Yankee's Guide to Florida Gardening

by Hank Bruce, Marlene Bruce

Gardening in Florida isn't like it was up north. Here you will be growing bedding plants twelve months a year, pick your own grapefruit for Christmas, dig the tulip bulbs and put them in the refrigerator while you leave amaryllis, caladiums and dahlias in the ground all year. We have to learn a whole new pattern of seasons. Us Yankees look in vain for lilacs and blue spruce, instead we find Norfolk Island Pine and Crape Myrtle. We grow strange things like kumquats, loquats and papayas, but cherries won't grow here. When we move down here we have to learn a bunch of new and weird plants.
We are confronted with bugs that never rest and weeds that grow nonstop. We face problems like drought, poor soil, nematodes and lovebugs. But we also have opportunities to landscape every month of the year, hang orchids in the oak trees and never shovel snow again. We have to learn how to handle both the good and the bad of a subtropical backyard.
This book is to help you make that adjustment from northern gardening to the exciting, rewarding, and yes, sometimes even challenging, world of a Yankee gardening in Florida.
Welcome to your Florida backyard.

168 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1995

About the author

During my lifetime I have had the opportunity to meet a multitude of fascinating people It’s not the rich and famous, but the everyday people who have, time after time, taught me valuable lessons, and shown me by their actions what it means to be an everyday hero. There is no such thing as a common man, but there are billions of delightfully unique fellow human beings, and each one has something to teach me.

I have been a horticultural therapist, hunger activist, teacher, speaker and writer. Together with my wonderful, and incredibly patient wife, Tomi Jill Folk we have written over 20 books ranging from writing specifically for for senior citizens to children’s books. Much of their writing involves the field of therapeutic gardening and hunger issues. They have also authored several collections of short stories.

From 1999 through 2002 Tomi and I worked with Walt Disney World to design and staff a horticultural therapy showcase called The Opportunity Garden during the annual six week EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival. We also spoke on the subject four days each of the six weeks. This experience led to the creation of “Gardens for the Senses, Gardening as Therapy” Recently this book was revised and expanded edition http://amazon.com/dp/1484909569 continues to be our best selling title.

We have had the opportunity to work with Miho Komatsu, a gifted artist, in the creation of “Miracle of the Moringa Tree,” http://amazon.com/dp/1460949234 a children’s book that shows how the nutritious leaves of this tree can save lives in some of the most difficult parts of the world and how the seeds can be used to provide safe drinking water. Tomi and I was working with Miho to produce “The Children’s Peace Garden,” to be released in August 2014. All of our books are available on Amazon.com and many are available in Kindle format.

The ideas, thoughts and comments of readers are important to a writer. I welcome the opportunity to communicating with and learning from you.

Reviews

[Jeannie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was perfect for me since I am planning a move to FL this year and was wondering if any of my plants could be taken with. I enjoyed the "neighbor over the fence" style of writing. Very informative for me!