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Finding Florida Plants in North Carolinia - Part 1

© Teresa Watkins

So what do obsessive Florida garden enthusiasts do on a four day vacation? They go to other states and scour for botanical gardens and garden nursery centers and bring home plants. I have two weeks paid vacation a year but this year have been so swamped I have found it hard to get away. In fact, my two weeks dwindled to four days when unexpected must-attend meetings popped up.

When I received a gardening newsletter that touted a regional conference in Raleigh, North Carolina right in the heart of my favorite theme for gardens - shady woodlands - I knew that I had to go even if was going to be a busman's holiday. I love having a yard that defies landscaping standards as to what is typical and appropriate for Florida yet are easy care, striking, and make my heart soar and new and exciting plants do that to me. I love to show off unheard of, out-of-the-ordinary, and one-of-kind plants just to see guests awe-struck and gaping mouths as company meander through my yard, eagerly asking "what's that...ooh what's that?" This vacation I came back with plants that the labels categorize as Zones 7, 8, and 9. Driving south down I-95 with a 'filled to the brim' Tracker, frantically keeping the wind-swept leaves and flowers from tangling in our faces, I had them in the ground in less than 24 hours. What did I bring home and will they survive?

Hostas are a favorite garden flower up North and I have been very enthusiastic about the 'Royal Standard' hosta that has thrived in my yard in sunny Central Florida for the last fourteen years blooming two to three times a year. I have not had any success with the variegated, purple flowering hosta varieties, so I was excited to try another variety, 'Diana Remembered (J. Kulpa 97), named after the tragic death of the Princess of Wales. It has very fragrant white flowers like the 'Royal Standard' but it's the variegation of the green leaves edged by a striking creamy border that I desire to display by my garden pathway.

Next to my 'Diana Remembered',I placed Nodding Ladies Tresses>, Spiranthes cernua var. odorata. Doesn't this lovely terrestrial orchid sound British? Perfect for those hidden tucked corners of my shaded cottage garden, Nodding Ladies Tresses naturally thrive in wetland habitats and pristine lakefronts from Virginia down to Florida. When I read Florida and glimpsed their tubular shapes on the sign, I had to have it! They have fall blooming white bell shaped flowers that emanate a combined scent of vanilla and jasmine. Oh, keep your fingers crossed that this unique specimen loves its new residence close to where my future creek will stream by.

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