What can you expect? - good food, good music, good people, good times. :^)

Erath/Lafayette is most probably in Zone 9. Ditto the good food, good music, good people, good times. You can grow the philo in the ground. The others I am not familar with. Others you might not be familar with that can be grown in the ground are gingers(hedychiums, alpinias, costus', curcumas, zingibers), lots of different bananas, chinese ground orchids, nun's cap orchid, Ti's, Sweet Olives, Pineapple guava, azaleas, gardenias, banana shrubs, cannas, oleanders, crape myrtles, agapanthas, caladiums, lots of different aroids. Bromiliads in the ground need to be protected during freezes but can be grown. Maybe a couple of cold hardy heliconia that might even bloom following a mild winter. An orchid tree (Bauhinia Purpurea) will survive if planted in the proper location. So many. A whole new world awaits you.

Steve

My word! I'm terribly excited now. Yes, I forgot about banana's! I remember a large clump of banana plants in someone's front yard several years ago. And I loved the fields of sugar cane too. I'm allergic to all that blooms, but there are so many things that have beautiful foliage I'm sure to have plenty to keep me occupied.

I know I will absolutely love the move, though unfortunately I'm allergic to seafood. Last time I went down there I had some kind of shrimp and rice casserole and I swelled up like a big red grape. Took three days before I could open my eyes again. :)

But as they say "it's all good!" and so I'm sure there will be many more ways I can "pass a good time" without endangering my health. I mean, hey, there's always alligator wrestling, right?

Many thanks for the input. I did locate some information through Google about the plants in question above. I noticed that White Callas can tolerate temperatures outdoors from Zone 7a on down, so I'm perfectly safe there. And my ZZ Plant will survive (I predict) as it is specifically rated at Zone 9a and below so with a little protection I'm sure it will be fine.

- Len

Too bad about the allergies. You're in the heart of seafood country. Just finished a big plate of fried shrimp and crawfish etouffee.

Those fields of sugarcane are still around. Email me privately when you make the move, I have plenty of plants to share with you. I'm just an hour away, and check out Stokes Tropicals in New Iberia. Great people.

Steve

Thanks Steve, I'll be sure to get in touch once I'm down there. At least for the first few months (and very likely much longer) I'll be staying with a good friend (we've been room mates off and on for ten years now) who moved down that way from here last month because he has family there.

I'll be living in a second floor apartment with two west-facing windows and a nice west-facing balcony. My passion has always been balcony and container gardening and the evening sun should prove very nice.

- Len

Ok Len,

Good luck on the move. Don't hesitate to get in touch once you get settled in.

Steve

Len,

My brother in law is allergic to seafood but he can eat crawfish. Seems his reaction was to the iodine in the saltwater species. Good luck on the move and try a little crawfish if you do not think you will take your life in your own hands.

alblancher,

Another thing I should mention is that I've spent my whole life in the Midwest. The most exotic food I've eaten are "mountain oysters" and that took weeks of prodding and a half-pint of booze before I finally caved in and tried it. And like pretty much everything else - it tastes like chicken.

Other than that, chickens and cows are the only main meats, aside from ham and turkey once in a while, that I've eaten regularly. But when I visited some friends down in Abbeville LA a few years ago they convinced me to try a shrimp dish, but it was prepared in such a manner I couldn't identify the meat - "mud bugs" as a friend fondly called them.

After I had that bad reaction with itching, face swelling, etc, it kind of put the fear in me. Now, I completely agree with what you're suggesting - that crawdads (as we call them here) do not contain the iodide that I am allergic to. But eating crawdads to me is akin to most people thinking about eating cockroaches or slugs or spiders. It just seems so terribly wrong!!!

I know they smell incredible when cooked, and I'm certain they taste just fine, but it is going to take me some time to eat them because I cannot get the image of their little segmented bodies, slender jointed legs, bug eyes, sharp pincers and flapping tails out of my mind. And yet, oddly, the image of a big dumb drooling cow doesn't seem to bother me in the least when I chow down on my cheeseburger...

