Best Landscape Design for Miami, South Florida?

Best Landscape Design for Miami, South Florida?

Let’s talk about the best landscape design options for you. 

Choosing the best landscape design for your Miami, South Florida home sometimes can be tricky. There are many design elements and variables to sort through, it’s easy to see why a person can be confused when trying to decide what the best landscape design is. You want a landscape that’s not only beautiful, but fits your personal needs as well, for example having a tree that provides great shade and fruit, like a mango or avocado tree. You can’t decide whether to go with a Mediterranean look or Tropical Design? You have many design choices with numerous landscape elements to consider.  You’re design should flow with the architecture of your home, inside and out.

Landscape Designer Brent Knoll of Knoll Landscape Design is here to help. Brent has over 20 years of designing gardens in South Florida and has put together his top ten landscape designs for beautifying your outdoor space. In this article he’ll discuss the best landscape design for Miami and the elemental factors that make them work. So what is the best landscape design for your Miami, South Florida home? Here’s Brent’s top ten landscape designs for Miami:

1. Mediterranean Landscape Design Mediterranean gardens are best known for their casual elegance. The inspiration for these gardens comes from the coastal areas of Spain, Italy and France, this landscape style combines relaxed materials and plants with formal accents and designs. Imagine spiral topiaries, lavender, cypress trees and ornamentals combined with terra cotta pots, tiered fountains, roman columns and greek statues. That’s a pretty picture! 

miami mediterranean landscape with flowering trees and sculpted hedges

Mediterranean Landscape Design

2. Tropical Landscape Design– Tropical Landscapes in Miami are a slam dunk as South Florida is…Tropical. Imagaine a Tropical Landscape full of hummingbirds and butterflies, exotic flowering bat plants whose whiskery flowers are 20″ long, fragrant trumpet flowers perfuming the night air and the creaking sound of bamboo as it sways in the wind. Small waterfalls flowing in to ponds filled with papyrus, lotus flowers and koi fish. The icing on the cake is lying in a hammock between two coconuts as you sip cold ginger tea and listen to the birds sing. That’s paradise….Tropical is the best landscape design in Miami and South Florida when it comes to lushness, rapid growth, and plant variety. 

best landscape design

Tropical Landscape Miami

3. Edible Landscape Design– Edible landscaping is an infusion of herbs, fruits and vegetable plants combined with hummingbird and butterfly flora, ornamentals, nectar plants to attract pollinators, fruit trees and shrubs. The object of an edible landscape design is to create a beautiful, yet practical organic garden, one that provides for your basic needs of aesthetics, privacy and shade, but can be eaten from as well. This is a great way to say good by to all that lawn grass and expensive upkeep by planting lot’s of crisp lettuce, fresh herbs and vegetables. Your shade tree becomes a delcious mango tree. Privacy hedge a passion flowering vine on fence giving you fruit all year long. In my opinion, Edible Landscapes are great way to become empowered about growing your own food and setting an example for the community. Are Edible Landscapes the best landscape design for being sustainable, growing food and making the most of your taxable property…Yes! For more information on edible landscaping in Miami, visit our friends Easy Edible Landscapes at http://www.easyediblelandscapes.com

best landscape design

Papaya

4. Certified Wildlife Habitat– These gardens hold a special place in my heart as they’re all about connecting with Nature. With the continued development of Metropolitan properties, more of the natural environment is removed including the soil, to be replaced with huge homes, concrete and small lawns. In my line of work as Landscape Designer, I’m digging all day long in construction fill, bottles, concrete and whatever is left over from the site. The first step for creating balance is to take care of the soil by rejuvenating it with organic material. Then we plant the prettiest of native trees, shrubs, flowering vines, butterfly and bird attracting plants, grasses and ground covers. The result is a outdoor space full of song birds, butterflies fluttering about, frogs singing at night and a place for all to find solace, a natural sanctuary. This is the best landscape design hands down for attracting wildlife to your Miami home. 

