The wish list

We all have wishes.  Hopes.  Dreams.

Source: sarahraven.com via Pastorjoelle on Pinterest

I have a wish for a beautiful meadow filled with flowers to attract wildlife.  The hope is for Florida-friendly and native plants that are non-invasive.  I also have a dream of a successful vegetable garden.

When my dear husband was setting up his fish tank, he created a list of all the fish he had hopes of caring for.  I love lists!  He went back and forth with his list a few times, changing and editing.  I have done the same with my plant list.  It is a very LONG list.

I have been doing research and learning how to garden in Florida:  what are the best plants for this area, how to begin a garden,  how to maintain a the soil, and much more.  The point that continues to be made in every book, blog, and website is that Florida gardening is like gardening on another planet.

The best advise that I have taken from all the research is...take it one step at a time; be patient!  Last year I tried to change the whole yard.  Little success was made.  This year I am going to take one section at a time.

The wishlist so far

Annual
Black eyed susan Redbeckia hista (su, f)
Blanket flower Gaillardia pulchella (y) considered short lived perennial
Phlox
     - drummondii (sp) native to Texas
     - nivalis (sp) trailing phlox native to northern Florida
Tickseed Coreopsis spp. (sp, s, f depending on species) according to UF/IFAS website there are 13 native species of tickseed in Florida

Perennial
Beard flower Pogonia ophioglossoides (sp, s)
Blackberry lily Belamcanda chinensis (s, f)
Blazing star
     - Liatris elegans (f)
     - Liatris spicata (s) Dense blazing star
Blue porterweed Stachytarpheta jamaicensis (y) we are at the tip of it's growing range
Cosmos Cosmos bipinnatus (sp, f)
Daylily
Lupine
     - Lupinus diffusus 
     - Lupinus perennis (sp, s)
Milkweed Asclepias spp. (y)
     - Butterfly weed Asclepias tuberosa
     - Savvanah milkweed Asclepias pedicellata
     - Whorled milkweed Asclepias verticallata
     - Green antelopehorn Asclepias viridis
Paintbrush 
     - Carphephorus corymbosus (f)
     - Carphephorus odoratissimus
Powderpuff or Sensitive plant Mimosa strigillosa (y)
Rain lily Zwohyranthes
Salvia Salvia spp.
     - Black and blue Salvia guarentica (sp, su)
     - Forsythia sage Salvia madrenis (f)
     - Hot lips sage Salvia Microphylla (y)
     - Lyreleaf sage Salvia lyrata
     - Red sage salvia coccinea (y)
     - Snow nymph salvia coccinea snow nymph (y)
     - Wendy's wish salvia wendy's wish (y)
Spider lily Hymenocallis latifolia (s)
Stokes Aster Stockesia laevis
Tampa Verbain Glandularia Tampensis

Grasses
Chalky Bluestem Andropogon virginicus variety glauca
Elliot love grass Eragrostis elliottii
Lopsided Indian grass Sorghastrum secundum
Muhly grass Muhlenbergia capillaris
Purple love grass Eragrostis spectabilis
Sand cordgrass Spartina bakerii
Wiregrass Aristida beyrichiana
Pineywoods dropseed Sporobolus junceus

Vine
Purple Passion vine Passiflora incarnata
Dutchman's Pipevine Aristolochia elegans
Coral Honeysuckle Lonicera sempervirens

Shrub
American beauty berry Callicarpa americana
Florida cracker rose Louis Philippe Rosa
Florida flame azalea Rhododendron Austrinum
Blackberry
     - Rubus apache     
     - Rubus cuneifolius pursh Sand blackberry
Blueberry (southern highbush cultivars)
     - Emerald
     - Jewel
     - Sweetcrisp
     - Farthing
Raspberry (not really recomended)
     - Dorman red (not a great taste)
     - Heritage

Water plants
Banana Plant Nymphoides aquatica
Iris Iris virginica
Mosquito Fern Azolla caroliniana
Pickerelweed Pontederia cordata
Tape/Eel Grass Vallisneria americana
Water lily
a wealth of info at http://www.wildflower.org/collections/collection.php?start=0&collection=FL_central&pagecount=100

My dear husband took me on a trip for the V-day holiday...

Black and Blue Salvia

Budding Louis Philippe Rose

If one red rose says "I love you" what does a whole bush say?