clitoria aka butterfly pea vine
clitoria tematea

days to maturity: 60 days
plant spacing: 1-3 plants per square foot, trellised
sunlight requirements: 8-14 hours
look out for: thrips
harvest notes: harvest flowers daily
annual

Clitoria, commonly known as “pea vine” or “butterfly pea”, is a tropical plant native to temperate areas of the world, including Southeast Asia and Madagascar, where the flowers are often used as a food dye or dipped in batter and deep-fried. In Thailand, the blue flowers are traditionally used to make purple rice, which you do by making your rice with a handful of the flowers and then adding a splash of citrus, usually lime to change the color to purple. This is a super fun way to add color to your diet and include kids in the kitchen. Raising the pH of the water (usually by adding lemon juice) makes the infusion go from blue to purple. You can also infuse these flowers in coconut milk to make sweet blue tinted deserts, or throw your daily harvest of flowers into a bottle of liquor to turn it blue.

Although the seed pod is not edible, we love growing Clitoria in gardens and at the farm, allowing it to climb up any unused fence space and produce beautiful edible & medicinal bright blue flowers. Butterfly pea vine starts its growth slowly but then ramps up during the hottest months of the year, growing quickly and flowering profusely. We harvest the flowers daily for sale to chefs and to dry for teas and we are amazed when we come back to one mature plant day after day and find it full of flowers; the amount of flowers one plant can produce is astounding. Leave a few flowers on your plant to get pollinated and make brown seed pods and you’ll have plenty of pea vine seeds for next season. If you don’t get around to harvesting all of your seed pods they will burst open at maturity and self seed easily. Pollinators like bees and butterflies love to visit this plant, and sometimes when we are harvesting flowers we have to shake bees out of every one!

In Southeast Asian countries communities have been brewing and drinking medicinal butterfly pea vine tea for centuries, and it's just now becoming more popular in America. The traditional recipe is to brew the flowers along with lemongrass. The bright blue tea flavor is earthy and woody, similar to green tea, and is prized for being highly medicinal and containing compounds beneficial for healthy skin. Clitoria is known to be a nootropic, meaning it stimulates circulation to the brain, enhances memory cognition and supports the pituitary gland.

Our resident herbalist Jules says: “I love to blend it with Tulsi, Rosemary and Sage for a warm morning brew. It also makes a delicious herbal latte that is an amazing substitute for coffee in my opinion. When drunk regularly, the flowers can help the female reproductive system return to balance and can help treat menstrual issues like irregular menses or heavy flow and cramping. The infusion from the flowers is known to calm the system down and may help alleviate stress, anxiety and depression.”

Carmine Globe Amaranth/ Gomphrena
Gomphrena haageana

days to maturity: 95 days
plant spacing: 1 plant per square foot
sunlight requirements: 8-14 hours
look out for: not much!
harvest notes: great in bouquets
annual

Carmine Globe Amaranth, botanically known as Gomphrena, is a relative of the
amaranth family (Amaranthacea). This giant family of plants is predominantly tropical and mostly edible, making it a great option for us in South Florida; this family is also where we get greens like callaloo and amaranth grain for cereals. Much like it’s close relative celosia, these little button shaped blooms make great dried flowers because they keep their shape and color perfectly. We’ve found the tough papery blooms to be pretty unpalatable, but try them as sweet decorations on cakes and drinks! They are also commonly used in long lasting leis in Hawai’i and as part of flower crowns and boutonnieres around the world. This bright magenta variety is a particularly tough plant and known for it’s pest resistance and handling a wide range of weather. They grow into knee high bushy plants with slightly fuzzy, grayish leaves. Even if you don’t end up cutting them for your flower decorations, they make a cute addition to gardens as a border or companion plants. Blooms come in all season, but are most prolific if they are harvested often.