best landscape design

Certified Wildlife Habitat

5. Butterfly and Hummingbird Haven– the name says it all! The one consistant element in all my gardens are the butterflies. I can’t help it, they’re so much fun to be around. Always fluttering, chasing and nectaring, so tranquil and elegant. It’s easy to attract butterflies in our temperate climate. In one Miami garden alone, I attracted over 30 of native species. It was butterflies gone wild!!! Great thing about butterfly plants, they also bring in the hummingbirds. Plants like ruby red penta, firebush and firespike are great for nectaring, while corkystem passion vine, milkweed and cassia serve as the larval plants. Combine those elements and you’ve got buffet line for our little friends and entertainment for hours. For attracting butterflies, the butterfly and hummingbird haven is the best landscape design for this purpose. 

best landscape design

Zebra butterfly nectaring on firebush

6. Healing Garden Design– If there’s a garden I’d prefer to install the most, it would be the Healing Garden. In our fast-pacing, chaotic world, it’s easy to feel the effects of stress and become unbalanced or even ill. If you’re looking for an incredible way to bring healing and meditative calm to your space, then you’ve met your future garden. With restoration of the body, mind, and spirit at its heart, it is infused with many divine and delightful elements. We use things like sacred geometry, scent, color, sound therapy, water features, herbal and medicinal plants, meditation and prayer niches, edibles, and various wildlife attractants among others. Imagine being greeted with the fragrance of a joy perfume tree each time you come home from work or relaxing on a bench near a fountain listening to song birds. Butterflies always in chase, hummingbirds nectaring on native flowers. If you want a Sanctuary, a place of solace, Healing Gardens are the best landscape design in Miami for finding balance and peace of mind. 

best landscape design

Healing Garden

7. Sacred Sanctuary Design and Labryths– With our days typically filled with work, home life, social life, hobbies, etc., we can lose sight of the sacred. And yet this part of our life is (for many of us) the most crucial and central need we have. Imagine having a garden truly set apart as a holy place for meditation, prayer, and worship, and as a reminder of all that is divine in your life. We encourage the use of things like sacred geometry, crystals, prayer flags, meditation benches and other sacred symbols as templates for these designs. Wildlife attracting plants like firebush for the butterflies and surnam cherry for the birds will bring balance to any space, ecouraging sanctuary and peace for all. 

best landscape design

Sacred Geometry Design

8. Raised Bed Gardening– Imagine having an organic marketplace in your own back yard! The Raised Bed Garden is a classic approach to growing herbs and vegetables. Raised Bed Gardens are neatly contained and easy to work, this simple design offers everything you need to begin growing the healthy herbs, fruits and vegetables you and your family deserve. Raised bed garden frames can be made with wood, metal, stone or plastic. The wood raised bed frames are build with 2″ pine, cedar, cypress or teak, are normally 2′ to 4′ wide, 4′ to 10′ long, and are 10″ deep, filled with organic soil, seasonally planted with seeds and starter plants and fertilized organically. These little raised garden beds are the best landscape design approach for beginners to grow their own food. 

best landscape design

Raised Bed Garden

9. Bamboo Retreat– Adding bamboo to your landscape can be perfect for many situations. Let’s say you’ve got a building next to your property that you don’t want to see anymore or don’t want your neighbor to see you skinny dipping in your pool, bamboo as a privacy hedge is ideal due to it’s fast growing nature and non invasiveness. (we only install clumping, non running bamboo at Knoll Landscape Design)  The Bamboo Retreat Designs we create are lush, tropical, exotic and elegant, each unique in presentation and impact. Imagine a small bamboo forest surrounding a clear water limestone pool with koi fish, water lillies, orchids and flowering bromeliads, a true vacation getaway in your back yard! 

