Moving between two homes has plenty of advantages. You can enjoy beautiful summers up north, escape the snow when temperatures start dropping and spend winter surrounded by sunshine and tropical landscaping in Southwest Florida. For snowbirds who love gardening, however, there can be one adjustment: some of the plants you grew for years back home simply do not behave the same way here.
Hydrangeas, peonies, irises, trilliums, apple trees and many other northern garden favorites are adapted to seasonal changes that Southwest Florida does not provide. Our winters are mild, our summers are long and humid, and our sandy soils present an entirely different growing environment.
That does not mean you have to give up the colors, flowers or character you loved in your northern garden. In many cases, there is a Southwest Florida-friendly plant that can fill a similar role while being much better suited to our climate.
At Sanjuan Family Nursery in Bonita Springs, we help homeowners choose plants based on where they will actually be growing. If you are spending your first season in Southwest Florida, or you simply want to make your Florida landscape feel a little more like home, these are some great places to start.
TL;DR: Northern Favorites and Their Southwest Florida Alternatives
If a favorite plant from your northern garden struggles in Southwest Florida, consider choosing a plant that provides a similar visual effect but is naturally better suited to our climate.
Some of our favorite substitutions include:
- Hydrangeas → Bougainvillea or Dombeya
- Peonies → Hibiscus
- Irises → Zinnias
- Trilliums → Gardenias
- Apple or cherry trees → Citrus trees
There are also plants, such as chrysanthemums, that can grow in both northern and southern landscapes but behave differently because of Southwest Florida’s warmer climate and different growing seasons.
The goal is not to perfectly recreate a northern garden in Florida. It is to capture the colors, textures and characteristics you love using plants that actually want to grow here.
Why Northern Plants Can Struggle in Southwest Florida
One of the biggest mistakes new Florida gardeners make is assuming that warmer weather automatically means more plants will grow here.
Temperature is only part of the equation.
Many plants native to or traditionally grown in northern climates depend on a cold winter dormancy period. Certain flowering plants and fruit trees require a specific amount of exposure to cold temperatures before they can properly flower, produce fruit or begin their next growth cycle.
Southwest Florida rarely provides that kind of sustained winter chill.
At the same time, plants growing here must contend with conditions that may be completely unfamiliar to a northern gardener. Summer temperatures remain high for months, humidity can be intense, rainfall patterns are dramatically different and much of our native soil is sandy with relatively low nutrient and water retention.
That is why choosing plants for Southwest Florida is less about asking, “Can I technically grow this here?” and more about asking, “Is this plant going to be happy here?”
Sometimes the better choice is a Florida-friendly alternative that gives you the look you want without constantly fighting the climate.
Love Hydrangeas? Try Bougainvillea or Dombeya
Hydrangeas are one of the plants many northern homeowners immediately recognize. Their large clusters of flowers can create spectacular displays of blue, pink, purple and white, and established hydrangeas can become a major feature of a landscape.
Southwest Florida offers a few different ways to capture that same sense of dramatic color.
Bougainvillea for Bold, Long-Lasting Color
If what you love most about hydrangeas is the explosion of color, bougainvillea deserves a look.
Bougainvillea produces brilliant displays in shades that can include pink, purple, red, white, yellow and orange. The colorful portions we usually think of as flowers are actually modified leaves called bracts surrounding the plant’s much smaller true flowers.
Unlike hydrangeas, bougainvillea has a more tropical growth habit and can be trained in several ways. It can grow along a trellis or fence, be maintained as a shrub or create cascading color over walls and containers.
Bougainvillea loves full sun and performs well when the soil is allowed to dry somewhat between watering. That makes it much more at home in a Southwest Florida landscape than many moisture-loving northern ornamentals.
It is worth remembering that many bougainvillea varieties have thorns, so placement matters. Give it enough room and the right location, however, and it can produce exactly the kind of dramatic color that snowbirds may be missing from their hydrangeas.
