TBEP header 5
 
April-May 2014 
Photo courtesy www.floridayards.org
  Test your Florida Gardening IQ 

1. What are the best months to fertilize?
a. April and October
b. July and August
c. Every month

2. Why should you skip the fertilizer in the summer?
a. It's so hot it makes the fertilizer steam
b. It burns your grass
c. Our rainy days wash it into our bays, lakes and rivers

3.What do the three numbers on a fertilizer bag stand for?
a. Nitrogen (N), Phosphorous (P), Potassium (K)
b. Sugar, Flour, Butter
c. Zinc, Calcium, Magnesium

4. What should you do with your grass clippings when you mow?
a. Smoke them
b. Blow them in the street
c. Leave them on your lawn (free fertilizer)

5. Why is too much nitrogen bad for our bays, lakes and rivers?
a. It causes algae blooms that deplete oxygen and kill fish
b. It costs too much to use
c. We're running out of nitrogen

6. Florida-Friendly Yards use less water, chemicals and...
a. Wind
b. Fertilizer
c. Sunshine

7. What can you use instead of fertilizer in the summer to keep your grass green?
a. Green tea
b. Liquid dye
c. Iron

8. Rain that falls on the land and flows to nearby bays, lakes and river is called...
a. Stormwater
b. Flooding
c. A mess

9. Why is mulch important in a Florida-Friendly Yard?
a. It makes the garden look like it was done by a professional
b. It hides the odor of the smelly compost
c. It holds in moisture, helps keep weeds from growing and moderates soil temperatures

10. Which of the following plants are native to Florida?
a. Hibiscus and Croton
b. Tickseed and Coontie
c. Australian pine and Brazilian pepper tree


Answers: 1.a  2.c  3.a  4.c  5.a  6. b 7.c  8.a  9.c.  10.b

 
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Simple Landscape Changes Lead To More Free Time for Florida Fun

Sarasota County Be Floridian Campaign Segment with Ross Allard 2013
What would you rather be doing than yard work? Sarasota resident Ross Allard's passion is paddling. Find out how his community made simple Florida-Friendly Landscaping changes to their shoreline that give him more time to explore Sarasota Bay on his stand-up paddleboard while protecting the very waters he loves in this short video from Sarasota County Water Resources.


 

Need some expert advice on 

Gardening Like A Floridian?

 

Check out the Garden Coaches, Landscape Designers, Lawn Care Companies and Nurseries that support our mission to protect the waterways that make living in Florida fun by clicking here  

 
get smart header

Classes and workshops offer free or low-cost instruction on how to save time and money by practicing Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ principles. Check out your county extension service to get started or to learn advanced skills. Most workshops are free or very low cost.
 

 

 

 

 

 
 
LINKS WE LIKE
 
Be Floridian
Univ. of Florida/Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ 

Program 

 

Floridata Plant Profiles

 floridata.com 

  

 Tampa Bay Estuary Program

 tbep.org 

  

Sarasota Bay Estuary Program

sarasotabay.org  

 

Lawn Reform Coalition

www.lawnreform.org/  

 

Florida Native Plant Society

www.fnps.org/

 

Florida Yards

 floridayards.org/  

 

Follow The Flock

www.followtheflock.org

 

"Fresh from Florida" Recipes

www.thefloridachef.com   


fertilizer spreader

  Spring "Fertilize Like A Floridian" Checklist 

 

Follow these fertilizer use tips to an easy-care yard that protects what makes Florida special:

 

  • If you plan to fertilize your lawn, April is an ideal month to do it, since your grass is actively growing and can absorb the nutrients.
  • Go Slow, as in slow-release fertilizer. Buy a product with at least 50% of the Nitrogen in slow-release form. It will nourish your lawn over a longer period with less chance of water pollution. 
  • Most mature trees and shrubs do not need fertilizer. They have extensive root systems to draw nutrients from the soil and from surrounding beds or lawns that have been fertilized.
  • NEVER fertilize when rain is expected. Rain just washes the fertilizer away, wasting your money and polluting our beautiful waters. Instead, irrigate your lawn with about 1/4-inch of water after you fertilize. That's all it takes to water it in. Really.
  • Make your own "lawn energy drink"  by composting kitchen veggie scraps, yard waste, shredded paper, even dryer lint and cat hair! Learn the basics here. 
The Art of Being Floridian
Artists Give Our Pink Flamingos Some
 Serious Pizzazz!  
 
"Fruity Flava Flamingo" by Indian Rocks Beach artist Adria Bernstein
Artists and art students from throughout the Tampa and Sarasota Bay watersheds have created two unique flamingo flocks to help us spread the word to skip the fertilizer this summer.

 

In Tampa Bay, 19 artists from New Port Richey down to Avon Park transformed our popular but shopworn plastic flamingo mascots into custom works of art, ranging in style from whimsical to flamboyant to dramatic.

