Lifestyle We are now in our fifth year of southern gardening and, as you can see from the accompanying photos, we have managed to achieve all of our landscaping dreams. We spend many hours sitting in our screen room enjoying our alfresco life surrounded by the colours and scents of tropical vegetation…and just a few feet away, we watch visiting birds through a curtain of ornamental grasses while they enjoy the feeders and birdbath beneath the trickling water rock. The southern gardening life gets no better. Buying plants Try and avoid buying plants from the big box stores. The staff are often non-gardeners (perhaps transferred from a hardware section for the day) and rarely know the horticultural characteristics of their products. We found local nurseries to be a much better source. The owner of our local nursery sets set out his plant stock in areas which allowed me to choose according to growing conditions – shady, full sun, moist, arid, bird- and butterfly-attractors, etc. I loaded my cart with more than $100 of plants on my first visit. At checkout, I was asked if I wanted to join their lifetime garden club for $2. I asked about the membership benefits and found that I would receive 10 per cent off this and all future purchases – of course, it was a “no brainer.” The snowbird gardener’s challenge How can a snowbird grow and maintain a lovely southern garden when he or she is only here for six months? The answers to this seemingly impossible situation can be found in Snowbird Gardening, a book by a keen northern gardener – Chase Landre – who moved fromPennsylvania many years ago. His book is a must-have for long-termwinter visitors and deals with all of the practical issues which we face, including how to plant a “no-maintenance” garden which manages itself while you are away. And, if you love colourful southern plants (perhaps in containers at your oceanside condo), his new e-book, Lazy Gardener’s Guide to South Florida is a must. How to get free advice Florida abounds with avid gardeners. For 15 years, our downtown park in Lakeland has hosted a huge March gardening event at which people mingle, buy plants and exchange gardening information. Many other communities host these as well. This is where I found out about the free expert advice provided by the University of Florida. With more than 60 office locations around the state, many are staffed by volunteer, qualified master gardeners who are there to answer questions and provide free help. This is a great place to take plant samples and problems when things are not working as they should. Some UF locations have “test” gardens, where you can wander around and visit sections according to specific plant-growing conditions. See which plants are shade-tolerant, enjoy strong sun, can tolerate drought and which attract birds and colourful butterflies. March gardening event in a downtown park. Master gardeners provide free advice. 36 | www.snowbirds.org
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