best landscape design

Bamboo retreat

10. Edible Forest Design– If your tired of throwing money away for costly yard upkeep and want to make the most of your property by growing your own food, then the Edible Forest is the landscape design for you. This sustainable “green” design combines concepts like permaculture and companion planting. This self-sustaining microclimate involves the layering of plants and fruit trees according to height, sun tolerance, and growth habits, creating tiny forests that mimic nature and work in beautiful harmony to produce a constant yield of fresh organic deliciousness! Replace your lawn grass with crisp lettuce, fresh herbs, nutritious vegetables and fruits. Tear out that whitefly destroyed ficus hedge and grow a super sweet surnam cherry hedge. Remove that invasive schefflera tree and plant a mango tree, surrounded by papayas and sweet potatoes. With this new style of landscaping you’ll grow enough food for your family and have enough to give to friends. Edible Forests are the best landscape design for making the most of your organic gardening space. 

best landscape design

Edible Forest Garden

Need a consulation or design?

Whether it’s a mediterranean style landscape with tiered Italian fountains, a Tropical Paradise with exotic orchids and waterfalls, or just showing off your prize lemon tree in your Edible Forest, you have many choices for landscaping your South Florida property. Need direction for where to start first? Maybe a consulation will shed light on what style of landscape best suits your architecture? Have the ideas and just need a landscape design? Knoll Landscape Design is ready to help you get started. With over 20 year designing and installing gorgeous landscapes, Landscape Designer Brent Knoll knows the best landscape design for your property and is just a phone call away at 3054965155. Call today and get your property looking great!

Ficus hedge dying?  Top ten privacy hedges for Miami, South Florida.

Ficus hedge dying? Top ten privacy hedges for Miami, South Florida.

Is your Ficus Hedge Dying? The following article will shed light on the whitefly problems of Miami Dade County and privacy hedge plant options to choose from. 

 

Whitefly have become a serious problem here in South Florida over the last 5 to 10 years. We all know what whitefly is by now right? It’s that cute little, little, little white fly looking thing that attaches itself to the back of plant leaves like ficus hedges and palms. Whitefly has a white fuzzy appearance, when the leaves are shaken, there becomes a cloud of dust, then you see little bugs flying all over. Is your ficus hedge dying? If so, it’s probably whitefly.

In Miami, some species of whiteflies can become serious pests of certain vegetable crops, hedges, greenhouse plants or ornamental plants. Two of the most important species are the greenhouse whitefly, Trialeurodes vaporariorum, and the sweet potato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci. In colder climates, whiteflies die outdoors, but in warmer climates, as well as indoors and in greenhouses, they can reproduce throughout the year with several overlapping generations. 

Biology

Adult whiteflies are about 1⁄10 to 1⁄16 inch long and look like tiny moths (Figure 1). They have four broad, delicate wings that are held rooflike over the body and covered with a white powdery wax. Adult females usually lay between 200 and 400 eggs. Sometimes the eggs are deposited in a circular pattern in groups of 30 to 40 because the female will often keep her mouthparts in the plant to feed while moving her abdomen in a circle.

Within about a week, the eggs hatch into flattened nymphs, called crawlers, that wander about the plant, usually our prize ficus hedge. Soon, they insert their mouthparts into the plant and begin to feed. After their first molt, the nymphs lose their legs and antennae. They attach themselves to the undersides of ficus leaves with several waxlike rods coming from their bodies, giving them the appearance of small white oval scale. The nymphs remain fixed to the plant and feed for about four weeks. After a pupa stage, the adults emerge and live for about one month. Within a population, all life stages are present, and generations often overlap.

Adult whiteflyFigure 1

An adult whitefly.

 

Damage

Ficus Hedge Dying? Whitefly kill ficus by sucking out plant juices. Because large amounts of sap can be removed, primarily by the developing nymphs, heavily infested plants can be seriously weakened and grow poorly. Leaves often turn yellow, appear dry and drop prematurely. (Figure 2).

Also, whiteflies suck out more plant juice than they can digest, and they excrete the excess as a sweet, sticky substance called honeydew. The honeydew covers leaf surfaces and acts as a growth medium for a black, sooty mold. Both the removal of plant juices and the presence of the black, sooty mold growing on the honeydew can interfere with photosynthesis.