 

And in Sarasota Bay, students at the Ringling School of Art and Design applied their creativity to the entire Sarasota flock of 50 plastic birds.
Tampa artist Diana Rast with "Fanny"
 
Both flocks are being deployed at community events throughout the region this Spring, helping to promote our message to skip the fertilizer during the summer rainy season and "Garden Like A Floridian."

The Tampa Bay flock will then be displayed as a traveling art exhibit at various venues throughout the remainder of 2014.

Check out the Tampa Bay flock on our Pinterest board and in our Facebook photo gallery. "Ooh" and "aah" at the Sarasota flock on Follow The Flock.
 
Make sure to "Like" the Be Floridian and Follow The Flock Facebook pages to find out where these one-of-a-kind flamingos will be landing this Spring. 
    
Flamingos painted by Ringling School art students walk on the wild side
 
 

Thanks to our friends with the Science and Environment Council of Southwest Florida for this tongue-in-cheek reminder to
Protect Our Fun 
(and maybe call the Fashion Police!)
flowers-gardener.jpgGet A Quick Start on "Floridifying" Your Yard

Are you willing to invest a little time now to get a low-maintenance yard you can enjoy for years to come? Check out the "Quick Start" tab on our website for simple ideas you can tackle in a morning, a weekend -- even on a rainy day!
 
Spring is the perfect time to "Floridify" your yard by removing some grass and replacing it with easy-care groundcovers, a colorful butterfly garden, or a meandering pathway that invites you to stroll through your own piece of paradise. Check out our Florida Yard Gallery for examples of landscapes that protect our bays, lakes and rivers, while leaving you plenty of time to enjoy them!
 
Plants for True Floridians

Florida Native

"Maypop" or Purple Passion Flower

Passiflora incarnata 

passion flower
Photo by Jack Scheper/Floridata 

The beautiful  Maypop, or passion flower, is an attention grabber for its large violet blossoms of feathery fringe around a white button core. The hearty vine reaches out with tendrils to cling to fences and nearby shrubs, often climbing to heights of 10 to 12 feet. It likes full sun to part shade and moist conditions, and will die back in cold winters but come back to life in the spring. This  flowering vine with lacy lavender blooms is the host plant for Gulf fritillary and zebra longwing butterflies -- plant it in the sun for fritillaries and shade for longwings. Don't worry if the butterfly caterpillars eat it to nubs -- it will grow back!  Before flowering the edible fruit appears as hard green balls that can be juiced when ripe or eaten like a pomegranite.

Florida-Friendly Non-Native

Caladiums
Caladium bicolor
Photo courtesy Classic Caladiums

The colorful foliage of these durable bulbs make them a mix-and-match garden favorite. Although caladiums originally hail from South America, the area around Lake Placid, Florida is now called the Caladium Capital of the world, with more than 1,000 acres devoted to these brightly colored plants. Caladiums come in a wide range of sizes and color combinations including white, red and pink. They thrive in partial to full shade in well-drained, rich yet acidic soil, and some varieties can even take full sun. Caladiums thrive with little care in Florida's hot summer, and die back with the advent of cool weather -- only to pop up again the next spring.  Plant in mixed beds with other plants, on their own, or use as borders. They can also be grown in large containers, just don't forget to water.  
 
Recipe for Relaxingblueberry casserole
Blueberries are in season in April and May, so head out to a local patch to gather a batch. Click here for a listing of u-pick farms in your area.
 
The versatile blueberry can be enjoyed many ways, in pancakes and pies or even this delectable bread pudding. It's so tasty you can eat it for breakfast and dessert!
 
Blueberry Breakfast Casserole
 2 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed and dried
8 large eggs, beaten
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 loaf bread, any kind
1-1/2 cups low-fat milk
4 oz. low-fat cream cheese (cold so it can be cubed)
1/4 cup butter, melted
Non-stick cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees; cut bread into 1-inch cubes. Cut cream cheese into small cubes. Lightly spray a 9x9x2-inch baking dish.Place half of the bread cubes in the dish. Evenly place   cream cheese cubes and 1 cup blueberries over the bread. Add the remaining bread cubes and blueberries on top.

In a medium size bowl, combine eggs, milk, maple syrup and butter. Slowly pour egg mixture over bread. Cover casserole with foil and bake about 45 minutes. Insert toothpick in center of casserole. When it comes out clean, remove the foil so casserole can brown on top. Let cool slightly and serve warm with maple syrup on the side.

Recipe and photo from FreshFromFlorida.com

 
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What's Be Floridian?

 

Be Floridian is an educational campaign sponsored by the Tampa Bay Estuary Program. Our partners include Manatee, Pinellas,  and Sarasota counties; the cities of  Clearwater, St. Petersburg and Tampa; and a variety of landscape designers, gardening coaches, fertilizer companies and lawn care specialists.  We are calling on all Southwest Floridians to help protect what makes Florida so fun -- our bays, lakes, rivers and the Gulf of Mexico -- by skipping the fertilizer in the summer to prevent water pollution and creating landscapes that flourish in harmony with Florida's quirky climate.