Open Greenhouse & Plant Swap, Saturday, June 7, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., 602 Ronele Drive, Brandon, FL 33511
IMPORTANT: This will be our last Open Greenhouse until September. The first weekend in July is the Fourth, and August is just too hot for most people to garden in so we’ll plan a spectacular re-opening when it starts to cool down a little bit. We’re also expecting a couple more vendors selling plants, mainly food, including Indian vegetables that you wouldn’t expect to find anywhere else.
If you’ve never been to Open Greenhouse, it’s a great way to see what’s happening in my Florida-friendly yarden and meet other gardeners. The plant swaps are great fun – you never know who is going to bring what. (They’re not a tit-for-tat swap so you don’t need to bring anything if you don’t have plants you can share.)
One of my favorite wildflowers –this morning anyway – is the amazing rain lily. These aren’t the native variety, but they pop up in all kinds of places and then snap into bloom with just a little bit of rain. They’re really show-stoppers when planted in a group — these just came up outside a barn where they get no water or love, but look at those gorgeous blooms!
If you’re planning for a long, hot, dry summer, you’ll definitely want some dune sunflower – this native groundcover laughs at dry heat and keeps on blooming. We have some seeds and lots of cuttings that are easy to root — ask for directions if you’re never done it before. (I bought five plants last spring and they’ve pretty much covered a 10 by 25 spot that gets full sun and isn’t easy to water.)
Another plant that laughs at the heat – Everglade tomatoes! Our slicer tomatoes are pretty much cooked, but these guys will set fruit all summer long if they get a little bit of water.
And if I’ve made you hungry for stuff you can grow in your yard, check out the ever-bearing mulberries. We had a bumper crop earlier this year and they’re covered in blooms now. We won’t have fruit to share but they’re super-easy from cuttings and much beloved by kids, birds, and anybody with a sweet tooth.
We’ll have sweet potatoes to share too, including some of Josh Jamison’s favorite variety and a spectacular purple plant with very attractive foliage. While you won’t be able to harvest the roots until later, the leaves themselves are an easy-to-grow protein that thrives in heat and humidity. (They also make an amazing groundcover in raised beds that you want to protect from weeds this summer. You can harvest the sweet potatoes right about the time you’re ready to get a fall crop in the ground.)
We obviously don’t specialize in native plants, but we grow as many as we can to support native bees and other pollinators.
Native Red Salvia, another plant that keeps blooming through hot dry summers. It spreads easily by seed and is a favorite of bees and many butterflies.
Firebush is a larger plant but it’s my all-around favorite because so many critters use it. You’ll almost always see zebra longwing and sulfur butterflies, plus giant bumblebees and hummingbirds all winter. We have about a half-dozen you-dig plants that birds shared with us in spots we don’t want them.
Wild coffee is another Florida native that is spectacular in a shady location.
Simpson stopper seems to be happy in either sun or shade.
Elderberry is best in a larger yard, but it’s super-easy to grow. Bees and butterflies love its flowers — and birds love the fruit if you don’t pick it fast enough.
Native porterweed is a charming groundcover that does well in sun or shade, although you’ll get more blooms in the sun.
And, of course, we’ll have lots of neem and Ayurvedic herbs to sell, including some spectacular betel, tulsi, ashwagahnda and rooted cuttings of Rangoon creeper.