Hey all I'm very new to gardening and I just wanted to check with you all and see what will all grow best down here in Tampa, Florida. We like flowers and anything that looks cool and suggestions? Thanks David
I'm afraid your climate is totally different from the Pacific Northwest where I live so I can't help you. I would find a good, independent nursery in your area, even if you have to drive a ways, find some plants you like, get a good nursery salesperson to help you, and be honest and say you are new to gardening and you want easy-to-grow plants, and follow their recommendations. Books are always good too.
What many people do is visit botanical and display gardens to get an idea of what performs well in their local area. I often see people making lists here at UBC. I recommend dropping in to a place like the University of South Florida Botanical Gardens. Advantage with botanical gardens: often(?) better labelling than display gardens, but plants might be harder to locate from nurseries Advantage with display gardens: almost certainly going to have well-performing plants, but may not have labels at all
I suspect there are also books about gardening in Florida, and perhaps garden magazines targeted to southern needs.
Hi David, You might try searching for forums that are about gardening in Florida. Garden web has an interesting and helpful forum about gardening here on the west coast. They also have one on Florida gardening that might well be worth trying. Fellow gardeners are usually very generous with advice. http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/flgard/ I'm envious of some of the things you should be able to grow like Thunbergia grandiflora and the wonderfully fragrant Jasmines. Marilyn
There has been some issues relating to that website. Make sure all you computers security systems are up to date before visiting.
