Question
I live in Florida. My lawn is thick and green, but it is too plain. What nice plants or flowers should I add to make it look more exciting? Something that is easy to plant and manage also.

Answer
Hi CaS,

About Flowers for Florida:

>>"...What nice plants or flowers should I add ...?"

PRELIMINARIES:

I believe your  Horticultural Plant Hardiness Zone is 9-10, please verify your Hort-Zone:

Only Use plants and grasses rated for your climate-zone.
HORT ZONES from ZIP CODES:
http://www.arborday.org/trees/whatzone.html

To help you decide what plants to use and where to place them check-out the "PLANT SELECTOR" applet:

www.growit.com/Bin/PSelect.exe
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Getting involved in the landscaping development of your property is something most home-owners can tackle themselves provided you have the time and can afford to invest in the plants and the maintenance that may be involved.  You can make your own plans and do your own constructions or you can hire professionals and sub-contractors to do the work.  But you will need to see to it that things can be maintained over the years. Sometimes just the effort to provide adequate watering for lots of gardens and lawns can be a formidable task.  If you do not like to work in the out of doors environments, having a lot of gardens to maintain can become a maintenance nightmare. Think of 'low-maintenance' gardens for a while and then expand as you discover your likes, dislikes and abilities to accomplish things, ...you should learn how much time and energy you have for these projects before you invest too extensively.

Take time to sketch-out a plot-plan of your lot and define the garden areas.  Make a note of how the seasonal sun-light will affect the various areas to define the sunny-areas and shady spots.  This will help you select the plants you like for allocation to the gardens you are planning.


PLANTS TO USE,
IDEAS AND RESOURCES FOR PLANTS:

There are thousands of species of plants and 'cultivars' of these which should be suitable for your semi-tropical Hort-Zone.  In the past few years plant breeders and geneticists have produced many new and wonderful hybrid cultivars of 'old classics' and added new ones to the market which are easier to grow and more interesting than what existed just decades ago.  Some great plants can be easily started from seed, and this can help with the budget constraints.

Almost every plant on Earth has been studied and identified by Botanists.  Any plant will have a 'common name' and also a more technical botanical (Latin) name. For example, the common 'Dandelion' is know to botanists as 'Taraxacum vulgare'.  Use the botanical name in web-searches to find out the most reliable information about it. University and agro-horticultural web-sites with the '.org' or '.edu' extensions will usually have the best scientific reports about any named plant, cultivar or hybrid.

You should only plant flowers, shrubs, and plants that you yourself like to see and live with.  I would not want to advise you  exactly on these matters,... but only offer some guides to help you become an informed shopper.  Gardening can become a great life-long hobby, and perhaps you will find that certain plants appeal to you more than others, and you can start 'plant collections' and have an enjoyable hobby that will also add to your property value.
Some gardeners become more or less 'obsessed' with certain categories of plants and make raising and hybridizing them a life-long enjoyable and profitable hobby.  There are people in your area  (once newbies too) who are now world authorities on such plants as 'Bouganvillas', 'Hedera Ivies', Sedums and 'Stone-Crops', ...and the list goes on.


Some plants are relatively 'care-free' while others may need much more of your time and attention.

You will have to have the 'basics' for the plants you choose.  This means you need to be observant enough to know about the soil conditions, sun-light availability and other factors which will determine how well certain plant species will do on your lot.  For a few dollars, you can invest in a soil-testing kit to find out more about your soil's ability to nurture certain categories of plants.  For example, if your soil is 'acidic', you will be wasting time and money trying to grow plants that cannot thrive in acidic soils. The twenty bucks or so it costs to test your soil's pH (acidity) may save you lots of time and money.

Every species of plant will have its particular soil, sun and watering requirements. In nurseries these days many plants will be tagged with the information you will need to decide if or not you should try it in your collection.

If you will become observant of your neighborhood and the commercial and residential gardens in your area, then you can get some ideas of what appeals to you.  Most mail-order suppliers of live plants and seed companies these days have web-sites with information and images of all the plants they offer.  These companies will usually also send you a free catalog every spring which will be full of ideas.

Again, at the internet search engine GOOGLE.com, you can enter a key-word for a plant species and use its common name or, for more technical info, use the plant's botanical name; the search engine will find many hundreds of web-pages with more information and images about the plant.  At GOOGLE.com home-page, you can select the 'Image' tab to find any images of a plant you are interested in.

Visit your local library to find such magazines as 'Architectual Digest,' 'Garden Design', 'Flower Gardening', 'House and Gardens', 'Organic Gardening' and so on.  These periodicals will have many garden plans, discussions and reviews concerning specific plants and  articles on gardening methods and other helpful hints and ideas.  They will and also advertisers you can browse and mail-order contacts.

Most people who become active in the gardening hobby will also start to collect the various books on the subject and books about the various botanical species.  You can join one of the several gardening book clubs and start your garden book library. This too adds to the enjoyment of the hobby and the art and science of raising botanical specimens.


Your local lawn and garden centers will usually carry the more common 'best-sellers' as far as plants and flowers are concerned.  Your city may have some specialty nurseries and usually there will be one or more garden clubs where you can find information and other hobbyists that share your interests.   Additionally the Florida State Universities should have their respective Horticultural Web-sites that provide valuable information concerning the care of lawns and plants for your particular area.

In summary, do not expect others to tell you what you should like to see and have to tend in your gardens for the long-haul.  Start the life-long hobby of gardening and raising plants with the best knowledge base of an informed shopper and 'amateur botanist-horticulturalist'. You can become a pro at it in time.  It can be fun and profitable hobby,... and/or just something that makes life a little more enjoyable while relaxing on the patio.  
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I Hope this has answered your question(s)!

Visit my Lawn & Gardens webpage for more Tips, Facts and Links:
http://hometown.aol.com/eilatlog/lawnol.html

Your Questions and Comments are welcome at ALLEXPERTS.com
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