If you're looking for a tough shrub to fill a difficult spot in your landscape, check out yaupon holly: Ilex vomitoria. ...more

December 24, 2009

December is a busy month for many of us - but this holiday season may be the perfect time for a landscape makeover. ...more

December 6, 2009

Florida Friendly Plant of the Week: American beauty berry or Callicarpa americana. ...more

February 16, 2009

A pair of threatened Florida scrub jays stands watch atop a bare shrub overlooking one of the few patches of scrub habitat left in Hillsborough County. When trouble looms, they will warn the others with an unusual call: pssshhh, pssshhh, pssshhh. ...more

October 18, 2008

When I drove up to the Pioneer Florida Days Festival over Labor Day weekend, I was surprised (and happy) to find a nice plant sale sandwiched between the square dancers and the Civil War battlefield. ...more

September 11, 2008

Mini pineapple Is it a fruit or a faux? This itty-bitty pineapple, a member of the bromeliad family, is actually edible, according to Nature's Pride, a Dutch company that imports and distributes exotic fruits. The mini pineapple plant likes filtered light and will grow to about 2 feet tall. Its tiny fruit gets about 4 inches tall, and has a sweet, tender core. ...more

August 14, 2008

Ask a roomful of readers about Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's "Leopard" and more often than not you'll find a few who will put hand to heart and say it's their favorite book, and a few others who will simply shrug - never heard of it - or ask if it has anything to do with the Visconti movie starring Burt Lancaster (yes, it does). I suppose it's a coincidence that a roomful of travelers will poll in a similar fashion if you ask them about Sicily, the marvelous, maddening island disparaged and adored in "The Leopard": It's either a favorite place, or they haven't even thought of going there. ...more

August 3, 2008

Florida summers are a great time for planting. One good storm can drop 1 to 3 inches of rain, which soaks into the soil and encourages roots to follow. Plants with deep roots will grow up to be drought-tolerant. ...more

May 29, 2008

Florida Department of Transportation officials told the city more analysis is needed before the state agency will authorize the installation of old-style street lights on Tarpon and Pinellas avenues. ...more

May 24, 2008

Liriope Hardy little fellas, these plants are my favorites because they can take a variety of conditions, from sun to shade, watered well or hardly at all. ...more

May 7, 2008