Hello Sweetshrub,
I'm sorry, I can't help you with your questions. I don't live near there, although I have been there before. A beautiful part of our state. I just wanted to welcome you to the Alabama Garden Forum. :) I hope you enjoy your change of scenery. It will definitely be a change from Florida, won't it? I love the mountains. Anyway, welcome to the forum and to Alabama! :)
Jan

You will soon find that you have nothing to worry about in regards to gardening, and much to celebrate. The climate in the area is conducive to many months of growing. For every semi-tropical plant that you think you may miss, you'll find numerous others as replacements. And guess what? You won't have year 'round pests in the garden! Won't that be a treat?

I made a move from coastal SC-8b over four years ago, and find the climate in Northern Alabama absolutely wonderful! If you're moving to a red clay area, don't let that scare you either. Piece of cake!

You might as well become acquainted with the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service (ACES). Learning a bit about the area, it's soil make-up, the year 'round climate will be a lot of fun for you.

When we say that you can call on us for advice or support, we mean it. I'm in Huntsville, not quite in your neighborhood but close enough to walk you through some challenges.

Here is a link that might be useful: Click here

Mentone is a gorgeous area. I live in birmingham, on Shades Mountain, probably about the highest area in B'ham. I've noticed that our Spring blooming plants seem to start about week later than those down the mountain a ways. So you may need to delay spring planting a bit.

Southern Living is HQed here in B'ham, and have published many wonderful books about southern gardening. you should check them out! Most of them can be had for great prices on Half.com.

What kind of stuff are you interested in growing? I'm a rose-grower myself, so my whole garden revolves around that.

Thanks for the responses! Rayama, I love to grow everything. My mother was a horticulturist so I come by it naturally. Unfortunately, she has been "gone" for 35 years and I can't ask her for help. When she was alive, we lived in Atlanta. I am thinking Mentone will be different from there - probably colder, maybe rockier but simlar, I hope.

As for plants, I like the old timey pass-along plants. I love all of the bulbs. I know last Spring the bulbs were in bloom in Mentone before they bloomed in the FL Panhandle, my current home. How can that be? I love lillies and iris and hope to be able to take lots of mine with me to Alabama. I love roses but have not had the greatest luck with them in FL because of humidity and black spot. I enjoy growing different varieties of anything edible from herbs to fruits and veggies. Currently in FL I have figs, blueberries, pears, plums,lemons, limes, oranges and blackberries along with all kinds of veggies and herbs.

One of my fears is buying property that looks like good soil and finding out it has big old rocks under the surface or some soil component I don't know how to deal with. That could be discouraging.

I am hoping that some folks on this forum will live near enough to me after the move for swapping plants once I get there and get my gardens going. I read the posts on plant swapping and get all excited just as if I live up there and can come over and swap along with you! Gee, it's only a 5 or 6 hour drive down the road to B'ham and another couple to Huntsville (grin).

Rhizo - thank you for the Alabama Extension Service URL. I bookmarked it for reference and know it will answer some of my questions.

Question for anyone who cares to answer: I will be leaving a hurricane area and going to a tornado/ice storm/earthquake area. Hurricanes do tremendous damage to trees and plants in my area - mainly defoliating them and knocking them over or breaking off limbs. I know Mentone has had ice storms which broke lots of limbs. I also know that tornados don't give much warning. And then there was the freak earthquake in the Ft. Payne/Mentone area a couple years ago. Tornados have generally higher wind speeds than hurricanes I have experienced (Ivan in 2004 was a Bear!). My question is this - which is worse, tornados or hurricanes? Thanks for your help! -sweetshrub

Hurricanes are worse!!!! Having lived in a hurricane alley for over 20 years, I can speak to that. Hurricanes are much worse. You will be moving to an area where the weather coverage is exceptional, and you will soon learn to 'read' the weather reports. Some local vicinities are more prone to tornadoes than others, and you may want to find out about that. This can vary dramatically from county to county.

Remember, there are no locations on the planet without their own climatic challenges. Some things you simply have to take as they come! Like ice storms, tornadoes, earthquakes, wildfires, volcanoes, 100 year droughts, floods, etc. ;-)

TRUST me....having had to evacuate for several hurricanes, and worry constantly during every season.....give me an occasional tornado scare anytime. You will soon learn to trust the high tech weather reporting in the area.