In some parts of the country, some species of whitefly can transmit several plant viruses.

Whiteflies suck out plant juicesFigure 2

Whiteflies suck out plant juices. This seriously weakens the plant.

 

Solutions for dealing with whitefly?  Treating ficus hedges with toxic chemicals each month gets very expensive. The toll on the environment is significant as it poisons our water and soil.  In my opinion, it’s easier to work with landscape plants that aren’t susceptible to whitefly than to spray harmful chemicals in an attempt to control them.Hedge material is a great place to start when it comes to dealing with whitefly. Here’s my top ten hedges for South Florida and Miami that are pretty resistant to whitefly. 

 

Is your ficus hedge dying? If so, choose from the list below for hardy shrubs that can stand up to whitefly.

1. Cherry Hedge- 

The shrub or tree, to 25 ft (7.5 m) high, has slender, spreading branches and resinously aromatic foliage. The opposite leaves, bronze when young, are deep-green and glossy when mature; turn red in cold, dry winter weather. They are ovate to ovate-lanceolate, blunt- to sharp-pointed, 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 in (4-6.25 cm) long. Long-stalked flowers, borne singly or as many as 4 together in the leaf axils, have 4 delicate, recurved, white petals d a tuft of 50 to 60 prominent white stamens with pale-yellow anthers. The 7- to 8-ribbed fruit, oblate, 3/4 to 1 1/2 in (2-4 cm) wide, turns from green to orange as it develops and, when mature, bright-red to deep-scarlet or dark, purplish maroon (“black”) when fully ripe. The skin is thin, the flesh orange-red, melting and very juicy; acid to sweet, with a touch of resin and slight bitterness. There may be 1 fairly large, round seed or 2 or 3 smaller seeds each with a flattened side, more or less attached to the flesh by a few slender fibers. Full sun

 

2. Bamboo- textilis gracilis

IMG_2391

 

3. Stopper- 

Native stoppers (small trees/large shrubs in the Myrtaceae) are excellent choices as low- maintenance, salt-tolerant, medium to tall privacy hedges, accepting full sun or partial shade (growth denser in full sun).  Growth is slow to moderate, but patience will be rewarded as they mature into  definite landscape assets.  Stoppers have little to no problems with whitefly and are fairly bug resistant all together. All have striking foliage, new growth often tinged red to pink, and (if not heavily pruned) produce colorful fruit (attracts birds). Full sun. 

 

4. Firebush

Firebush is a showy, fast-growing, semi-woody evergreen shrub that can get up to 15 ft (4.6 m) tall under ideal conditions, but usually stays much smaller. It has whorled leaves, usually with three but occasionally as many as seven at each node. The leaves are elliptic to oval, about 6 in (15 cm) long, and gray-pubescent underneath with reddish veins and petioles. They are reflexed upward from the midvein. Throughout the year, firebush produces showy terminal clusters (cymes) of bright reddish-orange or scarlet tubular flowers, each about 0.75 in (1.9 cm), long. Even the flower stems are red. The clusters of fruit also are showy. Each fruit is a juicy berry with many small seeds, ripening from green to yellow to red and finally to black. Do to it’s fast growing and dense foliage, firebush makes for an ideal privacy hedge as well as a nectaring plant for butterflies and hummingbirds. A firebush plant usually has flowers and fruit in various stages. Loves full sun. Knoll Landscape Design highly recommends this material for a long lasting hedge. 

_DBK8798

 

5. Cocoplum- 

Rounded, shiny green leaves are set off by red-tipped new growth on this most commonly sold variety. The plant produces small white flowers, followed by fruit that’s often made into jelly…or as an attraction in a wildlife garden. The plum is pink and ripens to purple with a fairly bland flavor, and the almond-flavored seeds can be roasted and eaten or crushed for use in cooking. Terrific as hedge shrubs or privacy plants, these native Florida plants can grow to about 15 feet if you let them – though most of the time they’re kept trimmed to around 4 feet. This is an easy-care plant that can be kept more manicured for a formal look or left to grow in its naturally pretty rounded shape in a casual landscape style. There is a “horizontal” cultivar which can be grown as more of a groundcover shrub and is more salt tolerant than “Red Tip” cocoplum.

