• Azaleas brighten the landscape in Orlando.Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
  
  Central Florida is home to a number of evergreen shrubs that keep things looking green during the height of the winter tourist season and through the long hot summers. Orlando, the most developed area in central Florida, is a landscaped paradise of year-round flowering shrubs and trees. Some of the most colorful and fragrant are found everywhere, from backyard pool patios to hotel entrances to the city's public buildings and parks.
  
  

Gardenias

• Gardenias are evergreen shrubs famous for their intensely fragrant white flowers that stand out amid dark green glossy leaves. The flowers are clipped with two or three leaves attached and floated in a shallow bowl of water as a homegrown, perfumed centerpiece. Some people plant the bushes under a window so the flower's scent will waft indoors but the shrub is most often grown in a sunny spot in the garden or along a fence. A few gardenia cultivars can reach 8 feet tall; the shortest top out at 2 feet. Gardenias like acidic soil and a good weekly soaking. Deadheading the spent flowers will increase blooms. In an unusual winter cold spell, the plants should be protected from frost.
  
  

Southern Indian Azalea

• Azaleas are common shrubs in Florida, and a Cuban native, the Southern Indian Azalea, flowers impressively in February and March. The blooms on the azalea are strongly colored pink, red, lavender and white. The Orlando Sentinel says that the dark green foliage of the plant grows vigorously year-round in the area, so it is a reliable mainstay of Orlando landscaping. The plant prefers filtered sun but will tolerate full sun and brief periods of drought. It needs only weekly watering and is fairly hardy but requires acidic soil and is vulnerable to a couple of pests. Azaleas need trimming every three to four years. They are often planted against the foundation on the side of the house that gets some shade, particularly at midday.
  
  

Oleander

• Oleander bushes are ubiquitous in Florida, including the Orlando area. The bushy, evergreen shrub will grow from 6 to 12 feet tall or higher and is usually pruned to fit the landscaping. Oleanders are as contentious a plant as they are common. They produce a lot of very bright and very fragrant flowers all summer and fall. The colors are tropical: salmon, yellow, pinks and fuschias, red, purple, lilac, copper and white. They have no problem adapting to drought, wind, salty and marshy soils or full sun. The plants need only one composting every spring and watering if rainfall goes below an inch a week. They thrive with very low maintenance. Oleanders, however, are poisonous to humans and animals and their sap can cause skin irritations. Otherwise, they are a near-perfect central Florida shrub and their toxic reputation hasn't affected their place in the landscape.