Blanket flower, double
Gaillardia ‘Lorenziana’

days to maturity: 90 days
plant spacing: 1 plant per square foot
sunlight requirements: 6-14 hours
look out for: not much!
harvest notes: native wildflower
perennial

Also known as Blanket Flower, Gaillardia is a sturdy native perennial with bright flowers that bloom throughout the summer and into the fall. We plant this special ornamental variety of Blanket Flower as a cut flower at our farm. Gaillardia can be planted anywhere in the state and will tolerate extreme heat, sun, sandy soils, even salt, making it a great choice for the coastal landscape. Its nice to plant varieties that do well in our state and love our weather, because well... its nice to watch them thrive!

durango outback mix marigolds
tagetes patula

days to maturity: 50 days
plant spacing: 2 plants per square foot
sunlight requirements: 8-14 hours
look out for: mealy bugs at the base
harvest notes: pop flowers off the plant 2-3 days per week
annual

Glorious marigolds flower in the colors of the sun: brilliant yellow, bold orange, rich gold and russet tones, and electric red. They’ve enchanted generations with their matchless colors. prolific blooms and drought tolerance. Its edible flowers are held either well above the fine-textured, dark green foliage or tucked in with the foliage, depending on the cultivar. They brighten up any sunny area in the landscape and attract attention. This variety is a mix of colors so you never know what you’ll get from plant to plant. All marigolds are edible and we recommend popping the flower off of the stem, then cutting all the petals out of the green calyx in one quick snip. The marigold petals are then used like sprinkles, and its a great way to fancy up all of your salads and cakes. Marigolds can also be used as a material for dyeing. All marigold varieties including this one are said to help deter pests because of their pungent aroma. While there is little evidence to prove that this companion planting technique works theres no harm in including marigolds in your veggie garden regardless, since they’re edible, beautiful and potentially pest deterrent.

citrus gem marigolds
tagetes tenuifolia

days to maturity: 60 days
plant spacing: 3 plants per square foot
sunlight requirements: 8-14 hours
look out for: spider mites
harvest notes: harvest 1-2” long tips with stem, flowers & leaves
annual

Hundreds of petite flowers cover neat, low mounds of lacy foliage with a citrusy scent. This edible flower species is one of our favorites because of its long-blooming beauty for beds, borders and containers where it attracts beneficial insects such as hoverflies, bees and butterflies with its showy flowers. Leaves of the plant are edible and are used as flavorful salad greens and garnish. Also known as signet marigold or citrus lace, we grow this adorable plant through the farming season for local chefs and bartenders. Its especially popular in restaurant gardens because if you were to buy this as a crop from a specialty produce vendor you'd pay more than 33 cents per dinky little leaf! Use the edible flowers to dress up salads and desserts or cooked in egg or rice dishes. Flavor is floral with hints of citrus and spice, and slightly bitter. We like to harvest whole little branches for chefs instead of single flowers, because the stem & flowers are flavorful too and when they’re all combined with a few buds too its super cute. All marigold varieties including this one are said to help deter pests because of their pungent aroma. While there is little evidence to prove that this companion planting technique works theres no harm in including marigolds in your veggie garden regardless, since they’re edible, beautiful and potentially pest deterrent.

Flaming Celosia
Celosia argentea var. spicata

days to maturity: 90 days
plant spacing: 1 plant per square foot, trellised
sunlight requirements: 8-14 hours
look out for: worms in the growing tip
harvest notes: clip flowering tips as needed
annual

Flamingo Celosia is a variety of tropical friendly amaranth that we grow in our gardens for production of its showy, edible, variegated leaves and beautiful flower spikes. The celosia flower is already quite dry in nature, lasting a long time on the plant and even longer in a vase. You can also cut the flowers and hang them upside down to use as a dry flower for arrangements. 

Amaranth is commonly grown throughout the world for its edible grain, and many Caribbean & African countries use the leaves as cooked greens in traditional dishes like the stewed green ‘callaloo’. In the permaculture community, we have also heard this variety referred to as ‘Lagos Spinach’, when grown for its edible leaf crop. Amaranth leaves contain more protein than spinach and high amounts of Vitamin A, Folate, Magnesium & Vitamin K.

Flamingo celosia is a much larger plant than many of the other colorful ornamental celosia varieties grown by flower farms, so make sure to give it lots of space. With a long hot growing season the plant will reach its peak size of about 6 feet tall and it creates a large shrub with hundreds of pointed blossoms. If harvested and pruned heavily it can stay smaller so its up to you how big and competitive this plant will be in your garden. For some reason, Celosia seeds are quite pricey online, but the plant makes tons of them and they are easy to gather and save. Once the flowers start to fade in color at the base and the flowers pop open you can simply cut and shake the flower spike into a bag and save for next season.

