Category: Garden, Growing Flowers

Planting flowering annuals and perennials in the landscape. New posts are Florida gardening with the hydrangeas and some others being from the north.

Trying So Hard to Grow Florida Native Milkweed!

I’m not giving up. Growing milkweed here in Florida is not easy. Winter killed off a lot, so I am beginning again from seeds that were saved and also purchased.

A few months ago my little, white-flowering milkweed plant had some seed pods. I’ve been trying so hard to get milkweed to grow to feed the Monarch butterflies. Milkweed in Florida is difficult.

milkweed pods on the white swamp milkweed

Unlike the big milkweed plants of the north, our southern milkweed grows slowly and makes small, thin leaves. There is never enough food for a caterpillar, it seems.

That doesn’t really matter anyway because the caterpillars are gobbled up by the numerous lizards before they have a chance to morph into a butterfly.

A few years ago I wrote a post entitled, Filling My Yard With Milkweed. It was a nice dream, but easier said than done!

Starting Milkweed From Seed

Each little milkweed pod contains lots of seeds. I gathered the pods to save before all the milkweed blew away. I let one pod do its thing to hopefully sprout plants, but I haven’t seen any growing.

I ended up with a few pots with tallish milkweed stems growing and then the caterpillars arrived.

All potted, white swamp milkweed went onto the porch while I traveled. When I returned home, the caterpillars were big and the milkweed was nearly eaten. After another day, I had to place the caterpillars outside near the milkweed in the ground. And sure enough, the caterpillars all disappeared.

caterpillars eating white swamp milkweed

Resorting Back to Buying Milkweed

This time I bought milkweed seeds and not plants. All but two plants died over the winter, so I went the cheapest way.

My new milkweed seeds came from Baker Creek (rareseeds.com) where they do not charge for shipping! I bought zinnia seeds and butterfly weed seeds (orange flowers), along with red, swamp milkweed seeds.

Hopefully the plants will grow nicely in the pots until next spring, when I will plant them in the ground.

milkweed seeds planted in small pots

Here are my eleven pots with milkweed. The small pots contain recently planted seeds. The bigger pots have the stalks (after being chewed) from plants begun from seed in July.

butterfly divider flowers

Mid-Summer and We Have Mushrooms

July mushrooms in my Florida yard. A very large reddish-orange one and some smaller types hidden in long grass.

Well, it’s Florida so you never know. I guess mushrooms can show up at anytime, even mid-summer. I don’t claim to know a lot about mushrooms, but they have always interested me.

Today I have found these large, reddish orange mushrooms in the grass under a big oak tree. I had to get my hand (and foot) in there for size comparison…LOL. This is the front yard “lawn” which is mostly weeds. The mushrooms seem to be growing from the oak tree roots (maybe).

underside of the reddish orange mushroom
large, red-orange mushroom in the grass
Dark orange with red mushroom top

A week or so ago I was ripping up some tall grass along the side of my Vegega garden bed and found bunches of mushrooms (below).

I can’t find the names of these mushrooms, but wanted to share the photos.

I always discovered interesting mushrooms in the woods when I lived in New Hampshire. Fall was an especially good time to search for them. It was fun to take a walk in the woods and see what was out there. I miss it.

I find it odd to see mushrooms in July in Florida. It seems like a weird time for them to grow. Quite honestly that big reddish mushroom is a bit scary looking. It seems like something so strange belongs in this state.

I took one more mushroom photo (below). It looks like an old and new version comparison with the dark set in front and newer growth behind.

Just for fun, I have included a Zebra Butterly on my yellow dahlia. A morning surprise in the garden.

Smooth top rust color mushrooms
Zebra butterfly on yellow dahlia flower

If you know what these mushrooms are, please leave a comment.

Growing Native Milkweed in Florida

Year two and I’m still trying to fill my yard with native milkweed plants. After the freeze, my plant number has dwindled but seed pods are showing up, which will help.

We all know that the Monarch butterfly needs milkweed. I’ve been trying to grow my own native milkweed in my Florida backyard for two years now.

Last year I purchased some mail order plants, and also bought a few I found locally. They were all doing pretty well, and I was excited. I also had some tropical milkweed (the bad kind) that fed the butterflies. The milkweed bugs took care of removing the seeds, so I didn’t have to worry about it spreading. I also cut it down at the end of the season, as you should if you grow this type.

white flowering swamp milkweed in 2025
tiny white flowers on milkweed
milkweed pods on the white swamp milkweed
This year- seed pods

Over winter we had an unusual cold spell that killed a lot of things. Even now, in June, the palm trees are still showing dead fronds. I lost three of my larger milkweed plants – one remains. And I have this white milkweed.