6. Jamaican Caper- 

This 6- to 20-foot-tall, native shrub is an upright to spreading plant that is related to plant producing edible capers. The evergreen leaves of the Jamaica Caper are lightgreen above, with fine brown scales below. These glossy, oval leaves are folded together when they first emerge and give the plant’s new growth a bronze appearance. The leaves also have a notched tip. Twigs are brownish gray and pubescent. Jamaica Caper flowers have very showy, two-inch-long, purple stamens and white anthers and white petals. The inflorescence is comprised of terminal clusters consisting of 3 to 10 individual flowers. The fruits are 3- to 8-inch-long cylindrical pods containing small brown seeds that are embedded in a scarlet pulp. This is a fabulous privacy hedge and is whitefly resistant. 

7. Jasmine- 

Orange Jessamine is a small, tropical, evergreen tree or shrub growing up to 7 m tall. The plant flowers throughout the year and makes a fabulous hedge no and has little to no problems with whitefly.  Its leaves are glabrous and glossy, occurring in 3-7 oddly pinnate leaflets which are elliptic to cuneate-obovate to rhombic. Flowers are terminal, corymbose,  few-flowered, dense and fragrant. Petals are 12–18 mm long, recurved and white (or fading cream). The fruit of Murraya paniculata is fleshy, oblong-ovoid, coloured red to orange, and grows up to 1 inch in length. This is a full sun hedge and Knoll Landscape Designs favorite! 

Jasmin+Flower

8. Areca Palm-

The Areca Palm, scientific name Dypsis lutescens (synonym: Chrysalidocarpus Lutescens) is a beautiful palm tree from Madagascar. This plant is also known as Butterfly Palm, Yellow Palm, Golden Cane Palm, Madagascar palm and Areca Lutescens and is a superior hedge material. It is a common ornamental in subtropical and tropical regions around the world. Probably it is the most cultivated nursery palm tree. However, it is  endangered and very rare in its natural habitat Madagascar.

The Areca palm is a low maintenance plant and a fast grower. You can grow this exotic plant as a house plant. It will bring a tropical touch into your home and purify the air. The Areca is consistently rated among the best houseplants for removing all indoor air toxins.

The graceful Areca Palm tends to grow in clumps. The adult plant looks like a large bush that can reach 20 feet or more in height with a spread of 5-10 feet making it a great hedge plant for privacy.  As a houseplant it is usually grown much smaller. Landscape designers love this plant for it’s simplicity and grace. Full sun to part shade.

9. Buttonwood

Green buttonwood Conocrpus erectus (and the silver leaf form) is another Florida native sometimes grown as a hedge.  Buttonwood hedges often loose density at the base due to insufficient light (more so the silver leaf form) and misplaced sprinklers.  This detracts from what can otherwise be an attractive hedge, and an especially good choice for coastal properties.  Buttonwood experiences a prolonged period of winter dormancy during which there is little leaf renewal at which time the hedge may lose some density.  If installing green buttonwood as a hedge, look for ‘Momba’ a more compact growing cultivar.  These are full sun and make wonderful hedges in Miami. 

gree

 

10. Fishtail Palms

Need a privacy hedge but don’t want to do the work!?

Landscape Designer Brent Knoll of Knoll Landscape Design is there for you. Brent has over 20 years of landscape design experience in Miami and South Florida and is ready to help you. Call Brent at 30549651555 to schedule a consultation and get the privacy you need today!!!

 

Banana Fun Facts for Edible Landscaping

Banana Fun Facts for Edible Landscaping

Banana Fun Facts for Edible Landscaping

1. A banana is an edible fruit produced by several kinds of large herbaceous florwering plantsi in the genus Musa.  

2. The majority of the bananas grown these days are a clone of one another originating in Southeast Asia which could lead to problems with fungus and soil born diseases. 