Orange Sulphur Cosmos
Cosmos sulphureus

days to maturity: 50
plant spacing: 1 plants per 2 square feet
sunlight requirements: 8-14 hours
look out for: 
harvest notes: not edible, harvest flowers as needed
annual

We aren't sure of the exact name of this variety of cosmos but it looks like they are a Mexican variety of Sulphur cosmos due to their very large growing habit. If you've grown delicate little pink and white cosmos from the north before this plant is WAY BIGGER and more like a flowering shrub than a puny cut flower variety. One of our garden clients, Rachel from Miami Waterkeeper saw this plant growing at the Miami Zoo and was so impressed by its size, height and the flowers that she grabbed a handful of seeds and passed them on to us. We grew a few out, fell in love too, and have saved enough seeds of our own to start propagating the plants for sale. Cosmos don't last long in the vase but they are beautiful while they last and beautiful on the plant too if you just want to enjoy them outside. 

Sulphur Cosmos are a tender annual flowering plant that gets about 6 feet tall and just as wide if allowed to spread out. Flowers top rangy sprays which, if removed later, will promote denser plants and more flowers. This plant is very easy to propagate from more mature green stems and if you let it go to seed it will definitely propagate itself through volunteers. 

Pampas Plume Celosia
Celosia argentea plumosa

days to maturity: 90 days
plant spacing: 1 plant per square foot
sunlight requirements: 8-14 hours
look out for: worms in the growing tip
harvest notes: clip flowering tips as needed
annual

Celosia is a variety of tropical friendly amaranth that we grow in our gardens for production of its showy, edible, variegated leaves and beautiful flower head. Amaranth is commonly grown throughout the world for its edible grain, and many Caribbean natives using the leaves as cooked greens in traditional dishes like the stewed green ‘callaloo’. Pampas plume is a celosia variety thats predominantly grown for its showy ornamental flower. Expect your plants to produce masses of 6" long feathery plumes in scarlet, orange, bright yellow, pink & cream. The more you cut the flowers from your plants the more they will produce and the stockier the plants will stay.

Pentas
Pentas Lanceolata

days to maturity: 90 - 100 days
plant spacing: 2 plants per square foot
sunlight requirement: 6 - 14 hours
look out for: spider mites and aphids
harvest notes: harvest often and deadhead
annual

Pentas is a very Florida friendly perennial flowering shrub that you may already be very familiar with . Pentas develop sparkling star- shaped flowers all summer and winter long in bold hues of red, white, lavender, purple, or pink. Pentas is a sun lover that grows 18 to 36 inches tall and when you harvest the flower clusters often it will flower prolifically. In most parts of the country, pentas is considered an annual, but in very warm regions like ours, pentas is perennial . We first started to see this flower referred too as “edible” by the most famous garnish and specialty crop farm in North America called “Chefs Garden”, in Ohio. They call it “Egyptian star flower” maybe to fancy it up before selling it to the fanciest chefs in America.... and we were excited to learn that our plain old beautiful common pentas flower were technically edible. Besides being edible this plant is also very pollinator friendly and a great companion plant for the garden.

Plains Tickseed
Coreopsis leavenworthii

days to maturity:
plant spacing: 1 plant per 2 square feet
sunlight requirements: 6-12 hours
look out for: aphids, slugs, and snails
harvest notes: cute cut flower at ever life stage!
perennial

Lacey leafed Tickseed grows in small clumps throughout the state of Florida. Sometimes forming extensive colonies, these flowers are usually found growing along roadsides and in open fields throughout the Eastern United States and Canada. In this environment they will normally self-sow, but they can also be divided in clumps. The flowers are usually yellow with tooth tipped petals, used as nectar and pollen plants for insects and pollinators alike, some even serving as food for caterpillars! The sunny, daisy-like flowers are popular in home gardens for this reason. They are also our beloved Florida’s state wildflower.

wild cosmos
cosmos caudatus

days to maturity: 50
plant spacing: 2 plants per square foot
sunlight requirements: 8-14 hours
look out for: spider mites, thrips
harvest notes: harvest flowers and leaves as needed
annual

Wild cosmos, aka Kings Salad, Kenikir or Ulam Raja is a special plant we have been growing for just the last couple of seasons, but in that short time we have fallen for it hard. Native to the Caribbean, Central America, and parts of North and South America, it was brought by the Spanish to Southern Philippines and eventually made its way to Malaysia and beyond where it is commonly served as salad. Their leaves taste like unripe mangoes with a slightly bitter aftertaste and make a good local alternative for arugula. The small pink and white flowers are also edible. Traditionally the leaves have been used boost blood circulation, strengthen the bones and reduce body heat. The leaves lower blood sugar levels and reduce blood pressure and are rich in antioxidants and polyphenols and have anti-microbial and anti-fungal properties.

