The Atala butterfly is a new favorite of ours in the garden.  Its flutter offers an aqua shimmer with a flash of red dancing amongst the plants.  Watching this butterfly’s life cycle is amazing because it is brilliant and uniquely colored through each stage.   The coontie is the only host plant for the caterpillars, or the larvae stage.  With the rise of urbanization or expansive construction in Central and South  Florida, the habitat and host plant of the Atala became scarce.  As a result, the Atala butterfly became so rare that it was thought to be extinct ..read more

Having a prestigiously green lawn in Florida can be time consuming, expensive, and often not best for the environment.  There are various beautiful turf alternatives that are low maintenance, thrive in various sun, salt, and soil conditions, and attract pollinators to the yard!  Below I will lay out a few ground cover options that may be a good fit for your yard or garden.     Twinflower I recently discovered and came to absolutely love Twinflower as a ground cover!  Twinflower, scientifically known as Dyschoriste oblongifolia, is a Florida native plant that ..read more

With summer right around the corner, many homeowners have been thinking of ways to be more environmentally friendly. However, the idea of creating a zero waste home can feel overwhelming. With so many household items creating waste on a daily basis, where should you even begin? To help you start making little eco-friendly changes in your home, we reached out to sustainability enthusiasts to share their best tips on achieving a zero waste home. Whether you’re renting a condo in Phoenix, Arizona, or a homeowner in Melbourne, Florida, you’re sure to find easy ways to live greener.  1. Start ..read more

A few years ago, I began gardening by the moon as a New Year’s Resolution and once I began sharing a peek at my calendars online people wanted to know more.  As long as humans have been growing their own food, the moon has played a role in gardening/farming for various cultures, such as the Greeks, Egyptians, Native Americans, Aztecs.  There are many ways to interpret the moon's influence on the garden, but in this blog post I explore how the Old Farmer's Almanac* formulates their Moon Gardening recommendations, which has been a source for farmers and gardeners for over 200 years.&nb ..read more

Cocoa, Florida. The Brevard Discovery Garden’s nursery will be hosting their annual Fall Plant Sale on Saturday, September 25, 2021 9am - 2pm.  This event is perfect for plant lovers wanting to add to their garden and/or learn more about the fabulous world of plants and insects!  Florida-friendly, native, and keystone plants will be available to bring home.  Find an abundance of edible plants that have been grown from seed by the UF/IFAS Brevard County Master Gardeners, such as tomatoes, peppers, and herbs, as well as beautifully designed combination pots.     ..read more

Florida’s soil can be challenging for even the most experienced gardenistas and gardeners.  Our soil is typically very sandy, limiting the retention of nutrients and water for plants to thrive. Although it’s easy and expensive to go to a local garden center and load up with bags of soil, amendments, and fertilizers.  Good News : you don’t need to spend a fortune to improve your soil.    There’s a cheaper and more environmentally friendly alternative that you can create yourself - compost.  Whether you live in a house with a yard, or an apartment with no balcony, you ca ..read more

What’s best for your gardening budget may also be what’s best for Mother Nature.  In honor of Earth Day, I’m excited to share some of my favorite little-known facts about how to ‘go green’ and get conscious in the garden -- while putting a little green back in your wallet.  If you haven’t guessed already, it comes down to a gardener’s greatest resource: water. There are shockingly easy ways for gardeners everywhere to conserve water in the garden and, per usual, the Florida Gardenista is here to give you all the dirt.  Add Organic Matter I love the look on a seasoned gardener’s ..read more

To achieve healthy, organic soil (a.k.a. Black Gold) from worm composting, gardeners and gardenistas have to keep their worms happy and alive.  This sounds simple, but worms can be quite particular and Florida’s climate can create issues for worm composting bins.  In this post, I will share how to produce Black Gold in three months by sustaining your worm compost bin with ideal temperatures, moisture, lighting, and food.  It’s Getting Hot in Here (que Nelly Song) Red wigglers, which are your ideal worm buddies for composting, need to live in conditions between 40 and 80 deg ..read more

Worm compost, also known as Black Gold, is a gardenista’s (or gardener’s) dream for any garden - it’s richer in nutrients and trace elements than most soils you find on the shelf of your local garden center and organic. Before even thinking about touching worms or what you’re going to do with the Black Gold that you’re going to get from composting, it’s super important to create the best home for your worms! Sure you can find fancy worm factories online for $100 or more, but we’re going to explore how to build a Worm Compost bin on a shoestring budget and in less than two hours.  &nb ..read more

For March, the Lion’s Ear is my Plant Crush feature. (Better late than never, haha!)  Lion’s Ear is unusual to find in Florida gardens or most Florida nurseries or garden centers.  I’ve been so thrilled to see this bright colored perennial thrive from a tiny cutting in my backyard.  This perennial is, also known as Leonotis leonuris or Wild Dagga, is not a native, but let’s explore why I think this plant would be a good addition for your Florida garden.   Lion’s Ear, Wild Dagga, or Lionetis plant in bloom. Ideal Conditions The Lion’s Ear tolerates full ..read more