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Garden Diary - July 27, 2016

I never thought I'd say this, but I cannot wait until everything dies back in the winter. This entire garden has been experimental, to see what grows best where and what needs to come out. Unfortunately, with so little space, I've found that a lot of things are going to need to come out of the outside garden this winter and be moved or given away entirely.

Cannas - The yellow cannas are pretty easy to control. They clump nicely and don't cause any trouble, but the red-leaf ones are another story altogether. They don't clump, they spread, and they are getting way out of control, casting shade of things that don't need shade.  It has to be moved or taken out.

Papaya - I think my papaya is male, because it never blooms. All the blooms just drop off before they even open. Might be the heat, but at any rate, it's not doing what I had hoped, so I don't think I'll be growing papayas next year. I'll probably move it into the courtyard to provide shade and some biomass, but when it dies, it dies.

Brugmansias - What a hassle! These plants have been a nightmare of acting as candy to every pest on earth! Worms, mites, whiteflies, you name it. They love the brugs! I'm probably going to keep one and give the rest away, then move that one to somewhere else and use that bed for edibles. Just waiting for them all to bloom so I can see if I have anything other than pink. If not, I'll give them all away and buy a Charles Grimaldi, which is the one I actually wanted, and put it into a pot somewhere.

Giant native four-o'clock - This thing is HUGE! It gets to be 6 feet tall and that's not what I want. It will either be moved or taken out completely. I don't know if I have any place I can put it where it won't take up too much room and become too invasive. The flowers are pretty, but it's just too big.

Lemon grass - has to go. May plant it as a hedge along the back fence, but it takes up too much room in the outside garden.

Luna hibiscus - what a disappointment! It did nothing this year and only sent out a few spindly blooms. Maybe it will do better once I take the lemon grass out that is shading it. I'm thinking of moving it to the brug bed this winter. It's obviously very unhappy where it is.

Banana - while it's been a good shade plant, it's really too close to the building. One pup came up right against the wall, and it's going to be hard to get out. I'm thinking of moving the whole clump into the corner by the elephant ear to create a nice little shady spot there. 

I'm going to move quite a few things, actually, and reconfigure the entire outside garden, probably adding a few feet on the far end. Smaller plants are being swallowed up by ground covers and larger plants, so they will be put into their own little space where they don't have to compete.  I'd really like to turn the brugmansia bed into an edibles bed. It gets good sun, and the soil isn't bad, with lots of earthworms.

So now I'm just chomping at the bit waiting for winter. What are your winter garden plans?





3 comments :

Cody Z. said...

What is your native 4 o'clock? Native to Florida? All I can find are plants native to the Southwest.

Simply Deb said...

I had a post about it on Florida Gardening somewhere. It's native to the U.S., not Florida in particular, I think. I'll have to see if I can find thet thread. I have seeds if you'd like some. PM me over there.

Simply Deb said...

Hey, I bumped the thread over on Gardenweb.