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Even without the delicious fruit, this is a beautiful landscape tree. The canopy is rounded and the branches cascade gracefully downward, sweeping the ground if allowed. Leaves are long, dark green, and shiny. I have pruned mine to create a clear space under the tree, so that I can set out my motion detector sprinkler to guard the fruit when it is ripening. Each year I battle the birds and squirrels for the fruit, and they usually win, but the "smart sprinkler" does at least scare them off enough that I get some of the fruit. Although this area of Florida was a commercial lychee growing location, and there are still many large and beautiful trees in yards around Sarasota, we are on the northern end of the dependable fruiting zone. If we get a few cold nights in March/April when the blooms are on the tree, it sets very few fruits, if any. It also naturally seems to alternate years of heavy fruiting and lighter fruit set. I'd certainly recommend this tree for a lovely landscape feature, but would advise you not to set your heart on reaping a large crop of fruit every year.

This pretty brom is very vigorous and prolific. It formed a large clump in my garden in less than a year. Whenever I get around to dividing it, it puts on blooms as a thank you. Very happy growing in the leaf litter in shifting shade under my big Live Oak trees. I gave some starts to my neighbor, and it worried me that he planted them where they get morning sun. To my pleasure and dismay, his put on a spectacular show of blooms in March last year, as soon as the weather started to warm up. With the sun, and a spell of dry weather the blooms only lasted a couple of days, though.

This passionvine has the largest and most fragrant flowers of any Passiflora I've seen. Its leaves are also different from most other passifloras -- a large oval shape, not lobed. A good feature of this particular cultivar is that it doesn't seem to be a host plant for the Gulf Frittillary butterfly, so the leaves remain intact and are very handsome even when the vine is not in flower.

I grew it out of curiosity, as it is said to produce yellow passion fruits the size of footballs! I'm now into my 4th year growing this, and many flowers have come and gone, but no fruit has set. It seems we simply don't have the right pollinator for it here. It blooms randomly, about every second month, and this year, in a particularly mild winter, we had flowers in February, which was surprising. I was also finding shredded flowers on the ground under the vine, so some squirrel or bird seems to have developed a taste for them.

One of the very best landscape shrubs for warm, humid climates. It has an elegant, graceful sprawling habit but can be led up a support or fence to act as a screen. Takes very well to pruning, and easily kept to the right size and shape for any space. Once established it is carefree and drought tolerant, and the only pest I've ever had on mine were the Sri Lanka weevils, which took a shine to it one summer. They ate a few leaves, but they only inflicted cosmetic damage and are gone now. Blooms generously for at least 9 months of the year here in Florida.

For me this cultivar has much better color in full shade. Reds are more rich burgundy, and the chartreuse green contrast is more pronounced. If the sun gets to it too much, the reds take on a rusty tint and there is less green. I keep most of mine in pots so I can move them around to keep them shaded.

Florida Sun Rose has a lot of variation in its colors through the seasons here in Florida. In cool weather it has lots of pink and yellow, as well as green, red, and purple. As the weather gets warm, the pink and yellow disappear completely and the green and dark red predominate. Late in the fall it begins to change back, going through a very red phase, then putting on the pink/yellow colors again. Never a dull moment with this one.

Here in Florida, and I'd imagine in other warm, humid climates, Cannas are prone to rust in the late summer. This is very unsightly and not healthy for the plants. It is also very hard to control. Good air circulation is a basic thing to remember when planting Cannas. If you do start to see rusty spots on the leaves, jump on them immediately and remove all leaves showing the fungus. Housekeeping is the best medicine here. Be sure to bag up the infected leaves and throw out with the trash. Don't compost them.

Don't grow this ginger for flowers. They are somewhat small and hide under the foliage. The beautifully corduroy-textured, striped foliage is the true feature of this plant. It has a rather lax habit, so give it some room to sprawl, lots of water, and good shade.

I grow a number of different gingers, and this one is not easy to bloom. It puts up meager flower heads with just a few buds, then proceeds to make many offsets on the flower spikes. The offsets do root and come true to the mother plant. Now I have lots, so I'm trying it in different parts of the garden to see whether more sun or different soil will inspire it to bloom better.