I don’t remember seeing milkweed pods last year. I’m sure I would have saved some seeds if I had. But this year, the little white milkweed plant grew five pods. I’ve been checking those pods for weeks and just recently one of them split and began to open.

Seeds in a white swamp milkweed pod.
white swamp milkweed seeds
Planted swamp milkweed seeds in pots

I planted a few of the seeds in buckets with my compost dirt. The rest of the seeds have been saved. When the other pods begin to open, I will save more seeds from another pod. The remainder I’ll leave alone and let Mother Nature do her thing.

The remaining larger milkweed will hopefully get pods this year as well. I’ll do the same thing with the seeds from it.

Florida’s native milkweed types are not very easy to grow. And they grow slowly! I’m convinced they do best in their own natural space – like out in a field or near a swamp. But I do get monarch butterflies in my yard and I’d love to have milkweed for them.

Native Milkweed That Survived the Freeze

I’m still trying to fill my yard with native milkweed. After the cold spell over winter froze most things back, and killed many things, I have fewer milkweed plants.

All the tropical milkweed is gone. Tropical milkweed is not native, and therefore not a great loss. Three of the four swamp milkweed seedlings I purchased last year have died, but one is flourishing. This type of milkweed grows at a good pace and it is doing well.

All other native milkweed plants are quite small, and they are growing slowly.

White Swamp Milkweed

Below is another type of swamp milkweed. It has tiny white flowers with a bit of pink. I believe this is aquatic milkweed aka white swamp milkweed. It is a host for the Monarch, Queen, and Soldier butterflies. It is a shade loving plant and can deal with partial sun.

swamp milkweed pods
Five seed pods

As of this writing, it is June, and this plant has five pods. When they open, I will collect some of the seeds and try to grow more plants.

Whorled Milkweed

Whorled milkweed has very thin leaves that stick upward. I believe I only have one Whorled milkweed – see below.

Whorled milkweed
Whorled Milkweed
Sandhill milkweed, tiny plant in the ground

Sandhill Milkweed

Sandhill milkweed looks different. The leaves are more rounded. If you ever see this type as a full grown plant, it is beautiful (View images at IFAS). Sadly, these days, in Florida you will most likely have to visit a nature preserve to find it.

You may wonder why I have such a strange variety of milkweed for my yard. Some of them need dry conditions and some need wet. Last year I ordered some seed varieties, planted them, and kept the ones that grew. All the milkweed in pots were kept indoors over the winter, so they did not freeze.

Unidentified Milkweed

I think these plants are also milkweed, but they don’t have identifying tags. I marked the ground with metal stakes and after the cold had passed, these plants began to grow.

possible milkweed plant

Once again I am reminded of how difficult it is to grow native milkweed. I plan to protect these babies as best I can. If I’m lucky, they will get larger and flower and then I may know which type they are.

I began my quest last year (2025) to fill my yard with milkweed. Thanks in a big part to the 2 days of freezing temperatures we had this year, I lost many plants which I think may have been okay otherwise. It makes me wonder how many milkweed plants, growing out in wilderness areas, also did not make it.

Mid-summer Update on the Vegega Raised Beds

It’s mid-summer and here in my Florida backyard I have mostly flowers growing. I’ve used my three Vegega raised beds to hold some things and some are doing better than others. More amendments for Fall will be needed.

Over the past winter and spring, I set up some new raised beds. I bought the metal beds from Vegega after watching a YouTube video. Another Floridian had purchased from this company and she had lots of good things to say.

I garden on my own, and it took a bit of time to assemble, fill and plant the beds. You can read my post here. I knew that they would need time to “cook” me up some great soil. Branches, leaves and old growth were tossed in along with compost, dirt, mulch and earthworms. I knew the soil would settle and slowly compost. Still, I planted all three beds with some flowers and vegetables to see what happened.

The Round Vegega Raised Bed

This is my oldest bed. It gets more shade than the others also. I had some lovely Ubatuba pepper plants growing in here, and a cherry tomato. All of them eventually died. I believe it was a lack of good soil and drainage. I plan to add more good soil and amendments as Fall approaches.

Now it is mid-summer and a Tulsi basil is planted along with a few cowpeas (cover crop beans). One Celosia, one marigold, and a small pepper plant are struggling.

An empty, or partially empty raised bed is a good place to set potted plants.

