I love growing plants. I have been at it since I was five years old. Mom and dad had a big tent witch they set up in the back yard that year. It was a big tent, and killed a big spot in the yard. I decided to plant a garden in the bare spot. I started by collecting plants, mostly cactus, from the surrounding vacant lots. I have been at it since. It's like an addiction. Even when I was living in the dorms at Yellowstone I had a Fuscia plant on the windowsill.
I still like cacti.
Orchids are probably my favorite. Part of that is because the plants themselves, and sometimes the flowers, are strange. Part of that is because the flowers are so beautiful, and there are so many kinds. Part of it is because the plants are tough and easy to grow, especially in south Florida.
It's not just the Florida climate either. I had a couple dozen orchids when I lived in the rainy Willamette Valley of Oregon, and they did just fine. Florida's climate does allow you to keep them outside year round, unless it threatens to freeze or a hurricane approaches. When this happens my house looks like a jungle because I take them inside. Actually for freezes lately I gather them together and keep them under a lawn sprinkler till the ice melts off of them. It's pretty scary seeing orchids encased in ice, but it has worked quite well for me. Otherwise they hang in trees, on awnings, or in the portable, modular orchid house I built (I got tired of leaving stuff behind when I move). When I get around to it I will put up plans for the orchid house. I pot most of them in cheap xeriscape pumice rock, or tie them to sticks of wood, fertilize every other week (or every month or...) with Miracle Grow (watch out for "orchid fertilizer - it's usually meant for orchids growing in bark chips), water every now and then if it doesn't rain, and watch them grow and bloom. Yes, the plants can be a bit pricey, but if you are patient you can get smaller cheaper plants, or make friends with other orchid growers and get free plants, and they can live a very long time, so it's worth it.
The American Orchid Society's OrchidWeb is a decent place to learn more about orchids. Check them out. If you want to grow orchids, educate yourself on what that type of orchid needs. The amount of light is important, along with the amount of water. A few need a resting period. Experiment too. If an orchid looks kind of yellowish and stunted, try moving into a little bit less light. If you get lush dark green growth, but never any flowers, then try a bit more light.
Carnivorous plants are another favorite. The big trick with them is water. Most are swamp plants, so lots of it. Chlorine or minerals in tap water can kill them quick, so use rain water or distilled water. Fertilizer also kills them. They catch their own food, remember?
I like growing vegetables too. A vegetable garden in coastal south Florida is a big challenge. The soil is nearly pure sand. It repels water. If you add topsoil or compost it oxidizes away in a season or two. The soil is also infested with nematodes that stunt your plants roots. There are an amazing variety of bugs that will eat the plants. At this house there are thousands of really big exotic snails that love to feed on my garden, especially the lettuce and peppers. Summers are brutally hot and humid, with sometimes violent thunderstorms. Winter is the prime growing season. It's cooler, but there is often drought, or damaging wind from storms, and it might freeze.
I have tried growing some tropical vegetables here the past few years. I got most of them from ECHO. They also have some downloadable publications about tropical agriculture, and about low tech technologies for people who do it. Regular seed varieties are more suited to Kansas or someplace like that than Florida. You can get them to grow with a lot of soil amendments and water and fertilizer and such, but I don't care for so much work and expense.
The Seminole pumpkin did not do very well, they died before they made pumpkins. The queensland lettuce seedlings were devoured. The one surviving plant did well though.
The pigeon peas are growing awfully slowly. I didn't like them, so I didn't replant. The pigeons got most of the peas.
The chaya started slow, but has grown steadily with no care at all to the point I have to hack the bushes back to keep them from taking over the yard. I only just (12/04) found out how to cook it so it isn't posionous. I haven't done the experiment yet to see if I like the taste.
The African okra grew slowly and was eventually devoured by bugs and or snails. Now, I have had okra palnts grow fantasticaly for me other places on South Florida, but not here.
The Jamaican amaranth grew like the weed it is, but I didn't especially like the taste. It reminded me of poke greens, or maybe spinach with chocolate in it.
The Malabar spinach and the Thai long beans grew fantastically well, heavy production, yummy too. In subsequent years I have noticed the Malabar spinach produces a lot more during the summer. It goes to seed too quickly in winter. One especially rainy summer the long beans were hit by some fungus that killed them. Then I saved seed, but didn't grow any for a while, and the bugs got to my seed. When I planted the few that were left the snails got all of them.
I started some sweet potatoes from a sweet potato gotten from the grocery store. I did it mostly as a ground cover. The vines grow like weeds. I haven't dug any of the roots yet. I also did the same with one of those Caribbean root veggies, mangala (spelling?) or some such. It made a pretty elephant ear type plant that stayed sort of small and lived for several years. I also have read that the plant I think is the same as the common giant elephant ear that acts like an invasive weed around here is a vegetable in Brazil, but I haven't figured out if what is growing in my yard is the exact same plant as I read about.
I have planted some black eye peas from a bag of dried peas from the grocery. They are doing well. I planted them mainly to enrich the soil, just scattered them in a thick mulch bed around a new clump of bananas, really thickly. But, they are producing in spite of being so crowded. I hate the traditional black eyed peas, the mature things boiled in a pot. So, I may try harvesting the little immature pods and stir frying them like I did the long beans, which are actually a type of black eye.
I have experimented with growing rice. It grows much better in a pot than in the ground so far. As usual, the critters eat the plants in the ground too much. My birds love the sprays of fresh rice better than the sprays of millet, which they are crazy for. I have never been able to get the spray millet to grow well here. It stays tiny.
Lemongrass and Thai basil both grow like weeds, they self seed everywhere they get water. Now, I just have to find a kafir lime tree, and set a vat of minnows to rotting for fish sauce, and I would be set for Thai food.
I am starting some peach palms from seed. In three to five years I should know if I like the fruit or not. Assuming that I don't kill the baby palms that are sprouting. Even if I don't like the fruit they should make a very pretty and unusual ornamental. Maybe I will harvest the hearts of palm when the clumps get too big, I know I like that, at least when it's fresh.
Here is a computer-generated list of most of my plants, at least the ones that grow in containers.
And here is a list of gardening websites I found at least mildly interesting.
Keep in
mind there are my experiences. Yours might be different. I might have had
better luck with the pumpkins and pigeon peas if I planted them
in the main garden beds where the soil is better.