Hmmmmm.......let's see now, "they" are telling us we are losing our canopy in South Florida. It's critical from what we hear.

You will have to excuse me, I have just come from doing business at some of the Spring Garden shows in the area. I must be honest, I am full of the questions, questions I appreciate receiving and did receive from many of you..... and others throught the County Extension Office. If I put them in a big basket, (Martha Stewart of course) they would have all been pretty much the same theme this year. "I can't seem to grow anything, how do I grow this and keep it alive, how do you grow this, what makes this grow. I kill everything I touch, why?"

Seems our canopy started here a few years before any of us got here. It was... a rainforest before we arrived, subtropical to areas of being tropical, now I am talking SOUTH Florida, you know, the 51st State, South of Lake Ocheechobee.

Why is it critical we are losing the canopy? Oh, I could go on forever (let us hope it can) about it's merit, but we are talking about answering all those questions. First of, maybe the fact we have nearly tripled in population in last 15 years and had to "develop...ment" so we could all have a place to live. So we took out the trees with the glades because it did not matter because everything grows fast in South Florida anyway. Then we found out all those Kajeput trees from Australia brought in by Dr. David Fairchild caused discomfort to some of us.....whack!... and speaking of Australian, what about those Pines, you know the ones that grow so tall and kind of whistle in the night breeze, the ones that are so messy, ....and speaking of messy, you know those beautiful flowered trees, the ones we all look for and plant when we first move here, like the Tabebuias and the Golden Rain Tree and the Kong Kong Orchid and the Frangipani and the Sunshine tree, now they are messy they drop those flowers and what little leaves they have all over our nicely manicured lawns.....and speaking of stuff on the lawns, what about the native tree the Gumbo Limbo, it grows so fast, it stands any storm, bit it drops leaves easy and the bark peels....and those fruit trees, once a year they drop all those fragrant flowers on the lawn, and the fruit, what about the mangos that go squish when they fall?...whack!... and you know that Royal Poinciana, you know the bright orange red one that is covered with blossoms every years, it just jumps out at you, talk about all over your lawn? ...whack!>>>>> and all those trees WE are trying to control from spreading their seedlings or suckers for the sake of NATURE? Oh,... for the sake of the lawn. So why all this self mutilation for what we all do? Canopy friends....C-A-N-O-P-Y... lawns do not create, promote or enhance canopy. Canopy is a rainforest, without a canopy you do not get a rainforest. Without a canopy you get ....desert. For the sake of the lawn we allow the "Weed Whip" to come in so it will look "manicured". When the whip hits the Palm tree, the Golden Tabebuia, the bushes it cuts the cambium layer, a nice neat circle which if completed on a tree a bush will cut off all ability for it to heal itself and on a Palm will never heal. More canopy material deceased or gone.

This may be a shock to some of us (and please listen here now because I am going to answer a whole bunch of those questions), tropical plants, to grow properly and be beautiful, need a canopy.

Yes, MOST of our exotic tropicals need more shade than light for proper growth. Again, the Canopy becomes important. Lawns not only remove canopy in the ways we have discussed, lawns encroaching on trees and garden areas rob nutrients and water from the plants it surrounds. Lawns can actually choke out and kill other plants. Annuals can do the same. Both are water robbers in the least.

Back to how to get those beautiful, tropical plants to grow and be lush...how to have a beautiful tropical landscape. Start with a canopy. I must tell you in my daily business I look at a lot of landscapes. I would venture to say, many of the most used plants for our yards in South Florida are improperly planted. How improperly? Planted too deep, planted where too much water is given them, planted with the grass growing too close, planted around the base of trees, ... but the number one mistake I see is planted in too much light, the right plant for your eyeball in the wrong place for it's light.

What do we have more than anything else in Florida (besides people and cars)...SUN. Jungle, Rainforest, Tropical, doesn't matter what you call it, it all relates to Canopy, Canopy is shade. The most common example I can think of is Shell Ginger, a beautiful plant with very colorful yellows and greens in leaf variegation, stands straight and tall with beautiful cascading flowers... in the shade of a canopy... in sun, dry appearing and shriveled and bleached yellow and brown leaves.

Really want to see a what a canopy looks like? There are many nearby locations. Email me and I will give you all you wish. One of note, I spent this past weekend under its shady roof, Flamingo Gardens, south of I-595 on Flamingo Road, where by the way, I must brag, my plants took "Best of Show" out of about 40 vendors. This is a beautiful Park, close by, with easy access, and many exotic tropicals.

Because I am so late to "press" this month, I will save individual Question and Answer and "Thoughts While Watering" to next issue with the exception of one question I heard many times and it's answer by the individual questioner...."Why is my ??? plant not growing, I have had it planted many times, I spent so much and it always dies"... ( now, I realize many of us just do not have the time we would like to pay attention to the details of plant cultivation and therefore leave the refinements to another "person of service"). When I asked the questions of how and where and why they planted it how they did,... the questions I need to ask to search to find the reason for the failure they are looking for, they had the answer all along, ... Oh,.... I had the LAWN man do it...... oh,... those lawns....!