3. Musa species are native to tropical Indomalaya and Australia, and are likely to have been first domesticated in Papua New Guinea. 

4. The banana plant is the largest herbaceous flowering plant in the world. That’s one big herb!!!

5. Bananas are one of the easiest edible landscape fruits to grow producing huge clumps of bananas all year long. Usually over 100 bananas in each clump!

6. The banana fruits develop from the banana heart, in a large hanging cluster, made up of tiers (called “hands”), with up to 20 fruit to a tier. Each individual banana is called a finger. 

7. Bananas are naturally slightly radioactive, more so than most other fruits, because of their potassium content and the small amounts of the isotope potassium-40 found in naturally occurring potassium.

8. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Portuguese colonists started banana plantations in the Atlantic Islands, Brazil, and western Africa. Today we consume over 100,000,000,000 annually making them the 4th largest agricultural product in the world. 

9. Bananas like rich organic soil, like composted horse manure. Make your own organic soil with composted vegetable scraps!

10. Edible landscaping with bananas creates microclimates great for growing herbs, vegetables and berries all year long. 

11. Want a great garden idea for growing bananas in your space? Try growing bananas in an edible forest, an edible landscape or in pots in your patio garden. 

12. There are around 1,000 different types of bananas but most are not edible. The banana grown mostly for commercial food is the cavendish. 

13. Ever wonder why organic bananas taste better? Export bananas are picked green, and ripen in special rooms upon arrival in the destination country. These rooms are air-tight and filled with ethylene gas to induce ripening. Gross!!!

14. Ever had fried plantains? Delcious! Plantains or fried bananans constitute a major staple food crop for millions of people in developing countries. In most tropical countries, green (unripe) bananas used for cooking represent the main cultivars. 

15. Easy to grow and fruits all year long in Miami and South Florida, making it my favorite edible landscape plant of all time! 

Go to www.easyediblelandscapes.com for the latest and greatest garden ideas regarding edible landscaping in South Florida. 
Call 3054965155 to have your edible landscape installed today!!!

Power of Plants

Power of Plants

Power of Plants

Like many things in life, we don’t always see the forest for the trees, and losing appreciation for the plant life around us just happens.  We may begin to see our living landscapes as just utilitarian, aesthetic, or even invasive.  While our attitudes may vary, the plant life around us still represents one of the most vital parts of our survival…This is the Power of Plants.

Like all of the natural world, plants are here to give us life, the Power of Plants is amazing.  We eat them, eat the things that eat them, and when we pass on, they recycle our own remains, repeating the process again and again.  We are, in fact, a true product of the landscape of our planet.  With such an undeniably intimate relationship, it would be hard to believe that the indigenous wisdom and humble offerings of the plant kingdom could not be totally vital to life!

Breathe deeply…  In…  Out…  Ahhh, the sweet feeling of vitality rushing through your veins.  Just the simple act of breathing thick, oxygen-rich air is enough to make us say, “THANK YOU, PLANTS!”  Once again, the basic throb the earth’s heart is “heard” from the plants, pumping oxygen into the air to fuel our own bodies.  Even in the involuntary act of breathing, we are partaking in the fruits of the plant world….  Wow.

And the plants just keep giving… There’s really no end to the things our foliated friends do for us.  They blanket our surroundings with the fresh, clear, healing color of green.  They provide medicine and offer up their wisdom to science to help humanity create myriads of healing modalities.  They provide protection from the elements, building and industrial materials, food, and shelter.  Their forests, open plains, and deserts evoke emotions and fuel spiritual growth with the quiet lessons they whisper.  They surround us with natural art, dramatic, colorful, subtle, intricate, and mesmerizing…  And scent…  Fresh cut grass, an open rose warmed lightly in the midmorning sun, or crushed lemongrass…  If you stop for a minute and think of all the things plants GIVE to us, you can’t help but hear them all whispering, “I love you. I’m here for you.” 

