.
• Ornamental cabbage and kale for texture.

Making a rotation work

1. Two changes a year is the practical rhythm for most properties — one going into the hot season and one coming out of it.
2. Prepare the bed properly between rotations. Remove spent material completely, refresh the soil, and check drainage. Beds that hold water kill annuals faster than heat does.
3. Right plant for the light. The most common failure after timing is a sun plant in a shaded bed.
4. Mulch after planting, at the correct depth and off the stems.
5. Water at the root rather than overhead where possible. Wet foliage through a Florida night invites disease.

Where colour is worth the money

At the entrance, at the sign, and anywhere people arrive. A property with excellent colour at the entry and simple maintained beds elsewhere reads better than one with mediocre colour spread thinly everywhere.