The greatest fear is of the unknown. Once you cross that thresh-hold, you will be comforted and confidant.

I gotta agree that hurricanes are much worse. For one thing, you gotta worry about them for days before you even know if they are going to hit! The TV stations around here are very good about monitoring stormy weather and broadcasting warnings. As for soil - that changes in a very short distance around there! In the valley just west of Lookout Mountain you have clayey soils from weathered limestone; on the mountain, the soil derives from sandstone and is often rather shallow. But they all are pretty good for growing!

Hello Newbie,
First, welcome to our area! You are moving to a wonderful area which is old and full of history. The local high-tech weather reporters will keep you fully aware of the chance of a tornadoe. They provide extensive coverage during the storm seasons. They are more unpredictable than the hurricanes but we usally get tornadoes after each hurricane. I live in Decatur which is located on the Tennessee River. I will be glad to share any of my plants with you when you get in and settled. Good luck and welcome to our little corner of God's country!!

Hello, You said you have been reading about our plant swap. You or anyone else is invited to post and arrange trades on the exchange page or just bring plants. We are a real friendly group. We have had visitors from as far away as Ohio. You can also EMail our posted traders and arrange trades. Come on up. We like new gareners.

jTony

Hello and welcome to the MOST wonderful state in the union.

You will love having the opportunity to plant cold weather plants that just "won't do" in heat and humidity. My daughter lives in Jacksonville and we can never get it right on plants because growing conditions are so different in her zone than in mine.

I live in Blount Co. (Oneonta) just northeast of Birmingham. I live at the top of a mountain so there are lots of rocks and chert. So in the past few years that we have lived here, we have done mostly raised beds. A bit more labor intensive to begin with but worth the effort after one season!!

Mentone is a lovely area with tourism beginning to make its mark. And everyone is so friendly and helpful. I daresay you will be the recipient of many pass-alongs once you let your interests be known.

Good luck and again, welcome to Alabama

Carol

Hi Sweetshrub. I am a fellow Floridan (Santa Rosa Beach)who moved up to Fyffe, Al in Jan. It is near Fort Payne (13 miles). I was flooded out during Ivan surge and the tide at the same time. Still nothing was as bad as Katrina, so I am blessed.
I planted 17 rose bushes in late winter around end of Feb and they have produced like you would not believe. I do have some black spot though. I think the weather here is much more conducive to growing plants here than in Florida and believe me I have a lot of experience in gardening. You will love it up here, the weather, the people are so friendly and helpful. I haven't seen any tornados yet but the house I bought is 10 years old and still standing. Good luck to you I love living on top of Sand Mountian 1260 feet above sea level. Mentone is 1880 ft above. I have met several people up here that are from Florida so you want be the only one.
Nomad

Just moved to Fort Payne and want to start a garden. I have noticed the soil is so hard and at my age I don't have the energy to expend trying to dig it up. Thinking of raised beds but need advice as I don't have a lot of money to spend. Thanks for any help I may receive.

JudiKO, the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service has a publication on raised beds. Contact the office there in Ft. Payne and they can give you a copy for free. It should give you some ideas. I agree, raised beds in this area are a great idea, I use them myself for everything except shrubs!

Welcome to NE Alabama. We live in Gadsden, not far from Mentone. Gardening on a mountain has it's own challenges, not the least of which, from what people in that area tell me, is the lack of soil in a lot of places. Mountains sometimes tend to be huge rocks with a thin layer of soil. Before you buy property, dig around or at least poke a piece of rebar or something into the soil in different places. Even when there's not much soil in an area, there may be pockets of good soil. Raised beds are a good solution or you might try lasagna gardening if you can wait a season or two to start planting. That's pretty cheap and easy and works well. There's lots of how-to information on the internet.

That said, Mentone is beautiful with lots of trees (think shade gardening) and the lovely Little River running through it. Sadly, the old hotel and an antique store burned to the foundations a few weeks ago, but there is still lots of history there.