Hey, marlasmom! I'm in the Sanford/Lake Mary area. Welcome to Florida!
Daylilies do great! They bloom much earlier here than they do up north. I think I have seen them in bloom as early as March (but don't quote me on that!)
I've also seen wisteria.
Unfortunately, we can't grow all the lovely tropical plants that I'd like to have. RATS! I would love a coconut palm, but it just gets too cold here in the winter (imagine that!)
My neighbor had some lovely papayas ripening on a 7-9 foot tall tree, and they got zapped by the cold. It was such a shame, because they were close to being ripe enough to pick.
If you get a chance to drive through an older neighborhood with lots of established trees, keep an eye out for the golden rain tree. It's in bloom now. The flowers are yellow and the seed pods will be red. There are tons of them in our neighborhood and they are really gorgeous (although they grow like weeds and have seeded all over our lawn, and I make sure to get rid of them right away.) I don't mind looking at them, but I don't want one myself!
I keep all my "houseplants" outside and just the potted ones onto the patio if we get a frost warning. I cover hibiscus and other tender plants during a frost warning too. Just use an old sheet or old blanket. We can plant poinsettias (sp) too! They look nice in the garden in the winter.
Sorry for the rambling response! OH! One more thing. We brought a Christmas cactus with us when we moved from Maryland. It was a few years old, but not very big. I just stuck it out on the patio. It's not a northern exposure, but there are lots of trees in our back yard so it's fairly shady. The cactus has taken off! Our weather is perfect for it! Just humid enough to keep it going when I forget to water it during the dry season, and wet enough during the rainy season to allow me to forget about it. It sets blooms some time in November and almost every leaf has a flower. I could never get it to flower when we lived up north, and if a bloom did set, it fell off before it had a chance to open.