Dombeya for Those Big Flower Clusters
If it is specifically the clustered appearance of hydrangea flowers that you miss, dombeya may be the more interesting comparison.
Sometimes called tropical hydrangea, dombeya produces large clusters of flowers that can give it an appearance familiar to hydrangea lovers. It has its own growth habits and care requirements, so it should not be treated as a direct replacement, but visually it can provide some of the same appeal in a plant better associated with warm climates.
For snowbirds trying to recreate the lush flowering-shrub feel of a northern landscape, dombeya is absolutely worth considering.
Love Peonies? Try Hibiscus
Peonies are hard to forget once you have grown them. Their enormous, layered flowers are one of the highlights of late spring in many northern gardens.
Unfortunately, Southwest Florida does not provide the cold winter conditions traditional peonies prefer.
Hibiscus offers a very different plant with a similarly dramatic payoff.
Big Flowers Without the Northern Winter
Tropical hibiscus produces large, showy flowers in an enormous range of colors. Depending on the variety, flowers may be red, pink, yellow, orange, white or combinations of multiple colors, with both single and double flowering forms available.
In Southwest Florida, hibiscus can remain green throughout the year and produce flowers across a very long blooming season. That gives snowbirds something they could never get from their peonies up north: tropical flowers during the middle of winter.
Hibiscus can also serve several purposes within a landscape. Depending on the variety and pruning, it can be used as a specimen plant, incorporated into a flowering hedge or used as a colorful backdrop for smaller plants.
If what you loved about peonies was walking outside and seeing huge flowers commanding attention in the garden, hibiscus can scratch that itch in a very Southwest Florida way.
Love Irises? Try Zinnias for Easy Color
Irises are another familiar sight in northern gardens, with their distinctive flowers appearing during the spring growing season.
Rather than trying to reproduce their exact form, Southwest Florida gardeners can focus on what irises often provide within a landscape: noticeable seasonal color.
Zinnias are excellent for that purpose.
A Colorful Florida Favorite
Zinnias are heat-loving annuals available in vivid shades of red, pink, yellow, purple, orange and many other colors. Different cultivars also produce dramatically different flower forms, from relatively simple blooms to dense, multi-layered flowers.
They are versatile enough for mass plantings, borders, containers and cutting gardens. Taller varieties can reach several feet, while dwarf varieties work well in smaller spaces.
For snowbirds, zinnias also offer something fun that a permanent landscape cannot: flexibility.
You can change the colors and arrangement from season to season. One year you might want bright reds and oranges. The next year you can switch to pinks, purples and whites.
Zinnias grow well in full sun and well-drained soil. In South Florida they can be planted during seasons when much of the country is far too cold for outdoor flowers, giving winter residents an opportunity to enjoy a colorful annual garden while their northern flower beds are dormant.
Miss Trilliums? Consider Gardenias
Trilliums have a very different personality from the bright tropical flowers most people associate with Florida. They are woodland plants with an understated beauty, and for many northern gardeners, seeing trilliums appear is one of the signs that spring has arrived.
Gardenias are certainly not identical, but they can provide something many trillium lovers appreciate: elegant flowers that do not need bright tropical colors to make an impression.
Classic White Flowers With an Incredible Fragrance
Gardenias are evergreen shrubs with glossy, dark green leaves and creamy white flowers. Depending on the cultivar, the flowers can be single or double, and their fragrance is one of the biggest reasons gardeners love them.
They can work as specimen plants, hedges and even lower-growing landscape features depending on the variety.
Gardenias do require some attention to growing conditions. They prefer rich, well-drained, acidic soil, and Southwest Florida’s naturally alkaline conditions can create challenges in certain locations. Soil conditions should therefore be considered before planting, and containers may sometimes be a better option.
For the right location, though, gardenias provide a classic, elegant look that can appeal to snowbirds who prefer white flowering plants over the louder tropical colors typically associated with Florida landscaping.
Trade the Apple or Cherry Tree for Citrus
Fruit trees may be where the difference between northern and Southwest Florida gardening becomes most obvious.
