NORTH FLORIDA MONTH-TO-MONTH GARDENING GUIDE   August 2006 by Nancy George

Gardeners are becoming increasingly more adventurous while using quite ordinary plants.  The lure of ornamental grass is strong, and considered to be highly architectural.  Like threads in embroidery, their leaves produce a living texture.  Their rounded outlines form a gentle silhouette that allows the eye to flow over until the gentlest breeze sends a whisper of refreshing sight to the spirit.  Ornamental grasses offer a pallet of colors that range from yellow and cream to gray, blue, and brown and of course all the shades of green.

Foliage can be equally diverse with variegated patterns of horizontal or vertical stripes.  Feathery plumes or seed heads catch the morning and evening light, which adds a warm beauty.  Plant them as a specimen to provide a striking contrast or create a focal point.  Many grasses can be used as an accent or backdrop for other plants, while planting in mass creates an evocative space with repetition and rhythm.  Punch up the drama with evergreen conifers or structural plants like yucca, cordyline or aloe.

What to Buy/ Plant

Explore grasses which may appeal to you such as Mexican feather, heavy metal switch grass, fountain, purple love, variegated ribbon, zebra, muhly, miscanthus (known as maiden grass), carex (also called sedge).  Other plants that can create the same effect are flax, bamboo, rushes and reeds, dianella, iris and lilly .

Prune/ Propagate

Grasses usually do not require pruning during the growing season, but certain varieties will benefit from an occasional crew cut to promote new growth especially in early spring.  Others will only require the removal of old flower stalks.  As we find ourselves at the end of the growing season keep plants looking trim and tidy, cut water sprouts and suckers from trees, remember to use sterilized tools.  Give roses a midsummer pruning.  Take semi hardwood cuttings of shrubs whose stems are starting to get woody.

Fertilizing

In keeping with the increasing overall awareness of environmental issues, we must make choices in fertilizing practices that limit fertilizer misuse.  Not all fertilizers are alike when it comes to environmental impact.  So I’d like to suggest some alternatives.  Look for organics containing a 100% mineral base, with no fillers, and ingredients like fish bone or blood meal, kelp, and earthworm castings.  Use low number ratios such as a 3-9-6, or make your own nutrient-rich soil supplements by composting.  An inch of compost added to your garden each year is often all you need to maintain healthy soil.  Compost components consist of food wastes you would otherwise throw in the trash.  Nutrient rich household items include coffee grounds (which provide nitrogen), and eggshells (which provide calcium). Remember to omit meats and fats.  Most importantly, don’t wait until plants are in need; keep plants green with slow-release organic fertilizers that nourish as they decomposes.   If your plants do lack good green leaf color, give them a quick boost of a liquid organic fertilizer.

Edibles

Plan your fall garden, start seeds in peat pots for transplanting later.  Continue harvesting tomatoes, peppers and eggplant.

Pests

Continue to control weeds by cultivating and mulching.  Use biological controls as much as possible.  Insecticidal soaps or horticultural oils applied only where the pests are located.  Check roses for pests and disease and check sago palms for scale.  Look for large numbers of moths and chewed grass blades which are signs of sod webworms in lawns.  Look for powdery mildew on dogwoods; spray with a fungicide.

For Fun

Plant an evening garden to enjoy at the end of the day.  Night blooming flowers will bring beauty and a sweet scent through open windows this fall.  Check out your local nursery for Night blooming jasmine, Cestrum nocturnum, sweet pepper bush, Clethra and Virginia sweetspire (known as Itea).  Look for seeds of Moonflower ipomoea alba and Nicotiana alata.  Plant in beds or containers in locations where they’ll be most enjoyed.

Photo Gallery

Bear Grass Yucca	Cordyline and Carex	Pampass	Paspalum Crown Grass

Century Plant		Ribbon Grass (phalaris)		Miscanthus
Bamboo		Miscanthus Adagio		Leymus Blue Dune

This article originally published on July 29, 2006.

Written by :

mkwestmark

 

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