are you thinking about dwarfs?

Table of Contents:

Are You Thinking About

Dwarfs?

Minimal Maintenance

Landscapes

Growing Tomatoes in

Containers

Timely Gardening Tips for

Marion County

Upcoming Events

Published by Norma Samuel

UF/IFAS Extension Marion County

Horticulture Agent

MARION COUNTY GOVERNMNT

April 2016

Timely Gardening Tips

for MARION COUNTY by Josephine Leyte-Vidal, UF/IFAS

Extension Marion County Master Gardener

The signs of spring are

popping up everywhere.

The trees have new, bright

green leaves, the azaleas

are blooming, the robins

have cleaned out the

berries, and the warm

weather weeds are

sprouting. This is ideal

weather to do our garden

cleanup and pruning.

Pinch back existing annuals

to promote re-bloom and

plant tender annuals such as

celosia, impatiens, and

marigolds. New plants

need daily watering for the

first 10 days to make sure

they develop new feeder

roots so they can take care

of themselves. However,

too much water could

Are You Thinking About Dwarfs? by Jack LeCroy, Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ Agent

Are you feeling a little flushed? If so, you could have spring

fever! There are only a handful of remedies for spring fever but

the main antidote is getting outside and putting some plants in

the ground. If you have the same mentality as I do this year, I

would say to put the brakes on for just a second. We need to

know what we are planting before we go out and spend a lot of

money on plants only to have them struggle and die a few

months later.

As we see the redbuds blooming on the sides of the road and

the beautiful mounds of azaleas starting to show off, it is very

hard to fight the urge to go to the garden center nearest you,

unprepared, and buy whatever is in bloom. Along with the

numerous factors that we need to consider when selecting

plants, going dwarf is one thing to keep in mind.

No, I am not talking about a Disney movie.

Dwarf plants are selections of plants that are

shorter, more compact kin of their parent

plants. For example, a “Little Gem” Magnolia

(magnolia grandiflora ‘Little Gem’) can be half

the size of the straight species magnolia

grandiflora. If you have a plant in mind, it is

important to check to see if that plant has a

dwarf variety.

Depending on the plant, this could mean less work for you while pruning, and it could

also mean less damage to your home. Many times I have seen where the mature size

of a plant was not taken into consideration and damage to the home developed as a

result. During this spring season don’t let your fever take complete control over you

and make sure you spend a little time researching dwarf cultivars that might be

available in your area. Happy planting!

Little John Dwarf Bottle Brush hort.uga.edu

Minimal Maintenance Landscapes by Anne Lambrecht, Master Gardener

cause fungal growth or lack

of oxygen in the soil. Your

new plants could die from

too much love.

Along with plant growth

come six-legged and eight-

legged pests. Usually the

first ones to appear on new

growth are aphids, spider

mites, and scale. Inspect

both sides of the leaves for

these visitors. Spray with a

mixture of Neem oil and

insecticidal soap. The soap

washes the leaf and spreads

the oil which smothers the

bugs. Only spray the plants

that show infestation.

Be on the lookout for lubber

grasshoppers. When they

are young, they are black

with yellow or red stripes.

They appear by the

hundreds. Hand-pick and

crush or drown them in a

bucket of water with

insecticidal soap. Lubbers

are voracious feeders so do

this as soon as you see one.

Lubber grasshoppers are not

easy to kill, even with

insecticides, once they

become large.

Timely Gardening Tips for

MARION COUNTY by Josephine Leyte-Vidal, UF/IFAS

Extension Marion County Master Gardener (continued from page 1)

I recently met with a friend who had

just moved to Central Florida. She

asked for some advice on a

maintenance-free garden WITH

ROCKS. Yikes! Maintenance free?

Gulp: Rocks? Then I started to think

about it. And because she’s my friend,

I decided I would try to bend my own

stiff-necked rules and try to work

outside my organic rock-free box. It’s true: most people want maintenance

free. After all, only crazy people like me look for opportunities to slave in

the jungle all day. And by now you all know that nothing is “maintenance

free” except for Astro turf and plastic, right? But we want our yards to look

nice even when we are often away from home, like my friend.

Definitely there are key plants that should be in every low maintenance

landscape and there are so many to choose from! You want color, texture,

shape, natives. You need to know the sun exposure in your garden, the

plant’s bloom time, growth habit and sun and water requirements. Do they

go to sleep in the winter, changing the landscape? How do they fare in our

Central Florida soil as long as they have moderate water and the soil drains

well? Planted properly, they should be also be relatively pest free.