A homeowner from Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania or another northern state might be accustomed to apples or cherries. Those trees are closely connected to seasonal changes, and many varieties require significant winter chilling to flower and fruit properly.
Southwest Florida opens the door to an entirely different category of backyard fruit.
Welcome to Citrus Country
Instead of trying to force a northern fruit tree into a subtropical environment, embrace the fact that you can grow fruit that would never survive a northern winter outdoors.
Depending on the property and variety, Southwest Florida homeowners can consider oranges, lemons, limes and other citrus.
There is something uniquely satisfying about stepping into your own backyard and picking fruit from a tree, regardless of whether you are harvesting apples in Michigan or citrus in Florida.
Growing citrus in Florida does require proper care, and homeowners should be aware that citrus greening and other diseases have made citrus cultivation more challenging than it once was. Choosing appropriate varieties and understanding fertilization, irrigation and pest management are important parts of maintaining a productive tree.
For homeowners open to going beyond citrus, South Florida’s climate also creates opportunities for an impressive selection of tropical and subtropical fruit trees that would be impossible to grow outdoors year-round in northern states.
Your Florida home does not have to reproduce your northern orchard. It can give you an entirely new one.
Some Favorites Can Grow in Both Climates
Not every plant requires a Florida substitute.
Some familiar northern plants can grow here too, but you may need to forget what you know about their traditional growing season. Florida’s gardening calendar often seems backward to someone accustomed to northern seasons.
Chrysanthemums are a perfect example.
Chrysanthemums: Same Flower, Different Growing Habits
Mums are practically synonymous with fall in much of the northern United States. When temperatures begin dropping, garden centers fill with containers of yellow, orange, burgundy, purple and white chrysanthemums.
In a northern climate, mums respond to the shortening days and cooler fall weather, and cold winter temperatures eventually bring the growing season to an end.
Southwest Florida operates on a different schedule.
Our mild winters allow gardeners to enjoy plants during months when northern gardens may be frozen or covered in snow. At the same time, Florida’s intense summer heat, humidity and rainfall can make other parts of the year more challenging for plants that northern gardeners associate with summer or fall.
That difference is one of the most important things for snowbirds to learn about gardening here. Florida does not necessarily have fewer gardening seasons. We simply have different ones.
Instead of assuming a plant should be installed at the same time you would plant it in Ohio, Michigan, New York or Massachusetts, choose planting times based on Southwest Florida’s growing conditions.
Your Florida Landscape Does Not Have to Look Like Everyone Else’s
Moving south does not mean every landscape has to consist of the same handful of palms and tropical shrubs.
If you loved gardening up north, tell us what you loved about it.
Maybe it was the huge flower clusters on your hydrangeas. Maybe you always had peonies along the side of the house. Maybe you planted colorful annual beds every spring, grew apples in the backyard or looked forward to your chrysanthemums every fall.
Those preferences give us a starting point.
Instead of trying to make a northern plant survive in conditions it does not enjoy, we can help you find Southwest Florida plants that provide similar colors, textures, fragrances, flowers or functions.
In many cases, you may discover something you like even more.
Find Your New Florida Favorites at Sanjuan Family Nursery
Learning to garden in Southwest Florida takes some adjustment, especially when you have spent decades gardening somewhere with four very different seasons. Our climate, soil, rainfall and growing seasons change what works, when it works and how plants should be cared for.
That is also what makes gardening here so interesting.
At Sanjuan Family Nursery in Bonita Springs, we carry a wide selection of flowering plants, shrubs, palms, fruit trees, tropical plants and other options suited to Southwest Florida landscapes. Our team can help you compare the plants you loved up north with alternatives that make sense for your Florida property.
Bring us a plant name. Bring us a photo of your garden back home. Or simply tell us what you liked about it.
Visit Sanjuan Family Nursery in Bonita Springs and let us help you find a Southwest Florida favorite to replace the northern plant you’re missing.