A good-tasting and very decorative Basil, with the largest, reddest flowers I've ever seen on a Basil. It grows in a neat, bushy habit to about 2 feet, and it tolerates our hot, humid summers here in Florida very well. The pretty flowers are a bit of a drawback in that if you want to harvest leaves for cooking, you need to remove the flowers. Take them inside to decorate your windowsill, they last well as cut flowers and sometimes will root after the flowers fade, too.

Beautiful groundcover plant with unique foliage colors. New growth begins pink, fades out to white, and then develops green as the leaves mature. This plant may do well in full sun further north, but in Florida with our light, sandy soil it definitely prefers to be shaded through the middle of the day during the hot months. It is ideal for groundcover under trees where grass and other plants will not grow well. In winter with the sun at a lower angle it gets more light, so as long as the weather is mild it keeps growing and putting on its pretty color display.

A lovely variety of Basil, pretty and tasty, but I am disappointed in how quickly it peters out on me. Many types of Basil will go through our brutal, humid summers here in Florida with no problems, given enough water, fertilizer, and pinching, but in three years of trying, 'Pesto Perpetuo,' planted in March, was done by mid-July. No matter; they start very easily from cuttings and I just had to remember to take cuttings before the plant died off to re-plant new plants in the fall. Next spring I will try growing it in morning sun only, to see whether that makes it last longer into the summer.

The actual flowers on this ginger are the little white or cream lily-like blooms that come out of the pinecone shaped flower head. The "pinecones" arise on separate stems from the leaves. After the flowers finish blooming, and the "pinecones" turn red, the ginger-y scented gel "shampoo" can also be used as a temporary insect repellent. The plant blooms much more generously in my garden with lots of water early in the growing season, May into June. Fertilize generously at the end of May with a timed-release product to encourage lush growth through the summer. The leaves die back completely to the ground as soon as the nights drop below 50deg.

One of only a few plants that will grow, bloom, and colonize in-ground under the canopy of my very large Live Oaks. Most other plants have trouble competing with the tree roots, but they just seem to keep the Heliconia in bounds very nicely. A beautiful bright accent flower where few other plants bloom.

This fig, commonly sold as a house plant, has been planted outdoors in warm winter areas. It grows very large and is considered a danger to property. It has weak limbs that break in high winds, a very thick leaf canopy, and a shallow root system, so the trees are prone to uprooting during high wind events such as tropical storms. Not recommended to plant within 60ft of any building.

I've had success growing Agapanthus in a very large pot here in Florida, but every time I have tried growing it in the ground it has petered out and died. The plant also likes to be crowded, and it blooms best when it has been in the same pot for years. After I divide or repot it, it pouts and does not bloom for at least a year. So lately I have cut out any old or unhealthy growth each spring and re-filled spaces in the old pot with new potting soil washed down into the root ball with the hose. A little timed-release fertilizer after the new soil is in, and that's about all the care it takes each year. Other than rain in the summer, it gets almost no supplemental water.

A very vigorous cultivar with sturdy growth habit, and large, pure white flowers with a lovely clean fragrance. As with most brugs, very easy to start from cuttings, and my first start of 'Monster White' grew from a 10in. cutting to a 5ft. shrub in less than 6 months. Be prepared to prune this one to keep it in bounds if you are growing in a container (as I do). The nematodes in our soil here in Florida just love brugs, so if planted in the ground, they last about a year. But most brugs also love to be pruned, and respond by putting on extravagant flushes of new growth and blooms. Feed brugs with soluble fertilizer, enhanced with magnesium at least once a month - about a teaspoon of Epsom salts per gallon of water seems to work great.

Great looking jagged leaves on this cultivar are brighter green with silver spots and splotches in bright shade, and very deep green with the spots and splotches having a pink tinge indoors or in winter here in Florida. Gets leggy and tends to flop and break at ground level for me unless I move it to more light in the winter, so I grow it in large pots sunk in the ground under my large oak trees.

The nice blue/purple color on the leaves and stems is better in partial shade. Remove all flowers to keep the plant producing new leaves. The flowers are nice, tall and yellow, but the plant will begin making pups after blooming if you let the flowers remain.

A very pretty medium-sized cultivar that spreads well, but not too aggressively. Blooms constantly from March through November here in Florida and needs plenty of water in the hot weather to grow and spread. Remove spent bloom stalks at the ground to encourage new growth and more blooms. Lovely for cut flowers and very long lasting.