Welcome Meadow Lark!
Some areas of Maryland have good soil. But some of us are living on mounds of clay, so you may want to test the soil before you buy a house.

You will be in Marylands coastal plain, known for sandy, well drained soils. Breton Bay, which I've boated in and around many times, is fairly high salinity. Nice if you want to grow oysters off your dock, not so nice if you want to garden near the water. Of course, you would not want to eat your oysters, since Leonardtown's sewage treatment plant empties into Breton Bay...

You'll find the climate surprisingly similar to where you live now. It's still pretty nice in and around that area, but it is growing by leaps and bounds. And if you want waterfront, you will be looking at paying over $500K for a small home on a small plot of land. A decent size home on a nice patch of waterfront will be closer to $750K.

Hey Mike - are you a circle C grower?

No, but I do work for the group that regulates them...

Meadow Lark -- welcome to the neighborhood. I live on the PG/Charles Counties line about 40 minutes north of Leonardtown. The soil where I am is sandy but also full of gravel, which makes digging, etc. very difficult. Check out your soil when you're looking at propoerty. It changes from locale to locale.

I've planted Japanese maples that I've gotten at the Mid-Atlatnic swaps, and they are doing very well. Keep your eye on the forum for notices of the swaps. We hold them twice a year in May and in late September. It's a great chance to meet everyone, enjoy a community potluck and swap extras for plants that you can be pretty sure will do well in this region. And, if you don't have anything to swap, that's fine. Come and meet everyone.

good luck on your move
Eric

Thanks so much for the responses! I am very excited about laying out my new gardens. I've heard that Maryland nurseries have excellent soils to amend with.

I am concerned about waterfront gardening. Two of the houses we've looked at near Breton Bay have been waterfront. Two others (both of which we are considering) are waterfront. One in Scotland (I am talking beachfront)... and one on St. Georges Island. I'm worried about restrictions with what I can plant, and what fences I'm allowed to put up.

In any case... the babies I'm bringing with me must go into the ground as soon as I get the soil ameneded.

I'll check back in once we get settled...

Also - I love to trade - so once I get established - I'll gladly share.

Meadow Lark

St. Georges Island is a really really neat place. You could catch crabs and fish aplenty right there. The area is also loaded with seahorses, and has the only eelgrass bed in the Potomac River (which I and others planted). It has probably the cleanest water (in the bay) anywhere in Maryland. I have spent a tremendous amount of time underwater in the area, and it's just incredible. I think it would be a fantastic place to live.

Meadow Lark,

There are a lot of great resources for what to plant in the area. Here are a few:

Natives:
http://www.alliancechesbay.org/pubs.cfm
http://www.mdflora.org/index.html
http://www.fws.gov/chesapeakebay/bayscapes.htm

Univ. of MD:
http://www.hgic.umd.edu/

Free Natives Guide by region:
http://www.fws.gov/chesapeakebay/BayScapes/bsresources/bs-nativeguides.htm

So how was the move?

Meadow Lark Here!

We finally made it. We are renting a house in Solomons - while house hunting in St. Mary's County... We are putting in an offer tomorrow! I CAN'T WAIT to move in and get digging in the dirt. My plants did very well in the move. (We didn't get here until mid-April as it took that long to sell our house in Huntsville...) I am trying to locate all of the nurseries in the area. I just bought 12 perennial plants at Wal-Mart. Only $2.96 each! 3 differnt coreopsis, a veronica, a saliva, 3 different buddleias, a columbine, a lobelia... (I can't remember what else...)

It sure does rain a lot here! I left a drought in Alabama. My plants don't know what to think of all this water! (smile)