container plants
 

I am an avid container gardener in MI in the summer. Down here, however, I am having trouble finding much of a selection of annuals for containers. I'm new to TV. Are there any nurseries around that would have more of a selection than Home Depot?

Not sure it is the time of the year here for annuals. My husband just planted pansies which are a cold weather plant. Normally it is not that warm around here this time of the year. We get our plants at Lowe's and Home Depot and they normally have a nice variety.

Have you tried Village Palms on 466 just before Rolling Acres Road? They have the annuals that are appropriate for with-standing the cooler temperatures of the winter months.

As I am not having success with posting a link, try this:

Google "Gardening with Annuals in Florida". Click on site.

You will find comprehensive charts provided by University of Florida Extension. Scroll down to the see the charts.
Ours is the chart for Central Florida.

This will show you what annuals work here, what months to plant your selections and how long they typically last before they decline.

Additionally, there will be helpful footnotes on many varieties. And, the garden centers WILL have them at the right time.

You'll find that many of the annuals we are familiar with (I'm a native Chicago girl) can be perennial down here!

I love this chart.

Container Gardening
 

I think this is the link to the information you mention. CIR1134/MG319: Gardening with Annuals in Florida

As Uptown Girl said, the plants in the stores now are the ones for this time of the year in this area. The big box stores guarantee their plants to grow, so they are not going to stock something which will not do well at this time of the year. As the weather and the ground warms up, more and more container plants will be in the big box stores.

Thanks to Uptown Girl and Madelaine Amee for this good info. I have geraniums and pansies for the planter. I guess I'll just go with that till the season changes. We will be going north from June to end of Sept, but I may be able to take one planter up with us.

Have you been to Fairfield Farms Nursery? Beautiful nursery with lots of nice plants & a much bigger variety than any big box. And it's close to TV, just go west on 466 to Hwy 301, then north approx 1/2 mile & it's on the left......you can't miss it. And just a bit further north on 301 is John Deere Nursery. It was closed when we went by there on a Sunday.

http://fairfieldfarmsthevillages.com/

Thank you so much, Serenoa. That is what I was looking for, a private garden center.

Glad I could be helpful. But I was only able to suggest Fairfields because someone else on TOTV recommended it in an earlier thread a few months ago. In December we visited TV for the first time, and being an avid gardener I HAD to check out a few local nurseries. Our time was limited so I only was able to squeeze in Fairfields & Village Palms, but I'm sure there are probably other good locally owned ones as well.

Even though we're still at least a couple of years away from moving to TV, let me know if you run across any other worthwhile nurserys, and I'll be sure to put them on my list to see.

thanks!

I shall make a project out of "digging" up and visiting nurseries!

And good quality also!!!!

We were coming back south from 441 yesterday, and I tried to find Fairfield on the GPS so we could hop over there, but no luck. I couldn't remember the directions and which way on 301. Now I've got it down pat and plan to go there this week. Their web site looks enticing.