Newcomers to Florida gardening often lament the learning curve involved. Here’s a tip: Hibiscus grow well in Southwest Florida’s climes. And thanks to the work of Harry Goulding, hundreds of varieties of hibiscus are available to populate your garden or lanai.

Goulding was born in 1908 in Punta Gorda and made his living working with his father as a fisherman. But his heart was always on terra firma. Perhaps surprisingly, it was boatsman and fishing guide Captain Jack McCann that taught him about hibiscus breeding. McCann was a gardener himself who picked up some of his knowledge from a library aboard a rich man’s yacht on which he worked. McCann also liked the occasional snort of bootleg whiskey. (This was in the early 1930s when Prohibition was in effect.) The story goes that Goulding had access to the liquor McCann sought and traded it for information about the exotic flower growing in McCann’s yard. And so began Goulding’s lifelong love affair with the hibiscus.

Over the next 50 years, Goulding registered over 500 varieties of hibiscus that he had hybridized. This astounding number doesn’t include the hundreds of hybrids Goulding destroyed because they weren’t up to his standards. Gouldings blooms were awarded “Best in the World” on five separate occasions. It’s no wonder that he’s still known today as “Mr. Hibiscus.”