Penny Carnathan

Penny’s a Nurture And Hold (NAH): Nah, I won’t pull that out yet, it’s still got a green shoot. She likes dragonflies, lady bugs and new stuff only after weeding, pruning and fertilizing.

Kim Franke-Folstad

Kim’s a Want It Now (WIN): Everything pretty, everything now. She will resort to full-spectrum insecticides in desperate situations, and believes it’s her duty and right to buy new plants every weekend.

Both advocate Plant Choice (SOMEthing besides crotons. Please!), lots of color and low maintenance. We don’t agree on everything, but we’re smart enough to learn from each other - and from you.

 @TheDirtTBO
 The Dirt
 Post your garden photos
 Bay area nuseries
 Gardening calendar
 Planting guide

Most Recent Entries

• Universities board begins daunting task of creating new university
• USF marketing students finalists in gas promo contest
• USF website pulls together research, services for veterans
• USF Poly budget director Bresler says he’ll fight efforts to fire him
• Incoming Speaker Weatherford speaks at USF conference on college access
• USF St. Pete forms alumni society
• Goodbye Michael Kovac; nanotechnologist, roller coaster lover
• USF Poly administrator resigns; report recommended dismissal
• Anyone For Road Snapper? [Chef Ben Sargent Visits In Key West On “Hook, Line & Dinner.”]
• Universities eye cuts; USF remains quiet
• Banana Bourbon Caramel Cheesecake, Boiled Crawfish, Mussels & Clams [This Week’s Weekend Eats]
• Last USF Poly class graduates; Dockery lays in to “leaders” behind split
• Get your skin checked for free at USF
• Finally the scissors are out for the revamped USF Sun Dome
• Sen. Fasano: Goodman must go in wake of audit showing mismanagement and bullying

More

• The Stew
• The Dirt
• Hot Pursuits
• HOMEwork
• Inside USF
• L Archive
  • Green Lite
  • Bring It!

Monthly Archives

• May 2012
• April 2012
• March 2012
• February 2012
• January 2012
• December 2011

I’ll have salad—extra crotons

Posted Sep 20, 2009 by Loren Omoto

Updated Sep 20, 2009 at 09:54 PM

My commute to work got a little happier after Pollo Tropical built its Waters Avenue restaurant a couple of years ago.

Landscapers lined the front of the property with Christmas palms and ornamental grass, and robust red ti, crotons and ixora (photo above) that shimmer with rosy luminescence when the sun hits them right. (Not shimmering so much in these photos, but trust me, they’re beautiful at about 9 a.m. I was running late this day.)

The effect is stunning, and I often turn to admire it as I drive past. I have to make myself pull my eyes back to the road — I’d hate to tell the insurance company, “It was the plants! They glowed!”

I appreciate businesses like Pollo Tropical that take their landscaping beyond a few anemic ligustrum. Flowering tropicals, lush shade trees, drifts of coleus and gleaming ‘Cuban Gold’ Duranta hedges cost money to plant and more to maintain. And the effort seems mostly altruistic. I doubt the Chick-fil-A across the street from Pollo Tropical expects to sell more chicken sandwiches simply because its salvia and firespike are blooming.

Every year, the Florida Nursery, Growers and Landscape Association bestows Awards of Excellence for projects at businesses like these. This year’s winners get their honors Oct. 2 at a gala in Orlando. There are no Tampa-area companies among them, but then, the number of commercial entries has dropped.

“It’s the economy,” says Julie Markowitz, who coordinates the program. “You’re not seeing as many large commercial installations going in. People view plants in general as an optional type of thing. If a business is going to cut someplace, they’re going to cut that.”

Interestingly, the biggest category for entries remains homes.

I don’t want to re-route my commute so that I drive only through neighborhoods. But seeing cinderblock shops and restaurants surrounded by pavement and sandspurs would start my day like a cup of decaf – badly.

So here’s my idea. If you see a business with above-and-beyond landscaping, stop in. Buy a burger, or a shirt, or inquire about legal advice. Then say, “I just want you to know, I’m here because the impatiens in your parking lot are heart-stopping.”

It couldn’t hurt. All gardeners appreciate a little appreciation.