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Finding Florida Plants in North Carolina - Part II

© Teresa Watkins

Catching my breath and pausing to have a cup of tea, I gauge where I am going to plant my next treasures. I have grown very fond of abutilons, also known as flowering maples. I bought two very pretty varities, the 'Red Princess', Abutilon x hybridium, scarlet-red bell flowers and 'Ann', with plum-red flowers that ease into a soft apricot with time. The stems add interest with black-purple stems. Hmmm...maybe the ideal location will become the background to my black and purple gothic plant palette? Zoned 8a to 10, I'm not concerned about abutilons at all, these beauties should do just fine.

My last sip of tea and I decide that my new Juncus inflexus 'Afro" or Blue Medusa Rush with its architecturally twisting stems belongs in a container along with native Florida violet and tripping over the edge Purple Queens. Sun or part shade, in zones 4 to 10, this Juncus will only get to be 15" tall.

In my garden beds, down the driveway, and popping up everywhere, I have several Zephryanthes spp. that span the color spectrum: purple, white, white and pink, and yellow rain lilies. Certain species of zephyranthes if you have one; you could have ten thousand bulbs that spring from the prolific seed pods. But collecting plant specimens - how can you pass up another color of rain lily? The zephyranthes 'Grandjax' was not hard to resist; these beauties seduced me into purchasing them with their creamy pink blooms and the guarantee of being sterile.

I discovered my first crocosmias in Scotland in my cousin's cottage garden and they took my breath away. Their gladiola-like leaves rustling in the wind, with vibrant hues of red, oranges, and yellows was amazing. I was thrilled to discover that crocosmias grow in Central Florida and gasped when I espied the Crocosmia "Star of the East' to add to my Crocosmia 'Lucifer'. I placed them in the back corner in full sun and we shall just have to wait and see how they do there.

I have always read about False Indigo but have never grown it - is that a good reason to grab it when I find it? Of course! Baptisia minor Grayson Co., TX is a dwarf variety of false indigo reaching only 24" tall in the sun. Named for the county and state it was hybridized in, I know that if it can survive Texas in the summer then I need to give it a try! I can't wait to see the large black seed pods that form on the flower heads but I need to make a garden journal's note to myself to not dead-head after the deep blue blooms fade!