How to quickly add some color to your garden
We’d all love to have this magnificent display of color in our yard, wouldn’t we? This is a recent photo of the bougainvillea behind our ticket office. We sell a variety of bougainvillea in our Garden Shoppe but if you don’t have the patience to wait for yours to reach the size pictured, consider some of the following flowering plants that will make your yard “pop” for the next few months.
We have bulbine – a South African clumping perennial with orange and yellow flowers that is extremely drought tolerant. Choose from several colors of kalanchoe - a drought-tolerant succulent that may even flower year-round if you’re lucky! Crown of thorns is always a good bet for winter-time color. Mandevilla (formerly Diplandenia) is a woody vine with showy pink flowers that are usually out in the summer but may bloom year-round. We also have plenty of Florida-friendly butterfly plants like plumbago and pentas. Many citrus trees bloom now so if you have room for a small tree, consider one of the many varieties we have for sale.
If you do have a bit of patience, you might also consider queen’s wreath (Petrea volubis) – a spectacular vine with purple flowers. The queen’s wreath covering the pergola between the Edison Home and Guest House is blooming right now. We have a few small individual vines for sale – they were hard to come by so don’t wait hoping to find a larger plant! If you plant one this spring, it should have a few blooms by next winter.
Britta Hanson Soderqvist, Plant Curator