Every landscape should have a tree, a holly, a grass, a palm, shrubs,

flowering bulbs, something that looks “tropical”, a ground cover, succulent

and/or cactus and annuals for fillers. You’ll want to use natives. You want

texture year round with a combination of contrasting form and foliage. You

want your yard to provide perching, nesting and feeding sites for birds (they

cut down on the insects).

Adding hardscape including pathways to lead the eye, fountain, large

planters, statues, is always a nice addition.

Remember the rules: RIGHT PLANT IN THE RIGHT PLACE and remember that

not all plants listed are for full sun! Some enjoy the shade. No shade you

say? The eastern side of house is a good substitute for shade.

Source: shutterstock.com

UPCOMING

LECTURES/EVENTS: Educational seminars and events

are presented by UF/IFAS

Extension Agents and/or

Master Gardeners.

Unless otherwise indicated, to

pre-register, please call

352-671-8400 or e-mail [email protected].

April

Freedom Library Caring For Your Florida Lawn

April 1 2016

Noon—1 p.m.

Freedom Public Library

5870 SW 95th St, Ocala

Dunnellon Satellite

Plant Clinic March 5, 2016

10:00 a.m.—1:00 p.m.

Dunnellon Public Library

20351 Robinson Rd, Dunnellon

Master the

Possibilities Series Pruning Trees and Shrubs

April 8, 2016

10:00—11:30 a.m.

On Top of the World


Dunnellon Library Container Gardening

April 19, 2016

2:00—3:00 p.m.



Trees are a big item in the garden so choose and plant them carefully.

Good low maintenance trees for the landscape are bald cypress,

bottlebrush, crape myrtle, fig, Italian cypress, podocarpus (yew), chaste

tree, loquat, magnolia, oak, pine, red maple, persimmon, fringe tree,

redbud, buckeye, or river birch.

Ornamental grasses bring the Florida

landscape to life. Try dwarf Fakahatchee Grass,

pampas grass, purple fountain grass, Muhly

grass, river oats, and ribbon grass.

Palms—Sabal or cabbage palm is the state tree

of Florida (and of South Carolina). Actually,

palms are not trees at all but ancient grasses.

Palms are usually the first thing people plant when they come to Florida.

But do your homework: not all palms were created equal! Best for

beginners: fan palms, jelly palm, needle palm, saw palmetto and of course

the Sabal. Also Coonie and Sago Palms are cycads and not palms but they

do well here, too. And remember that palms need special food.

Shrubs—angel’s trumpet, abutilon or flowering maple, cigar plant,

clerodendrum (pagoda plant, blue glory bower), hibiscus, tibouchina or

princess flower, hollies, ligustrums, fire bush, camellia, azalea, abelia,

beautyberry, Indian hawthorn, pittosporum, plumbago, roses, Simpson’s

stopper, Turk’s cap, tea olive, Yesterday-Today-and Tomorrow, golden

dewdrop, thryallis, and pineapple guava.

Flowering bulbs—and bulb-like

perennials that “come and go” with

the seasons are sometimes overlooked

by new gardeners or planted as

afterthoughts. But they can be easily

worked into your landscapes to add or

prolong color and provide foliage in off

seasons. Good examples of bulbs for

beginners: agapanthus (lily of the Nile), amaryllis, blue flag iris, caladium,

canna, crinum lily, day lily, ginger, and rain lilies.

Minimal Maintenance Landscapes by Anne Lambrecht , Master Gardener

(continued from Page 2)

Agapanthus (Lily of the Nile) ifas.ufl.edu

Purple Fountain Grass ifas.ufl.edu

UPCOMING

LECTURES/EVENTS:

May

Freedom Library Pests in the Home Landscape May 6 2016

Noon—1 p.m.

Freedom Public Library


Dunnellon Satellite

Plant Clinic May 3, 2016

10:00 a.m.—1:00 p.m.



Master the

Possibilities Series Annuals and Perennials

May 13, 2016

10:00—11:30 a.m.

On Top of the World


Dunnellon Library Attracting Wildlife

May 17, 2016

2:00—3:00 p.m.



Minimal Maintenance Landscapes by Anne Lambrecht, Master Gardener

(continued from Page 3)

Tropicals for north central Florida (remember that many are not cold

hearty and need protection in winter so containers might be the way to go

with these): banana, bromeliads, croton, orchids, some ferns, dracaena,

schefflera, cordylines, peace lily, philodendrons, and shrimp plant.

Cacti and succulents include aloe and century plants, crown of thorns,

jade plant, kalanchoe, snake plant, night-blooming cereus.

