Welcome to the sunny South! Can't remember where you moved from, but I'm from blustery New England and gardening in the South is just a total trip!

I don't know much, in the grand gardening scheme of things, but it seems nearly impossible to do much wrong here and I so enjoy the climate, flora and fauna! Have fun!

I love the fact I can garden all year long.

1sst
I agree all year gardening is GREAT!

drippy
I have been here 10 years but only ardening in NC for 3 of those. I am constantly amazed by how big and lush things get (and how fast they doo it)! You have been very lucky to have arrived in a 'wet' spring!

Happy gardening

Frances

Zigzag, I'm from southeastern MA and was SO cold this past winter I thought I'd never be warm again. This perpetual summer thing is very enticing! :)

1sst, the all year gardening thing, along with rosemary being a perennial here, was one of the things that made me consent to this move when DH got the job offer.

Frances, I know - at least the locals tell me - that it's been an unusual year here - more rain, not as much heat. I'll enjoy it while I can!

Drippy, I'm from the South Shore of MA, lived from Hingham-Hull to Plymouth and most everything inbetween. It was beastly up there this year - I have a couple of dyed-in-the-wool NE friends who actually started to question their continued residency in such a climate! They even intimated that I might not have been so crazy to jump ship as they'd first thought! There are a few more of us from the area onboard here - and nobody's looking back!

Drippy, don't get too excited. We do have two months of winter spread across December, January, and February. We get frosts in November and March.

Since I know you wintersow, plan to sow lots of perennials in September of this year. They'll bloom next summer. Don't bother waiting. They'll make it through our short winters with some mulch and protected planting. I've even overwintered half hardy annuals in 5 ounce cups.

Drippy, I'm from Plymouth, MA and although I miss lilacs and low humidity, I'm in love with the long gardening season in the Carolinas...14 summers here and darned if I'd ever go back! Have fun!

Claire in Sanford, NC

drippy

Two months of winter in the Carolinas is like March and November up north, cool (with the right clothing) and perfect weather for all those projects that involve heavy lifting (too hot in the summer) Great time for laying in new garden beds, stepping stones, removing sod, planting big shrubs and trees (dormant ones of course) deck building etc. It is also a great time for propagating roses/gardenia/hydrangea in coldframes or unter 2ltr soda bottles.

I spend time outdoors in the yard every day, all winter long. In 10 years I have only seen snow last more than 12 hours one time, it was this winter! Usually what falls overnight is gone by noon! Even at its worst it is never going to be MA cold!!! Just enough cool and wet to make you uncomfortable if you don't dress appropriately!

puppyscruff

I have two korean lilacs and though they are not the same as those huge lilacs that thrive up north they are beautiful and loaded with fragrant blooms at least twice each year. I miss tulips and delphinium. they always put on a show for one season and then disapear!

Frances

I'm really loving the weather - it's been high 80s/low 90s, which is fine with me. I think it might be too hot to garden for long continuous time periods, but I zip in and out of the trailer from time to time - frankly, I find I want to escape the AC more than the heat! I'll be happy when I have some land to dig into, Frances, but I am researching growing a few pumpkin vines in a (very) large container - yes, it can be done, and I have plenty of time to get Sugar Pie to maturity.

The marigolds and zinnias are about ready to bud - woohoo!

It's amazing how many of us MA south coasters there are here.

Another question: when I visited at Christmas, the pansies were still in bloom here. I have plenty of pansy seeds, and would love to know when you think would be a good time to start them for fall/winter blooms (it feels weird to say "winter blooms" :)).

Drippy, the garden centers will have pansies in late August, so I would say start yours in early August for blooms all winter. Too late a start and they'll just sit there all winter and not really take off until spring. And just so you know, they don't stop blooming until June once they start. ;)

I have never started pansy from seeds, but a long time NC gardener told me, for all winter bloom, they have to be established by ThanksGiving. Viola bloomed from seed for me in about 4 weeks. I think they are similar.
Good luck with the pumpkins! wish I had enough sun for a big veggie garden I would try some, but the few squash/cukes/tomatoes/okra are hardpressed for sunlight already. If it were up to me, the "LAWN" would be toast, (probably will be looking toasty in a month anyway)seems a tragic waste of space and natural resources. ha ha ha

Token & Frances, thanks for the pansy info - and Token, I caught your post on timing in the WS forum, too, which is very helpful to me.

Frances, the pumpkins are my big experiment. Plenty of sun here, but I will have to figure out what to do with these vines - whether to grow them upwards or let them spill out of the container onto the lawn. We'll see!