My Florida Cottage Garden

Salvia Dancing Dolls

Just love those salvias! So does the butterflies! And although I try to grow as many native flowers as possible, salvias are just iresistable to me, the butterflies and the humingbirds, so salvias are slowly taken over my butterfly garden.


I think salvias are very underutilized in the landscape. With so many to choose from and with all their different colors and sizes everyone should be able to find one or two that would fit somewhere in the garden, but I will warn you, salvias could become addictive. Finding salvias takes a little bit of work, since they are not usually readily available at least in my area of North Central Florida. There are many sources on line, but I have not tried any of them. Salvia coccinea also called Texas sage or blood sage is relatively easy to find in small and or/native nurseries. You can also order from Jefferson’s center for historic plants ( http://www.monticello.org/site/house-and-gardens/in-bloom/texas-sage) Also watch for local plant sales in community events, churches or Master Gardener events. And if you live in my area, I would be happy to share with you. One of the good things about salvias is that they are usually perennials and will readily reseed.  Salvias are also very easy to root from cuttings so once you establish a few, the rest is history! Salvias are disease and pest free and although a hard freeze will kill most of them, they will come back.
Whether you call them salvias or sage, remember that all salvias are sages and all sages are salvias. Usually the name salvia refers to the ornamental plants and sage to the cooking type, but it is all the same. Salvias come from the Mediterranean areas of Europe, where for centuries were used as medicinal plants for an array of different ailments. Pliny the elder, a Roman historian and naturalist (23-79AD) gave this genus its name, “salvia” from the Latin salvare “to be saved” it was also referred to as “herba sacra” or sacred weed. Salvias belong to the family lamiaceae or mint family with over 800 hundred different cultivars.
Accoding to Wikipedia, “ The genus is distributed throughout the Old World and the Americas, with three distinct regions of diversity: Central and South America (approx. 500 species); Central Asia and Mediterranean (250 species); Eastern Asia (90 species)
All the pictures were taken in my garden, a few salvias, some others, but all loved by the butterflies and hummingbirds.

Salvia Wendy's Wish

Salvia Coccinea

A Native "Blue Curl" (not a salvia)

Gallardia

Morning Glory

Tecoma Stans "Esperanza" or Yellow Bells

Frillitary on a Agastache Blue Fortune

Salvia Indigo Spire

White and Red S Coccinea

June in the Garden

The Garden is looking good, however we haven't had any rain in a long time, so it's a challenge to keep up plants looking good.  The peppers are doing great, most of them volunteers from last year. I'm also trying a few different types, can't wait to try them!

Picking Time!!

It seems that just a few days ago- I began to write this blog, actually it was December 2, the trees were looking great and the crews were picking the oranges, this was a good thing since just a couple of weeks later we would be hit with some of the coldest temperatures on record in my area of North Central Florida. This is April and winter seems like far away, everything looks good and most everybody have recuperated from the hard winter days. There were many loses, but for the most part, Florida farmers have survived. A series of strong fronts crossing the area of North and Central Florida made the past winter one of the coldest ever. According to the weather service, Deland and Fort Pierce experienced the coldest season on record. Hard freezes threatened all of the agricultural crops in Florida. Of these, the citrus farmers faced another year of high fuel prices and the possibility of losing not only the year's crop, but the precious trees as well. Oranges are Florida’s most important agricultural crop, and it is the number one producer of orange juice in the United States and the second in the world. Florida together with Brazil which is the number one producer of citrus in the world dominate about 85 percent of the world's market. Brazil exports almost its entire production of orange juice, approximately 99%. In Florida, 90% of the fruit produced is consumed in the United States.

Growing Peppers

Had a bumper crop of peppers last year, also an early freeze in December, but it was fun growing them. For those of you that have asked me, peppers are easy to grow. I grow most of my peppers in containers. Containers offer portability, creativity and can be used where space is limited. The only drawback is that they need to be watered frequently. I try to keep a large shallow dish or container under the pots to make sure that they don’t dry out. Good drainage is the most important issue to consider. Always use good potting soil amended with compost and vermiculite. Do not use soil that you have digged from the garden; they could contain any number of undesirable insects. Any type of pot is good, just make sure that they have not been used for the storage of toxic materials. Always remember the most important factors that are essential for good plant development: Light, nutrition, water, soil and temperature. If you observe these simple requirements, you will be rewarded with a bountiful harvest! In North Central Florida this is a good time to get started, however it is a little late for seeds. Last year I was running late and not able to start my seeds early enough. I bought my plants from Cross Country Nurseries; their plants were healthy and arrived in excellent condition. I’m using them again this year, because lately running out of time has become the story of my life!  Scroll down for more pictures of chile plants

  Their website is:

 http://www.chileplants.com/

Holidays! Anthony! Fluffy!...... and the groves!!