So, perhaps not seeing the whole forest… but just seeing a single tree… can be a great thing.  The next time you look at an ordinary tree or bush, or walk across your lawn, take a moment to realize the impact of that green space.  What feeds there, rests there, takes shade or cover or raises it’s young there?  If we can realize the impact of the presence of each plant around us, we just may see the world with completely new eyes…Thank you Universe, I bow to the Power of Plants.

Making your landscape into a butterfly haven!

Making your landscape into a butterfly haven!

Making your landscape a butterfly garden

South Florida hosts wide range of exquisite butterfly species. More than a dozen or so types of butterflies can be seen around our area all year. Swallowtails, Zebras, Fritillaries, and Monarchs are just a few of the majestic little garden dwellers that you have the opportunity to encounter in your very own yard. Seeing as there are so many butterflies in our South Florida landscapes, it makes a great deal of sense that there are so many native plants in our area that are butterfly attractors.

butterfly garden

Two monarchs getting to know one another

 

Butterflies have a very intimate relationship with plants; they feed on the nectar of flowers and lay their eggs on leaves and stems. Native plants have become markedly dependable for their nourishment and shelter, and so by incorporating more native butterfly plants in our landscape and gardens we will become an honored host. Plant these host plants and you’ll have a thriving butterfly garden in no time. 

One of the best plant choices to bring butterflies into your life is Milkweed. Butterflies absolutely love milkweed nectar and you will love how their striking orange, pink, and red flowers liven up your landscape or garden. Milkweed is also relatively inexpensive and, living up to its name, grows very quickly in virtually any soil condition. As a South Florida native, milkweed, in addition to its butterfly attraction, will do wonderful things for your soil and surrounding ecology. Milkweed is an important element in any butterfly garden.

butterfly garden

Queen butterflies having lunch

When you attract butterflies to your garden with food they will come and go, but when you give them a place to lay their eggs, well they’ll be there all the time! There are many plants in South Florida that are larval plants, however few compare to the Corky Stem Passion Vine. The corky stem is a larval plant to Zebras, several types of Fritillaries, and the Julia butterflies. The corky stem passion vine is also reasonably priced and grows very rapidly. This is an ideal vine for privacy fences. The flowers are not especially striking however the massive clouds of gorgeous twirling butterflies more than make up for that.

butterfly garden

Corky stem passion vine

A very important consideration for butterfly attraction is to be mindful of any chemicals you might be using in your garden. Butterflies are very fragile creatures. Commercial fertilizers, pesticides, and fungicides are lethal to butterflies and their larva. Brent uses safe organic means of pest control but even some of his organic methods must be undertaken with great care to preserve the winged beauty of his garden spaces. Brent uses an organic pest control product that is essentially an organic bacteria. This bacteria has no effect on the plant but it is toxic to caterpillars and other bugs that feed on our fruit and vegetable plants. When Brent is spraying this on his tomatoes, peppers, squash, and other edible plants he must very carefully avoid getting any of it on his butterfly plants. Brent remains vigilant in his application of these agents and, as a true lover of butterflies, takes the greates care in keeping them safe and comfortable in his gardens.

There are so many bright, vibrant, and beautiful butterfly plants that can be utilized in our area all year long, and Brent knows them all. In Brent’s garden, when you are experiencing the breathtaking display of endless swarms of butterflies as far as you can see, it is difficult to imagine at that moment that there could be any butterflies anywhere else. When Brent unleashes his famous, “Butterflies Gone Wild” it surely seems as though every butterfly in South Florida is in eager attendance.

butterfly garden

Butterflies transcend all ages

Landscape Designer Brent Knoll knows butterflies and Brent knows butterfly plants. Whatever the taste and whatever the budget, Brent can turn your home yard and garden into a favorite destination for butterflies everywhere. Give him a call today at 3054965155 and turn your South Florida landscape into a butterfly haven!

butterfly garden