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From the collection of Correia-Araujoi, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Carcharodon Group.

Scutellaria longifolia. 'Purple Fountains' has fuchsia-pink, 1 1/2", tubular blooms, which are borne throughout most of the year on this beautiful tropical trailing perennial. It has glossy green, slightly quilted foliage on arching to trailing stems.
This plant has been in my garden since 2006. I bought it at a nursery but have never seen it since. It loves containers with rich soil, but my first plant is in the ground in a sunny location. I've taken clippings and stuck them into flower pots around my garden and started many new plants. It takes very cold weather, and I don't think it has ever completely frozen back. Does well in sun or shade, and flowers most the year, heavier blooms in cooler months. Native To / Cultivar Origin: Central America - Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Belize, Costa Rica

My Dad gave me some of this plant a good twenty years ago. It grows in an almost totally shaded area in my garden with no irrigation and only gets rain. Pretty much evergreen. Flowers start in April and sporadically bloom until as late as September. On a rare occasion a bloom will pop out in October. It can handle temperatures down to freezing. Below that it dies back, but always comes back. Not invasive, pretty much stays in the area it was planted.

This plant stayed deeper red on a shady porch, but wasn't growing. I moved it outside where it gets Florida's rain and filtered sun and it grew a good eight inches in just four months. The color is greener on new growth, but seems to turn red as it gets older. I do take it inside when temps dip below 40.

Seed Parent: (lingulata x conifera) x alborosea
Pollen Parent: dissitiflora
Country of origin: Costa Rica

Pink candy floral bracts topped with creamy white flowers that resemble cotton candy.

This is the first plant the hummingbirds visit in my garden. I've had this plant for about ten years in my garden. It will freeze if we dip below 32, and it suffers frost damage below 35, but it comes back, bigger and fuller each year. Blooms all year and reaches its peak in the winter months, a real stand-out fountain of red flowers. Even if this plant doesn't freeze down, I cut it back to the ground after flowers fade, usually around late February.

This vine has been in my garden for maybe a decade now. I would classify it more as a shrub than a vine. It responds well to trimming. The first fragrant flowers appear in late winter, blooms heavily in spring, then sporadically through fall. Flowers are larger than the Confederate Jasmine. Great for making tea. This plant is drought tolerant, frost tolerant, and not aggressive like the Confederate can be. Loves a sunny spot.

The flowers are beautiful on this passionvine, however the butterflies won't lay eggs on this one. They don't like it. It is also invasive in my garden in Central Florida. In our rainy season it will grow a foot a day, I'm sure. We were gone for three weeks on a trip and it took over our 40-foot Florida screen room. I have been trying to eradicate it for years, but to this day I find it popping up somewhere. I gave some to a few garden friends and it hasn't been as invasive in their gardens. I have very sandy soil, but I believe it is more our climate because it has covered my friend's wooden fence in one season.

This plant grows very well in Central Florida, so well that it is used in landscaping often. It flowers off and on for most of the year, especially spring through fall. Drought tolerant once established. Great for a sunny location.

I've had this plant since 2009 in my garden. Even though too many hours below freezing will freeze it to the ground, it has always come back and continues to get taller. Mine is starting to look more like a tree now. Hummingbirds love the flowers and visit daily. From late summer through winter it has beautiful colored berries. Nothing seems to eat the berries; they usually just dry up. I also have the compacta, and it doesn't have the big leaves, flowers or colorful berries the large one does, although hummers still visit it. If it doesn't freeze, it takes well to a good trimming back.

Wonderful shade plant in Florida. Does get thirsty and will wilt, but perks right back up with a good watering. Grows very fast and needs trimming. Put cuttings back down into the pot. They root easily. The plant is tender, but mine has survived temps as low as 38. To be safe, take some cuttings before winter and root them. If you let them go, they will get flowers similar to coleus flowers. Makes a great container plant with coleus for outstanding color combinations.

I have these in shade and sun, in containers and in the ground. They do best in a container in a mostly shaded area. The more shade, the deeper the green and pink colors. A spectacular caladium that gets noticed by all who walk by. Some of the leaves get quite large, bigger than my hand.

I've had this growing in the ground in my garden since 2011 in dappled sun. It has survived temps as low as mid 20's and heavy rainfalls as well as drought. Mine has never flowered, but I believe it doesn't get enough sun. Therefore, in 2015 I moved some pieces to a sunnier location. Very easy to transplant.

I've had this bromeliad in my garden since 2010 and planted it into the ground under the shade of oaks and Philodendrons. The first recurring bloom was not until 2012. I didn't get another bloom until last year 2015, and had two blooms. I am getting a bloom this year, but just one so far. The plant starts a bloom as early as the beginning of Jan, and they last all the way until July before they completely fade out. Takes cold temps all the way to almost freezing with minimal damage. I will toss a cloth over it if we dip below freezing. Not in irrigation. Gets rain water or hand watering in drought times. Slow growing.