An easy plant must be able to
survive the challenging conditions of the Coastal South with minimal
care. Few people have enough spare time to keep marginally
hardy plants alive. For newcomers to the area, this is how our year plays out:
Summer beings in May, when temperatures soar into the ninties.
By the middle of June, temperatures near one hundred are common,
with little rain to cool things down. Starting in late June,
afternoon thunderstorms occur several times per week, cooling things
down a bit.
After an afternoon or night shower, foliage remains damp all
night, perfect for fungal disease. Blackspot will defoliate
any unresistant roses by the end of July. Meanwhile,
hurricanes and tropical storms occur, one after another,
from August to November. Sometimes they crank up in July,
or
even June. A tropical storm might bring continuous rain for
several days in a row.
Temperatures remain stifling until
about mid-September. Even avid gardeners might venture outside
only in early morning. Mosquitos multiply and lie in
wait outside your door.
In North Florida, the rain comes to a halt toward the end of September
or early October, when drought sets in for a month or so. Days
are warm and
nights are cool. This pleasant interlude usually comes to an
end sometime between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, when we get our
first
freeze. Plants that were lush and green one day might be brown or
black the next morning. They'll start to reappear in less than
three months, in late winter. Deciduous trees (trees that lose
their leaves in fall or winter) go bare, and shady areas get sun for a
few months.
Winters can be rainy, with warm days followed by nights that might dip
down into the twenties or occasionally the high teens, sometimes even
lower. Garden centers sell out of frost blankets. This spells doom for tropical plants grown the easy
way: outside and without blankets. If you fail to prepare for
even one hard freeze, the tropicals are lost. On the other
hand, many subtropicals (certain citrus, for example) tolerate
temperature into the twenties or even the teens.
By late
February, it might seem that spring has
already arrived, yet the average last date for frost is toward the end
of March, and we have experienced freezes in early April. On the
other hand, many desirable plants will not bloom or set fruit without a
certain number of chilling hours (hours below 40 degrees fahrenheit).
Early
spring is usually rainy, but sometime in mid to late
April, a drought usually set in that lasts anywhere from a month to two
months or longer. Plants native to drier climates will
thrive here, until some time in June. Other plants might need
regular watering, especially when root systems are getting established.
A watering ban can erase all of your hard work. In late
spring, high temperatures climb to the nineties. Then the summer
rains begin again. The thyme that looked so vigorous in May
might rot in summer
Plant hardiness is rated in zone ranges. Zones are divided
into halves, 'a' (cooler) and 'b' (warmer). For example, zone 4a-8b means that the
coldest zone for the plant is zone 4a and the warmest zone is zone 8b.
Most of the Coastal South lies in zones 8a - 9b.
A
separate zone map has been introduced for heat, though it is seldom
used and you will not find it on many plant labels. Most of North
Florida is in heath zone 9. This classification will prove useful
when more horticulturalists adopt it., for the summer heat kills more
plants here than does cold.
Although North Florida is Zone 8B, plants rated to Zone 9a in cold
hardiness (first number) will survive most winters, often dying to the
ground in late fall or winter and returning from the roots in spring.
On the other hand, plants rated only to Zone 8 (a and b
half-zones not specified) might be only marginally tolerant of our
intense summer heat and fail the "easy" test.
Adjustments have to be made. Plants that thrive in drier climates such
as those of San Antonio or Southern California might rot here during periods of heavy,
continuous rainfall. Raised beds will help in such a
situation. If a plant is rated for "full sun" in a book aimed
at more northern readers, morning sun and afternoon shade will often work better in the Coastal
South. Resistance to fungal diseases is a plus.
All
climatic zones have their limitations. Despite my warnings, a
host of plants thrive here in the
Coastal South with little or no care. If
you are new to gardening, low in energy, or have little spare time, the
plants featured on this website should prove easy to grow. More
will be added to this website each year.