Creative Garden Structures

Some of you who read this blog may know what a green roof is, while some of you may just think I'm talking about a metal roof that is green.  Those of you, though, who know that a green roof (also called a living roof) is one covered with plants...may be interested in the plants that are working out well for us. Green roofs are really catching on in some places around the US...but are especially popular in Europe. Here in Florida, we've been a little slower to see green roofs being built....mostly you find them on buildings within a university campus. Of course, Florida has some special climate issues that need to be considered by anyone looking to put plants on a roof. For one thing...it gets HOT here.  For like nine months of the year (doggone it!). During that time it can be very humid and even wet....except when it 's not. (Like it has been the past month or so...temps in the high 90's but no rain). Then, in the winter you have generally mild weather....except when it's not.....and the temps go below freezing once or twice (or more) between November and February.

We have had a green roof on a shed and on an addition to our garage for two or three years now and have a good idea of what will work and what won't. For the most part, I let Mother Nature do her thing and only occasionally these days do I introduce a new plant to one of the roofs.

Here is a photo I took today of our larger green roof:

Here are some of the plants I can name currently on the roof....

blanketflower (they are very happy), beach sunflower (just coming back after a hard winter), ornamental peanut, phyla nodiflora (also known as creeping charlie and other things), lyre-leaf sage, dewberry, wild onion, rustweed, Florida pennyroyal and scrub mint.  I recently put a single coreopsis plant up there to see what would happen. If we get some regular rain...it will be happy. if we don't ...it will not be. Also...I have a couple of clump-forming grasses that volunteered themselves. I think one might be purple love grass. Occasionally, I get up there and remove little drake elm trees and little raintrees. I need to get up there soon and remove some grass that I don't want growing up there. I do not need to irrigate at all except in extreme drought. I have a micro-irrigation line up there but have only needed to turn it on twice since the beginning of spring. (This was during a period of 100 degree days with no rain!)

Another closer view of the blanketflower & scrub mint...

The shed roof has on it....beach sunflowers, sedum (that have never done well, but continue to struggle along), some kind of mint (spearmint or peppermint, I forget which), rustweed and phyla nodiflora. I water this occasionally (because the substrate is only about 4 inches) using water collected in a rain barrel and pumped up to the roof by a solar-powered battery and bilge pump.

Every week I want to highlight one of the native plants in my garden. So many people new (and not so new) to Florida know nothing about these great plants. This is my small way of helping to rectify this. And remember if you live near me, you can come visit my garden and see the plant in all its glory.....as well as the other natives I have growing. You can also buy most of them from me (not my plant, actually, just a nursery-grown plant), if you want to go home with one. Just give me a call first and let me know what you are looking for.

The first plant I want to show you is a native shrub. In my garden it is just finishing up blooming. It is called Simpson's Stopper (Myrcianthes fragrans). Here is a close-up of the flower.

The flowers are small but numerous and their fragrance is out of all proportion to their size. I would call it a rich, thick, honey-like perfume. Up close it will knock you out...but a little distance and the softer aroma is just right. I have only one at this time and it's just outside my screen room. It is highly attractive to pollinators, especially to bees (this is a GOOD thing). Later in the year, the berries are enjoyed by song birds.

Here is an even closer photo of the flower.  You can just see the honey bee's "pollen basket".

My reference book says that in size it will grow to be about 5 to 20 feet tall and spread from 3 to 15 feet.  It's an evergreen shrub that is excellent as a specimen plant or for softening the corners of houses. The bark is reddish, flaking and ornamental and the berries are orange to bright red. It's pretty adaptable in its soil preferences and will take full sun to shade and it is very hardy for those occasional cold winters. I'd say it was a nearly perfect plant!!

So I spent some time in the garden today with my camera. I'm not a professional photographer, but I have a nice camera, a good lens, some patience (though I could use more) and much enthusiasm and determination.  Which all put together means that once in a while I get a shot that I'm pretty happy with.  I braved the 92 degree temps this afternoon hoping to get a nice shot of the hummingbirds enjoying the shrimp plants. I didn't have much luck with this.... a couple of snaps but I want better.

While I was sitting there in the swing, however, this cardinal flew into the sycamore ad parked himself just above my head. Ignoring the fact that I was somewhat of a target, I swung my camera delicately around. I thought he would take exception to my pointing ths long, black "thing" at him...but he was pretty cool about it.  Here he is....

A few minutes later, something else caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. Looking towards the bird baths ... I see this fella enjoying a dip.  Bluebirds live around here but they are fairly infrequent visitors to my garden.....so I was pleased to come away with some nice photos of this guy.  I know he must have liked the water...but somehow he seems rather disgruntled!

 Storm coming!

If you are a weatherman selling the "Sunshine State" to the tourist or recently new Floridian, then the answer to this question is probably "Not to Rain".  But if you have lived in Florida for a while and you garden...then the answer will always be "To rain".  For me...it cannot rain enough from May to November. (Well...maybe it can...but I've never been put to the test!) It always is a surprise to me when a disc jockey or weatherman apologizes to his audience for the "poor, rainy weather we are having" or sings the praises of sunshine when it returns and chases away the "gloom". Don't they want our green things to grow?

It's been a dry Spring...as it typically is...and I am impatiently waiting for the return of the "afternoon storm" cycle.  When I first moved to Florida in the mid- 1970's, it seemed like you could set your watch by these storms ( 4pm, give or take a few minutes). But these days, the storms are more hit and miss and certainly not to be counted on every day.  Unfortunately for those who have to live with me, my moods are directly tied into the local weather. And I've been known to be pretty cranky when everyone around me is getting some rain, day after day....while I get none. I've been known to sit at the computer watching the radar and cursing every little storm that drifts away from my house. And I certainly know all about the microclimate caused by living just south and east of a lake (Lake Weir) when storms come from the west (they split and go north and south of my house!!!) Let's just say Ocklawaha and Lady Lake get ALL of MY rain!

It rained yesterday (hallelujah!) and then, unexpectedly, it rained again today!! There was only a 20% chance of rain and when I looked at the radar...in all of Central Florida, it was only raining here!  I can't tell you how happy that makes me!!!

 It's raining! (though you may not be able to see the drops)

 filling the rain barrel....

  My rain garden at work.....