I was jokingly thankful the other day when a friend down there said to me "Don't worry, there are plenty of McDonalds and Burger Kings around here." What a relief!

definitely check out Stokes Tropicals in New Iberia, that isn't too far from where you're moving. they have tons of great foliage plants and most of them will do well in a container. it's too bad you're allergic to the blooming stuff because they have some incredible hibiscus. something else to keep in mind is the heat. our summers can be brutal and your plants may need a little pampering to get through their first summer here.
good luck with the move and welcome to the south.

Hey all, many thanks for the info. I just got an update and one I simply must share. I'm going to be buying a house in Abbeville LA now. It is a nice two bedroom place with front and back porch, located in the dead center of a nice large yard with several young trees and tons of potential. The place is nice - $42,000. I've adjusted my schedule a bit - I'll be moving on March 18th now rather than April 1st.

Just had to tell you all. Now instead of living in some balcony apartment I'll have my own home and can landscape it any way I see fit. I'm visualizing something similar to a place I had about 15 years ago - with a small fish pond, water fountain, rock garden, brick barbecue pit, etc. One side of the lot is chain link, but I'll eventually plan to fence in the whole yard and go wild.

I was worrying a bit about that west-facing balcony--that would be a tad warm in the summertime. A house with a yard sounds much better! Have you tried shots for your allergies? Most everything blooms eventually if it's happy--bananas for instance have quite gorgeous blooms. And bromeliads bloom too. You'll find a lot of your houseplants will do fine for about nine or ten months, but will need protection for two or three. Some of the great tropicals that do so well here don't like to get below forty or so--they worry in southern Florida. I find a lot of incorrect information out there, even in books and catalogs that are pretty reliable for a lot of things. Either they say we can grow it, but they're thinking about z9 in California with cool nights, or they say we can't because it mustn't go below sixty or something but it's doing fine in my yard (goes dormant in winter, or comes back from the roots when frozen.) Talk to as many other gardeners as you can, and of course come here. Garden centers are not necessarily good sources. People who think they're gardening when they have one live oak, two crepe myrtles, and a clump of aspidistra aren't either. You will love it here--greatest people in the world. Oh--we do get what we call cold weather; I think it may have gotten down to the middle-to-upper twenties a few times this past winter. I've lived here more than twenty-five years now, and once it even got down to single digits a couple nights and didn't get above freezing one day. Killed native plants and trees.

greenelbows1,

Thanks for the head's up. I kinda figured that there might be some discrepancy occasionally with grow-guides. I'm 32 years old and spent over a decade landscaping and gardening on a home I rented. I also spent two years as a manager of a large greenhouse that specialized in Caladiums. One summer I proudly boasted I had 197 different types of flowering plants growing in my front yard (my notebook was overflowing that year as I was also experimenting with hybriding Gladioli). This is also when I noticed that I was terribly sensitive to pollen, etc. I can and do keep it under control with Benadryl (yes, it makes me drowsy but works better than others). Claritin, if you can believe this - breaks me out in hives! I'm allergic to an allergy reducing drug. :)

I have been leaning slightly to the conservative side with relation to grow zones the last 24 hours as I take notes on how to adjust my lifetime of growing plants in zone 6 to my new life in zone 9. For example, I'm a huge fan of Zantedeschia aethiopica (Giant White Calla Lily or Death Calla) as I grew them in California en masse. According to information I've gleaned they are hardy up to zone 7, so zone 9 will hardly be a problem for them plus they thrive in soggy warm soil.

However, my ZZ Plant (Zamioculcas zamiifolia) is hardy to zone 9a, so being less than conservative I'd say zone 10 is safe for them, zone 9a/b means to apply plenty of mulch or burlap through the winter, however brief, "just in case." ZZ's have huge potato-like tubers that rest slightly under the soil, or bulge above the soil-line in well-established plants. They are a fascinating Aroid and generally quite expensive. Leaf cuttings take 12 to 18 months to sprout a plantlet...

