Gardening for Wildlife:

Ways to support wildlife in your landscape can include some of the following:

Use plants of various heights, plant groups or islands of plants, reduce some of your turf with groundcover, leave some dead foliage or limbs if it is safe to do so and use plants of various types of blooms and bloom periods.

Azaleas:

Azaleas are awakening this month and will put on their flower show for the next few weeks. Formosa Azaleas have large showy flowers that start blooming this month. They grow a little larger to about 4’ – 8’.

There are several varieties to choose from:

• Lavender – pink/lavender flowers
• Red – burgundy/magenta flowers
• George Tabor – light pink with dark pink throat flowers
• G.G. Gerbing – white flowers

See plant profile for more information on Azaleas!

Roses:

February is the month to prune your well established roses. Pruning also encourages blooming. Prune back about 1/3 of the plant and remove all suckers and leaves. Roses do not go dormant in Florida so you need to create dormancy for them. Remove fallen leaves from underneath and around the plants and keep mulch back from the rose plants. This will help reduce fungal diseases.

Prune your Knock Out Roses and Drift Roses now if they look tired and thin. Trim them back about 1/3 as well and fertilize with Nurserymen Sure Gro 8-4-12 Palm Fertilizer or Nurserymen Sure Gro 6-8-10 Bloomer. They will respond beautifully. Knock Out and Drift Roses do not need a dormant period- trimming to create density will suffice.