Groundcover, besides your lawn, are useful in

densely shaded areas, to cover dry or sandy

spots, to hide surface tree roots, to fill in

difficult to mow areas between shrubs, trees

and paved areas, as a cascading element in

large container plantings, to absorb rainfall

runoff from buildings and paved areas. Some

good examples: Asiatic jasmine, liriope,

junipers, ferns, mondo grass, perennial peanut, peacock ginger, oyster

plant, sedum, and sunshine mimosa.

Flowering perennials that need little to

no maintenance include coreopsis (the

state wildflower), gaura (whirling

butterflies), blanket flower, Mexican

heather, salvias, purple coneflower,

Rudbeckia (or black-eyed Susan), and

Stokes’ Aster.

Annuals are used for fast color or

screening as container plants and

hanging baskets, for vegetables or herbs, and in long-blooming masses or

specimen plants. They provide all-season color bridges. Good examples of

easy annuals are celosia, coleus, dusty miller, globe amaranth, marigold,

moss rose, ornamental sweet potato, pentas, pansy, periwinkle and zinnia.

You’re on your own with the choice of rocks.

Purple Coneflower and Rudbeckia ifas.ufl.edu

Perennial peanut polkfyn.prg

Growing Tomatoes in Containers by Rebecca McFayden, Master Gardener Intern

I love growing tomatoes. My Dad and Granddad grew big, juicy, red, beefsteak tomatoes all summer long when I was a kid growing up in Ohio. I was appalled the first time I brought home tomatoes purchased from the grocery. This fruit was nothing like those beefsteak tomatoes Dad grew. “I’ll just grow my own,” I decided. Since I was living in an apartment, container gardening was the only way to go. But you know, I grew very nice tomatoes that year. Not beefsteaks, but still good. That was in Virginia. In 1985, I moved to Ocala, Florida. Love the place and consider it home. Of course, I’ve been trying to grow container tomatoes here. Have I been successful? No way!

As a Master Gardener intern, I decided to ask the experts how to grow tomatoes in pots in Marion County. Ron Wells, who is renown within the Master Gardener program for his skill in growing vegetables in containers, told me that he has never been successful growing tomatoes. I was feeling pretty hopeless about the situation until I meet Lesroy Samuel after he lectured our class on lawn care. Mr. Samuel has his B.S. in Agribusiness and M.S. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Georgia. Mr. Samuel grows many types of tomatoes in containers saying it’s the only way to grow tomatoes in Ocala. Here are his tips for success:

● Plant your seedlings around mid-February in the spring, and before September 28th in the fall.

● Use the right plants. Look for plants with letters after their names that indicate they have immunity to at least some plant diseases. Also, look at their growing times. Will they mature and bear fruit within the growing time you have (i.e. before temperatures become too hot for the fruit to set or too cold for the plant to grow).

● Use the right growing media. He recommended commercial potting soil that already contains fertilizer. Add the recommended amount of tomato plant fertilizer to the potting mix at the time you plant the tomato in the container. Fertilize again when the first true leaves appear on the plant. Do not fertilize again.

● Set the pots on black plastic to help prevent soil-borne diseases.

● Do not overwater. Tomatoes don’t like being in wet soil.

● Locate pots where they will receive six hours of direct sun each day.

After considering these suggestions, I think I have found my problem. My instincts are all wrong. I start thinking of planting tomatoes in late April or early May. By the time I take action, Ocala gardeners in the know are way ahead of me and are already gathering their crop.

Now that I’ve identified my problem, I feel hopeful that things will be different next year. I can already envision beautiful pots of tomatoes, sitting on black plastic in the sunshine. Come next year, I will be one of the Ocala tomato gardeners in the know!

For those of you born in April—your birth flower is the Daisy. The Daisy symbolizes innocence, youth, and purity. Many people give the Daisy to wish good fortune, happiness, and pleasure. It is also a flower given between friends to keep a secret; the daisy means “I’ll never tell.” There are five common types of daisies, with the Gerbera Daisy

being the most popular.

Items below are

available for purchase at

the UF/IFAS Extension Marion County. We also

have many other items

available in our Shop Extension store. The

store is open Mon-Fri

from 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

Please come to see these

environmentally-friendly

products, as well as many

other agricultural-related

items.

Foundation for the Gator Nation

An Equal Opportunity Institution

Florida-Friendly Landscaping™

Book of the Month Sale

Each month, we will be offering

one of the books available in the

Extension Bookstore at a

substantial discount

(sorry, walk-ins only).

April’s offering is

Guide to Florida

Fruit and Vegetable Gardening

By Robert Bowden

Regularly $19.95

on sale for $12.00 + tax

40% off until the end of April)

are you thinking about dwarfs?

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