I have been asked by a reader to do a column on “mistakes made by northerners.”

Well now, I’ve lived in Florida 31 years and guess where I grew up and lived — Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. I am a former northerner. But, I’ve lived here long enough to know, those weren’t mistakes, they were learning experiences.

I was raised by an agronomist father, the oldest of his seven children, and even though the other six were boys, and he really hoped for a farmer, they had other aspirations and passions. As an adult, I raised flowers and vegetables, but no big victory garden like I grew up with, though I knew my way around and through a garden up north. People in Ohio wondered about the success of my garden. I guess I never informed them I grew rabbits as pets for children and like ECHO here, I had the best manure tea for fertilizer. You need to have an obsession (passion) for gardening, otherwise it’s dirty, time consuming and painful.

When transplanted to Florida, I was faced with pure sand. One third perfect soil — need to add peat to retain water and nutrients, plus organic matter to feed the plants and create bacteria to break down the soil mass. Otherwise, your good intentions to feed and water leach right out and through the sandy soil. I had a good gardening neighbor in Venice who taught me to put newspaper at the bottom of my planting hole to keep the good soil, therefore my first instruction is to find a mentor. I was always seeking mentors, whether it was their book or articles or a good Florida friend. You need these. I also learned that you don’t plant closer than three feet from your home. Leave room to walk between your home and plants, but the biggest thing I learned was to join a good gardening group. My neighbor took me to a Hibiscus Society meeting where I learned the sound basics of Florida gardening. No more calcium or lime, my soil was nothing but. Unless your pH is right for your plant, you waste all your nutrients because your plants lock up with imbalanced pH and can’t access their food.

When I moved to Cape Coral, I went to work at a great nursery. I knew enough stuff to get the job and help others. Right?! That was the beginning of my knowledge growth. I had three books I consulted daily — the series of “Florida Gardening” books by Lewis S. Maxwell and still accurate for current time, with his bi-monthly newsletter; “Florida Landscape Plants” by Professors John Watkins and Thomas Sheehan, a standard manual for students, landscapers and homeowners in South Florida, an authoritative book that has been updated and expanded, called the “Bible” of Florida landscaping; and then, my trusty “What Every Hibiscus Grower Should Know,” revamped and updated several times since. With these trusty crutches, I ventured forward armed with knowledge.

I also read articles by Marian Van Natta, “Living Off the Land;” paid attention to Gene Joyner and his “Unbelievable Acres Botanical Garden;” Kaye Cude, our own local, and recently departed, herbal specialist and gardening guru that worked magic at ECHO with her mound gardening and pigeon pea nitrogen giving plants. The only gardening magazine I find worth reading for South Florida is, “Florida Gardening,” with almost bi-monthly articles by Monica Brandies, who underwent the same northern-to-southern trauma.

How do I count the trauma ways? Sandy soils, salt intrusions in the land and water along the coast, crazy sudden freeze in balmy weather, even crazier wild weather at hurricane and tornado times; no real cold spell to kill bugs or viruses; I started with a big, sunny lot and no shade, now I’m trying to find sunny spots. My neighbors say I hate grass. Monsoon season, then a dry and arid winter and spring; our upside-down year where we don’t buy seeds in February and March, but in August and September. The need to find plants that survive the summer heat and fungus-producing muggy weather; how to water in dry weather, get a rain barrel from Extension’s FYN program. Roses, gardenias and many hibiscus need to be grafted onto Florida friendly rootstock. Nematodes never die, they just plug away at the roots. You learn to appreciate tropical fruits and give up your apples, pears, peaches and cherries. No forsythia, pussywillow, crocus, daffodils or tulips. I knew a gal who has determined to have her lilacs– put ice blocks around her shrubs– but didn’t last. I grow queen’s wreath, petrea volubilis or sandpiper vine for those lilac cascades, but alas, no fragrance.

For good answers to these situations, invest in Monica Brandies book, one of her 11, “Florida Gardening: The Newcomer’s Survival Manual,” Second Edition. In the Florida Gardening magazine, there is a note about her holding a “Come Walk in My Garden,” on Saturdays, Nov. 1 and 15, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., at 1508 Burning Tree Lane, Brandon, Fla. “Share friendship, fun and free cuttings from her yard. Autographed books, plants and pommelos for sale.” And since I am still learning, come join me, I’ll be there.



Joyce Comingore is president of the James E. Hendry Chapter of the American Hibiscus Society, a Master Gardener and Garden Club member.