It can be hard to find summer friendly flowering plants that have a sprawling wildlflower look (most of them are tropical looking, with large waxy leaves) which is one reason why we are always reaching for the wild cosmos in our landscaping projects. Pruning the growing tip will encourage bushier plants, and if you let them grow naturally they will get up to 6 feet tall and then burst with sprays of tiny baby pink flowers. Prune the flowers off before they make seed and it will continue making new growth and more flowers. Save a couple of dry seeds to save for your next planting, or let it go completely wild and it will seed itself all over your yard. 

Another fun thing about Wild Cosmos is that they go to sleep at night. “Nyctinasty” is the circadian rhythm of higher plants in response to the onset of darkness, or a plant "sleeping". Wild Cosmos plants go to bed every night by folding their leaves up into themselves, which is pretty cute.

Zinnia Mix
Zinnia Elegans

days to maturity: 75-90 days
plant spacing: 4 per square foot
sunlight requirements: 8-14 hours
look out for: leaf miners
harvest notes: harvest as cut flower with 8” stem
annual

Zinnias are our favorite cut flower variety for sure because they come in the most amazing color schemes and they are the number one most heat tolerant non-tropical looking cut flower on the market. Even though you might not think you need or want cut flowers in your garden you can squeeze a few of these in-between your veggies or on the edges of your bed and you’ll be so glad you did when they start to pop with ornate colors.

You can transplant zinnia seedlings or direct seed them in your garden just make sure when direct seeding you keep the seeds moist through germination and don't overplant. The number one mistake made with direct seeding is planting way too many plants per square foot because it feels silly to pull two little seeds out of a package of hundreds and dropping them into your soil however, if you're going to overplant to make sure you get the amount of plants you want in a space, you absolutely must thin them about 10 days after germination. Zinnias also tolerate our humid and intensely hot summer weather, which is absolutely crazy!

Chinese Lantern Abutilon
abutilon pictum

days to maturity:
plant spacing: 1 plant per 6 square feet
sunlight requirements: 8-14 hours
look out for: nothing!
harvest notes: not edible 
perennial

Since this plant has so many names we are often combining them improperly and making up fake ones by accident. Flowering maple, Chinese Lantern, red veined Indian Mallow and Abutilon are the most common ones for this beautiful mallow variety. You may recognize the flower shape as a hibiscus variety, and you would be correct, since all hibiscus varieties (even roselle and okra) are in the mallow family. Since all hibiscus flowers are edible, that means this cutie is too! Expect your Chinese Lantern shrub to get about 8 feet tall and flower year round. It will respond well to pruning for shape and will make lots of flowers on its new growth. When harvesting the flowers to eat keep an eye out for bees hanging out in the bell shaped flower, they love the pollen! 

Florida Shrub Thoroughwort
koanophyllon villosum

days to maturity:
plant spacing: 1 plant per 3 square feet
sunlight requirements: 6-14 hours
look out for: nothing!
harvest notes: not edible 
perennial

Florida Shrub Thoroughwort is a super cool hard to find woody stemmed aster that is only native to the pine rocklands and hardwood hammocks in South Dade County. We happened to find just a few of these at a local nursery who didn't even know what they were! they propagated some because they just thought the flowers looked nice, which is true, the small white puffy aster flowers are cute and the low shrub, which grows to about hip height, seems like it would make a good cutting flower because the stems are long and straight. A native South Florida wildflower book by Roger Hammer we referenced said that this species will "delight every butterfly within sight", which is quite an endorsement from the local pollinator community. 