Here in Zone 6 (Southwest Missouri) horsetails (Equisetum) grow natively, when you can find them, and being very boglike water loving plants, they should perform superbly down there. I think they are fascinating too.

I'm curious about carnivorous bog plants that are common in the Carolinas. Venus Flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) and one I used to grow in a 2-liter pop bottle - the ground-hugging Purple Pitcher (Sarrascenia purpurea). South Carolina is zone 8 I believe. I know it is slightly colder than Southern Louisiana, so I'm curious how well the carnivores would do, since they thrive on heat, humidity and boglike conditions.

Can you tell I'm looking forward to moving? I am already working up enough landscaping/gardening plans to last me the next five Summers.

Below is a link to the house I'm buying in Abbeville. It is $42,000, partly fenced in, large lot with the house in the dead center, some shrubs and a few young trees.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1014048}}

Hi Len,

Welcome to Louisiana (well, in a few weeks)! Having been on a journey that sounds a bit like yours, I can say that you oughta LOVE south Louisiana. I consider it home now, after being here for 11 1/2 years. My previous longest residence was in Rolla, MO. If you're like me, you'll love the weather, the food, and the people. Growing tropicals down here is wonderful.

I second the suggestion to go visit Stokes. Also plan on going to Avery Island to see the source of Tabasco sauce. With your interest in Capsicum, I bet you'd enjoy it. Also take time to visit the Jungle Gardens there.

Finally, do whatever you can to get used to the crawfish. They're great! Really, mmmmmm mmmmm good! It takes some practice to learn to peel the meat out of the tail and make a worthwhile meal, but man are they good!

Have a great day,
Dave (and Laura)

Dave & Laura,

I visited Avery Island a few years back when I went to visit. I have a photo album full of awesome photos of that place. Wow! And I've been to the Tobasco place, and also to Live Oak (I think it's called). Now THAT is what I've always pictured "swamp and bayou" to be all my life.

I will definitely check out Stokes. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, I will be passing right by it on my way down as I pass through Lafayette and on into Abbeville.

I got on eBay earlier and looked under tropical plants and was very pleased to see some of the better sellers giving suggested zones in their postings. I realized that most carnivorous pitcher plants will survive, the huge and odd looking Cyperus papyrus will grow there, some of the hardier Tillandsias (related to Spanish Moss) will survive, some requiring me to bring them inside for a month or two a year. There is simply no end to what I expect to do as soon as possible once I'm settled in. Wow, only 10 days to go before I head down that way...

I have allergies too, and I can relate to being allergic to Claritin. I relied mostly on Benadryl for a long time, but now find Zyrtec a little more helpful. I'm not allergic to seafood--thank heaven!--but I'm allergic to mold. No mold here of course! I like your house very much, and it's great to have a yard that isn't already all planted. I'd be interested in what others have to say about Zantedeschia--I have a friend who grew beautiful Calla lilies in New Iberia but never succeeded in Lafayette. I've tried some and had middlin' success with some and absolutely none with others. As for Equisetum--oh, yeah, it'll do fine here. It'll do so fine you'll have a yard full in no time. Keep it in a tub. I was warned when I first got here, and have seen it in people's yards where it is a real source of frustration. One plant I'd like to recommend, with a small warning, is the tribe of alocasias, colocasias, xanthosomas etc, otherwise known as elephant ears. There are some that are invasive and you will hear people scream about them. Don't plant those!! There are others that are very well-behaved, and have beautiful foliage, which since you said you're especially interested in foliage plants should appeal to you. Most of them prefer full sun, which obviously you have. They give a tropical look very quickly. I'm curious about the possibility that your ZZ might be hardy. One the size of yours would be scary to test, but maybe a small piece. I have one and think its story is almost more interesting than the plant itself--an aroid that looks like a cycad, and grows from a leaf like an African Violet! You should come up to Lafayette for the Festival des Fleurs the middle of April--commercial displays and exhibits from plant societies and the garden club, many small growers sometimes with plants hard to find other places, speakers, just good gardening people and a great atmosphere. I'll have to get exact dates and post it on here.

