Beginner Gardening: Up date Florida Yard, 1 by purpleinopp

purpleinopp wrote:
True, knowing the zone would help with getting/giving the most appropriate suggestions. There's a monumental difference between z8 & z10.

DoGooder, those are observations I've had since moving near the FL border from a 'golf course' community in OH, (also 5b incidentally,) where (lovely but VERY different) grass definitely did need to be mowed weekly. Many summers here, the sun bakes most of our lawn to a crisp, so mowing can be minimal. The grass is dormant now, but there are still green plants here'n'there in it. Not that I don't find plants I don't want growing in the mowed areas (and pull them out,) but if it's soft and green, it's probably welcome to cohabitate with the grass.

Lawn care is very different in almost every way in the south than up north, though I've never used chemicals for lawns or garden beds in either place. The lawn posted above looks the same as mine today, with dormant grass and other plants that are still green for winter. I've never heard of painting grass but would definitely not recommend it (but that was probably a joke - so LOL!)

I wasn't recommending more lawn or more bed, just to keep the amount of border maintenance as minimal as possible. It does make more work when I make a new bed that needs to be navigated around when mowing, then edged/trimmed often enough to keep the grass out. Where there are no borders between mowed areas vs. not, no time is spent trimming/edging at all, and the expense of obtaining a trimmer and maintaining it would be unnecessary. Where there is no grass, a mower is not necessary.

Some virtually maintenance-free full sun lovers to consider even where there is frost, Gardenia, Rosemary, Osmanthus fragrans (fragrant olive,) Azalea, Camellia. I don't do much with smaller plants for full sun since they tend to dry out too quickly. I figured a bachelor (possibly an incorrect assumption?) would have plant watering so far down the priority list it would probably never happen.

Persian shield (Strobilanthes dyerianus) planted in full sun (in the middle of a mowed area especially) would be way too thirsty, and not its' best, pretty purple color, though I did put them in a lot more sun in OH. (It likes to be in the shade with sweet potato vine, pic below. I have these pretty purple things all around the yard.) It is very sensitive to frost, though has been a trooper about growing back from the roots like an herbaceous perennial. Since one escaped being frosted last winter in a sheltered corner, it bloomed. If there's a spot on the east or north side of the house for this, I'd recommend it.