A visit to our local nurseries will leave gardeners drooling or broke. From purple tomatoes to lime green shrubs, there are so many plants to choose from. To save you money and prevent potential plant deaths, I would like to share some research based advise.
Tip #1: Select plants that are suited to your site conditions. How much sun or shade do you have? Is your soil sandy? Do your plants dry out quickly or do you have some clay which holds moisture in the soil?
Tip #2: Determine if you want to grow fruit or vegetable crops. Both require a minimum of six hours of direct sun to thrive and produce a crop. Avoid planting trees in the area.
Tip #3: Do you prefer evergreen plants where they keep their leaves all year or do you have areas where it is ok to plant deciduous plants which lose their leaves in winter? Deciduous plants will leave a void or look like a bunch of dead-looking sticks poking out of the ground.
Tip #4: Beware of plants that are toxic to children, dogs, cats, or horses. The seeds of coontie and sago palms are toxic and can kill a puppy. Beware of lantana, oleander, angel's trumpet, milkweed and peace lily as they can cause diverse problems. For more information on plants toxic to animals, follow this link https://sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/agriculture/toxic-plants/.
Tip #5: Understand the different cultivars (cultivated variety) of plants. This is critical when selecting fruit crops, vegetable and landscape plants. Cultivars have been developed to tolerate different temperatures, insects, or disease or that grow to different heights.
For example, blueberry bushes need to be cross pollinated. If you end up purchasing an early variety and a late variety, they may not release pollen at the same time and you will have very poor fruit set. Different varieties of apple, peach, plum and nectarine trees require a specific range of chill hours to produce fruit. If you select a variety that has a high number of chill hours and we have a warm winter, then you will have poor fruit set. If you end up with a tree with low chill hours, then they bloom early and will be affected by freezing temperatures, again resulting in poor fruit set.
In vegetable gardening, cultivars help determine resistance to nematodes, viruses, or fungal diseases. You can also tell if your tomato is going to produce fruits all at once (determinate-good for canning) or if the fruit will ripen every few days (indeterminate- good for sandwiches and salads). Knowing the variety will also help you determine what size the fruit may be.
Cultivars are important to know when selecting landscape plants. Many times, cultivars will help determine the size, form, color of a plant. If you want a slow growing low maintenance, compact shrub, then you could get ilex vomitoria 'schillings' that grows to about four feet. If you don't get the cultivar 'schillings', then you can end up with a plant that grows 12 feet-15 feet tall. The same holds true for crape myrtles. Some cultivars only grow to 12 feet tall, while others can grow to 30 feet tall. Some crape myrtle cultivars have branches that are stiff and upright, while others tend to have drooping branches. Some crape myrtles are more resistant to powdery mildew (fungal disease) than others. More information about Crape Myrtle https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/topic_crapemyrtle. UF is an equal opportunity institution.
Matching your plants to your site conditions and functional needs can help save you money, time and back breaking labor. For help with gardening or landscaping, contact me at csaft318@ufl.edu.