wow, nice house, nice yard.

reverse your growing seasons when you get down south. Plant seeds for spring in october/november (pansies, larkspur, allysum, snapdragons, nasturtiums, borage, marigolds).

plant for summer flowers in march/april.

i have marigolds self seeded year round here in houston texas.

I've uploaded some additional photos of the house and yard.

The only work on the house currently needed, and will be done before the end of the month, is the back porch roof has very minor rust that will be scraped and repainted with rust-proof gray paint. Also the little shed roof is rusted - same will be done to it. That shed also houses the hot water tank. The tank will get moved to the house and the shed is getting moved to the back of the lot. I plan to build a small greenhouse/coldframe attached to the shed for overwintering tillandsias and trying my hand with some of the easier orchids.

Finally, the bottom front porch step is busted. It too is getting replaced very soon (if it hasn't already). These photos were taken Sunday, March 6th.

Here is a link that might be useful: The House, Inside And Out

Boy! lots of potential you have now.....we once had a simple plain house we had bought in our younger days...no flowers but a few trees...we jumped in and worked and worked hard and we took alot of before and after pictures...we did such a good job someone offer to buy at a great price and we sold and moved...all we have left is our photo album and it still brings sweet memories..I also kept a journal of all the planting , building beds, list and price of plants bought, and list of plants that others shared with us...and that book I gave to the new owners so they could know what was planted and maybe help them in their caring of the plants...you might want to do ...you have your first pictures now and I really encourage you to keep it up, it will be fond memories on record for many yrs to enjoy...building flower beds is going to be one of your first challenges...its a must when the weather is not too hot...save your energy on working on the inside when the days are rainey and too hot and you will have your share of that in La......spring and fall will be big outside working days for your new goals, and there is nothing more beautiful then tropicals and you my dear have landed in tropical heaven...:) Good Luck and happy, happy gardening grannybj1

Thanks for the words of encouragement and photo ideas grannybj65,

I have a really nice digital camera and plan to take LOTS of photos all along the way as I develop the garden. The photos linked here were taken by a good friend. I have an eye for good snapshots so once I'm down there I'll be taking dozens of photos from all angles and different weather conditions. The joy of digital photography - you never run out of film. LOL

One of the things I like to do is take a series of photos from the same angle all day long on a sunny day to get a general idea of where the shady and sunny spots are. Doing that a few times throughout the year as the Earth changes kilter I'll perfect an image in my mind of where best to place different plants based on their light/shade tolerance.

Looking at the photo of the front of the house dead-on, I just got a great idea. Facing the house, the living room is on the right side with the single window and the kitchen is on the left side with the double windows. In front of the double windows inside is the kitchen sink, so it is not a spot that will have tremendous "looking out the window" appeal.

So, as the cogs turn in this hard head of mine, I'm visualizing lattice from the center pole on the porch going to the left corner, then around to where the porch meets the house. Then cutting a rectangular window out of the center of the front of the lattice and framing it a bit so there is a clear view out to the road from the kitchen window. And then I can visualize the lattice painted white (or more likely light gray as I'm not too fond of white outside) and covered in Scarlet Runner Bean and Clematis with maybe some "Joseph's Coat" (Amaranthus tricolor) in front and some dwarf Cannas with some "Love lies Bleeding" (Amaranthus sp.) along the side. The scarlet, violet, purple and deep reds and burgundys will all be in harmony with one another, at least until I decide on a totally different look down the road. I can have a nice metal frame rocking deck seat out on the porch hidden away behind the wall of vines where I can sit and enjoy the shade - and a good spray from the gardening hose on all the vines will create a nice cooling breeze. Well, it's a thought anyway. :)

