Color
Flowers and colorful crops
A crate label is a still life of what the county actually grew. In Orange, Seminole, and Osceola that still life is zinnia, pentas, tomato, pepper, okra, collard, and dooryard citrus — not peony and not a temperate apple. Gardening Solutions is the plant list. Heat and rain are the editor.
Flowers that hold
Pentas, zinnia, porterweed, salvia, and cosmos take sun if they are watered. Use them as beetle bloom and as the color in a photograph. Deadhead zinnias. Replace alyssum when it cooks.
Crops that color a crate
Okra, peppers, eggplant, and sweet potato take summer. Tomatoes and most brassicas are fall and late-winter crops here. Collards ride the cool months. Write the season on the card, not a wish.
| Subject | Central Florida window | Beetle note |
|---|---|---|
| Tomato | Late winter–spring; again in fall | Aphids on flush |
| Pepper / okra | Warm season | Hunters on tender tips |
| Collard / kale | Cool season | Aphids in still weather |
| Zinnia / pentas | Warm, if watered | Adult pollen |
Dooryard citrus
HS132 still puts sweet orange first in the home landscape and uses freeze as the siting line. Aphids and sooty mold on flush are where Cycloneda often works. Do not oil a tree in bloom or in a heat spike without reading the citrus chapter.
Questions
When is the harvest?
When the plant actually fruits. This journal does not invent bins, dates, or an I-grew-this log.
Sources
- Vegetable gardening in Florida. Crops for Florida seasons.
- HS132 Citrus Culture in the Home Landscape. Dooryard sweet orange. Freeze is the line that matters.
- UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions. Home-garden hub.