Round Vegega raised garden bed in dark green

The Long Vegega Raised Bed

My long, oval bed was the most difficult to set up. I love the shape though. It is full of sweet potatoes (I hope – I see lots of vines) with Zinnias around the edge.

This plant mixing was not a great idea. The sweet potato vines keep trying to wrap around the flowers. By September I will be digging up this bed and getting it ready for Fall planting.

Vegega metal raised bed, oblong shape
My long oval raised garden bed made of metal, with sweet potatoes and zinnias growing.

The Square Vegega Raised Bed

The dirt in my square raised bed has sunken quite a lot. Aside from one hot pepper plant, the bed holds flowers. Many Celosia and a few Zinnias are growing nicely. Like all the other beds, I will add compost and more dirt when Fall approaches.

Square Vegega raised bed in the backyard

Plans for Fall Growing

While summer is fine for growing flowers, in Fall I want to grow food! Each of these beds will hold fall crops. Between the big beds, the white barrels, and all my smaller grow boxes, I should have plenty of space for vegetables.

First I have to add more compost. My homemade compost is “cooking” and has been all summer. I’ll use it to amend the gardens, but I’ll also have to buy some. I definitely don’t grow my own food to save money! In fact it costs quite a bit, at least to get started. The point is to have very fresh, organic food to eat. You can’t get fresher than stepping out your backdoor and picking a salad for supper!

Thanks for reading!

garden scene

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One Summer Morning

July is nearing an end and the garden is teeming with living things.

July is nearly over. Hard to believe, but I’m glad. It’s not a fun month here in Central Florida. Not that what’s coming is any better. The Hurricane months are the worst. Soon we’ll be watching those storms that build off the African coast and wonder where they will go.

But, that fun is for the future. Today I discovered a big Swallowtail caterpillar on my celery plant! Swallowtails need dill, fennel, parsley and apparently celery for their caterpillars. The dill was gone back in May, and I can’t seem to grow parsley – especially not in summer. I have some fennel out front, and checked for caterpillars, and found none. I didn’t realize my celery would attract swallowtails.

This big guy was just there! I had not seen him while he chewed and grew, down in the center of the stalks. All day I went outside to check on him. I’m certain he will disappear.

The celery grew from a stalk that came from the grocery store. Today, I am starting another celery plant in a glass on my windowsill. It is very easy to grow.

Black swallowtail caterpillar on celery
black swallowtail caterpillar
Starting celery from cut bunch
celery started from store bought
First little watermelon
First little watermelon

Watermelon

I had to pick my watermelon because the stem area was beginning to rot, for some reason. But, I also discovered watermelon #2 hidden under the vines. I covered it with pine needles to try to keep the raccoons away. I like to kid myself that I can outsmart them.

Celery plant with Swallowtail caterpillar
Caterpillar
Seminole pumpkin vines
Seminole Pumpkin vines
watermelon growing
Watermelon #2

The pumpkin vines (first year) have nearly covered my walkway. I can’t easily move the hose so have to leave it in the middle.

The Holy basil is growing and I’m using it regularly. Firespike flowers are coming out and that will keep the hummingbird happy. The celosia plants are getting tall and should be flowering soon.

Holy basil with flowering stalks
Holy basil
Firespike plant is beginning to bloom
Firespike
Celosia stalks growing in barrel bed
Celosia

Oh The Zinnias!

My garden is full of beautiful Zinnias. I look at each one when I inspect things. I can’t stop photographing them. I only began growing zinnias a couple of years ago, but they have become a favorite. I’ve decided to make dividers for this blog using all my zinnia photos.

This year I have lots of reds, pinks, and gorgeous orange. I have only one yellow, so I’ll be sure to save it. Honestly, I am saving many Zinnia flower heads. Some have grown from saved seeds, but many I planted from newly purchased seeds.

yellow zinnia
Only one plant is yellow.

Skittle

Skittle the cat has always been my shadow in the garden. She very much enjoys it when I inspect things. I can’t spend much time out there with her now because of the horrendous heat. She seems to love it. As long as she can find an uncomfortable looking place to sleep, she is happy.

Skittle

I’m mostly quite happy as I look through the garden. Occasionally I get depressed at the lack of food, but there is always the grocery store. Good thing.

The Monarch butterflies are still fluttering each day. They usually show up around 9:00am. They land on the zinnias frequently. Their tropical milkweed is not flowering now, but soon the swamp milkweed will be.

zinnias divider

Thank you for reading.

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