Giant Milkweed
Calotropis gigantea

days to maturity:
plant spacing: 1 plant per 6 square feet
sunlight requirements: 6-14 hours
look out for: beetles
harvest notes: prune for wanted shape
perennial

Giant Milkweed or Crown Flower, Calotropis gigantea, is a leggy, large shrub or small tree. It is native to India, southern China, Malaysia and Indonesia, but has been extensively cultivated in tropical areas around the world. Giant Milkweed is a fast-growing, attractive, ever-flowering plant that has been known to grow up to 30 feet with time and in ideal conditions, however it is much more likely to be shorter and is usually branched at the base. Widely cultivated as an ornamental, the plant thrives in soils where nothing else will grow, needing very little to thrive. It has been considered a good plant for bringing waste land under tillage and for reclaiming drifting sands. Although not a designated monarch host plant, we have also seen the butterflies love up on this milkweed as well.

Mexican Bush Sage
Salvia leucantha 

days to maturity:
plant spacing: 1 plant per 3 square feet
sunlight requirements: 6-14 hours
look out for: none
harvest notes: prune when necessary
perennial

Salvia leucantha, commonly called Woolly Sage or Mexican bush sage, is an evergreen shrubby perennial that is native to subtropical and tropical conifer forests, seen mostly in Central America and Mexico. This sage is most noted for producing very attractive blooms of white and purple flowers. Blooms appear in dense, arching spikes that extend above the foliage. Flowers are attractive to butterflies, hummingbirds, and most pollinators. They are also a fun addition to any backyard bouquet! This is a great shrub for garden borders or pollinator focused garden. Woolly sage likes plenty of sun, can be grown in containers and is a fast growing, very low maintenance shrub.

Sweet Almond
Aloysia virgata

days to maturity:
plant spacing: 1 plant per 4 square feet
sunlight requirements: 6-14 hours
look out for: none
harvest notes: sensitive to temperature, may lose leaves in the winter
perennial

Aloysia virgata, commonly known as Sweet Almond Bush, is a fast growing, woody shrub or small tree native to northern Argentina. Growing up to 15' tall, its habit is to slightly arch, with long, thin branches. Sweet Almond prefers medium to dry, well-draining soil in full sun, but is tolerant of occasional drought and poor soil conditions, with best growth and flowering in fertile soils. Vigorous pruning can keep the size and shape of this plant in check, as well as increasing the number of blooms. Grown for its extremely fragrant white blooms, emerge from the ends of new growth on clusters of flowering spikes, the fragrance permeates the air. Flower clusters are very popular with bees and butterflies, especially the rare native Atala butterflies. 

Toilet Paper Plant
Plectranthus barbatus

days to maturity:
plant spacing: 1 plant per 10 square feet
sunlight requirements: 6-14 hours
look out for: mealy bugs and lookalike plantsharvest notes: harvest large leaves as needed, plant will stay bushy if its pruned often
perennial

If this plant looks familiar to you and youre thinking, “I know this plant, but i use it as an herb” then you’ve mistaken it for its very similar looking and popular cousin, cuban oregano. While cuban oregano is super fragrant and used as a cooking herb, Blue Spur Flower, aka toilet paper plant, has no aroma and isn’t used in a culinary way, its main use is as an ornamental and as a living sustainable alternative to toilet paper! This is a super fun perennial shrub that makes a cute blue flower, grows very easily, responds well to pruning and yes, it makes the perfect soft yet firm toilet paper option. Propagates easily from cuttings so you can make new plants to give away to friends. Spread the TP leaf love! While looking for pics of this cutie in the wild we found a fun blog article and video made by Florida Sustainability icon Rob Greenfield, check it out!

Wooly Tea Bush
Melochia tomentosa

days to maturity:
plant spacing: 1 plant per 3 square feet
sunlight requirements: 6-14 hours
look out for: nothing!
harvest notes: may need to be replaced after a few years
perennial

Wooly Tea Bush, also known as Tea Bush, Wooly Pyramid, and Broom Weed, is gaining popularity as a Florida landscape shrub because it grows well in dry, harsh conditions and produces flowers most of the year. This small erect shrub is a member of the Chocolate Family (Malvaceae), and grows natively in the southern, dry Pinelands of Florida, southern Texas, through the West Indies, and into Central America, Brazil and Colombia. Attractive to butterflies and humming birds, its flowers range from pinkish to almost purple. Wooly Tea Bush grows in dry areas and adapts to a wide variety of well-drained soils. It does best with lots of sun and almost no supplemental water, while contributing to soil stability and biodiversity.