I saw on eBay this evening someone in San Diego California is selling several batches of Tillandsias (the common T. ionantha). They are offering them as a box of 50 child fist-sized clumps of them for around $20 if I recall - quite cheap. I immediately thought how neat it would be to buy 50 or 100 clumps and then carefully wire them to a wire-frame wreath for a living, blooming front door wreath, especially once the front porch is semi-latticed in and well shaded. A few sprigs of Spanish Moss draping down from the wreath here and there would further kick off the effect. It would live on the wet air, constantly regenerate itself with new growth, and bloom off and on throughout the year. During the colder months I could bring it inside and hang up it in the living room window where it can get plenty of bright indirect light.

Ok, I'll shut up now.

I know you will love the south, where
the growing season is nice & long.
Your new house has so much more Charm
than the new modern ones!! I can just see you swinging on the front porch with a big glass of sweet tea.
Welcome to your new life!! Your going to love the south.

Honeybee

Abbeville is a wonderful town with very nice people. (I worked there for a year.) They have a cattle festival and an omelette festival and even a daylily festival.

In the past I've used this wide hard plastic stuff to contain rambling plants. It is like an edging of sorts, but it's 12 inches wide. You bury around 10 inches of it down and the top is rounded off like a hose that runs along the border of the plants. It's deep enough and strong enough to keep the plants in check for a LONG time. I think it's guaranteed for at least 25 years.

I've started a website that is not going to have many updates for a few more weeks but once I get settled in down there and take a lot of photos I will then begin posting them to the website along with details of some of the projects I'll be working on.

The general theme I think is gonna be "My Secret Garden is No Secret Now!"

Have a looksee!

Here is a link that might be useful: My Website

A few notes... at least one species of Sarracenia (Pitcher Plant) grows wild in your new area, along with sundews and butterworts. In the water, look for bladderwort.

Bromeliads... the Tillandsia wreath would do great, just bring it indoors on frosty nights, But they need more than wet air! Water them with a very dilute fertilizer solution, or soak them overnight once a week in said solution. Other bromeliads would do great on your balcony, though most do not like full sun. Let me know what kind of light the balcony gets and I can recommend which to try and which to avoid. If you can get over to New Orleans on April 30 or May 1, the Greater New Orleans Bromeliad Society will have its annual show that weekend at Lakeside Mall.

madabouteu,

Thanks for the info. In fact, I've pushed the date forward so many times, I'm actually heading down there tomorrow night (Monday). I have everything packed and the apartment cleaned out so there is little holding me back except dropping off a change of address form on my way out of town.

I will take some photos of the front and pack porch both and also once I'm down there I'll have a good idea of what kind of light it gets and if there is any shade to speak of. I'll be sure to post that inforaation here.

I think you will like it down here. Just Remember it gets real hot down here in the summer. So please bring all your shorts LOL.



On your new Home

Sweetmama

Len,

If I'm correct ~ it looks like your new home faces South State Street. If so, that white house in your back yard, to the left, with the clothesline was my grandmother's house until 3 years ago when she was placed in the nursing home.

Get ready for the Daylily Festival in June. It's a blast.

Good Luck on your move.

Congrats on becomming a southern gardener. Welcome to
south LA. You'll be glad you came. Everyone here
is real friendly and I'm sure you'll find people
close that will give you great advice on what does
well here and may even give you cuttings. I have alot
of plants in my garden from trades or swaps and seeds
I received in trades. We have a wonderful state here
and Welcome you. Have a safe trip down.

Brenda
Harvey, LA
(near New Orleans)

You are definitely moving to what is called God's Country. You will love the people, etc. The hot summers????????? I live in Central Louisiana but have lived in NO and Lafayette. Enjoy your life there.