Lots of plants do very well here. Hostas, daylilies, siberian iris, iris, peonies, false indigo, daffodils, snowdrops, sedums, grasses, cone flowers, catmints, lambs ears, daisies, columbine, lanium, asters. Lots of the stuff that you grew in Ohio do just fine here.

Janet

Thanks, Janet. When do you start planting here? I also heard that our zone might be changing to 7 but haven't found anything concrete on that.

You can pretty much start moving stuff around as soon as the ground thaws. I'll start lining out some of the daylilies in the field the middle of March. I'll start digging orders about the middle of April. By then daylilies will be up 3-5 inches tall. Live plants will start showing up around the first of April. It's often iffy on putting those out that early but you could buy them when the selection is good and just hold them a while.

Welcome to Louisville! The climate here is pretty good for cottage garden perennials- phlox, roses, dianthus, hollyhocks... Are you in a fairly new house? If so, warning, the soil brought in by builders sucks. Heavy sticky, playdough kind of clay. Hopefully, the pervious owner ammended the soil.

As for the zone 7 change, I haven't heard anything about it. We used to live in Atlanta, so I try to push the zone limit here. Most of my zone 7 plants did great for several years (agapanthus, eucomis), but last winter it was very mild, warmed into the 70's the last week of March/ first week of April. All the spring trees were in full bloom, then we got zapped with a hard freeze (20's). It killed my zone 7 plants, and severely damaged my NorthEast facing Japanese Maples. But, that was really unusual. Enjoy planning until planting time!
Robin

Thanks Robin! Our house was built in 1971 and the soil looks in pretty good shape. The previous homeowners didn't appear to be gardeners so most of the planting areas contain grasses and ivy. I'm definitely planning on a couple of David Austen roses (I had Fair Bianca in Tucson and loved it - have also have Gertrude Jekyll before and it's lovely) as well as some phlox and some peonies as well. This will be a butterfly/bee friendly garden as well as lots of color and scent. Hopefully this week-end, DH and I will get out and measure so I can start mapping out the plan. We did a smaller garden in the fall with stuff like lily of the valley, hellebore and anemones so I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

But when it was 8 degrees this morning, I love looking in the flower catalogs and dreaming of spring!

Welcome to Louisville. Watch for a post for that spring plant swap. I'm sure someone would love to have some of that liriope if you are wanting to get rid of it. And you can get some lovely plants that you may want for your own garden(s). I'm not of any help. I only started growing some plants a couple of years ago, when I finally got a yard and could have a garden. Good luck. I hope you come to love Louisville.

Hi dreamspirit - already love Louisville! We moved here in July and didn't really do much to the garden at that time (we were still trying to sell our Tucson house - finally sold 10/30/07). Even with the cold, we still really love it here. Everyone has been so nice and helpful! I will definitely look for a plant swap. I have tons of liriope (it lines the front sidewalk) and personally, a little goes a long way. I'm not really big on lining stuff like sidewalks - I tend towards the more colorful and chaotic style. Love plants that attract birds/hummingbirds/butterflies/bees.

Hi fairygirl,
That cold snap last week was awful!! We got back in town from Philladelphia with a new Labrador puppy on the 21st-I thought I would freeze my butt off-maybe that would be a good thing!?!
Louisville doesn't have the abundance of nurseries I got spoiled with in Atlanta, but there are a couple good ones that sell the new and unusual--Boone Gardiner and Wallitsch. Both are pricey- so don't buy your everyday stuff there. Next door to Boone is Yew Dell Gardens- not really a Botanical Garden, but as close as we'll get to one here- the plantings are interesting, and always expanding. Its a great place to volunteer too.
Robin
P.S. Flower catalogs keep me going this time of year too!

Hi Fairygirl! I haven't been on the boards in forever. Just moved to Louisville myself in November. We haven't bought a house yet and our lease won't be up till the end of July so I'll miss all spring gardening. Bummer! Let me know if you need help digging or anything. I'd be glad to help and would love playing in the dirt this spring. I went to the plant swap last spring and it was really nice.

Flower catalogs are keeping me going! I did notice that there do not seem to be a lot of good nurseries around here. In Tucson, we had a fabulous nursery (Mesquite Valley Growers) that I used all the time.

Who do you find to be the best and most reliable of the catalog group? I've used Jackson & Perkins for roses and found them reliable. I've also used Wayside Gardens and have mixed feelings about them (they forgot to include a plant for the fall plantings and are now telling me they'll send it in the spring).

For the new and unusual, my favorites are Plant Delight Nursery and Heronswood (relocated to PA, so the shipping isn't as bad). Song Sparrow is another good one. I also like Forest Farm- shipping is pricey, but you can find just about any unusual tree or shrub in 1-5 gallon size. For Delphiniums ( and other cottage plants)-Graceful Gardens is good- you can buy small plants in 6 packs- which is perfect, since delphiniums are more of an annual here. Happy shopping!!
Robin

What are you favorite perennials to use here in Louisville? Thanks for the catalog suggestions - I hadn't heard of any of them so it's great to have more choices!

Have you heard of Bluestone Perennials? I've ordered a couple of things from them. Size is small, but the price is right and quality is good.

I already have the catalog from Bluestone and really like what they offer and their prices seem good. I'm still in the early planning stages as we still have a ways to go before planting time.

some of my favorites here: spiderwort "katie", Phlox paniculata, heuchera (many hybrids), penstemon (good drainage is key), variegated yucca, campanula "sarastro"- like Kent belle, but shorter, and not invasive, ajuga- Caitlin's giant, variegated solomon's seal, tassel fern, polemonium "stairway to heaven", pulmonaria, hardy geraniums.............Mix in shrub roses too!
Robin

And I don't think you can ever go wrong with daylilies and coneflowers. And clematis, my absolute favorites! Keep us posted on your plans and plants for your new garden. Since I can't be doing any gardening myself this spring I intend to live through hearing about everyone elses!

Yes, daylilies do very well here. Some of mine from last year.
SUGAR PLUM GLAZE

Janet

Gorgeous daylilies! So beautiful on a snowy/icy day like today! I will definitely keep you all posted as the plans become more concrete. I definitely want to put a clematis by the mailbox (to hopefully grow up around it). I'm also going to include some "natural" bird feeders, baths in and around all my gardens. We had some tree work done in December (thankfully before all this crazy windy icy weather!) and we kept a majority of the wood for our fireplaces. We had some wood from locusts and black walnut so my DH is creating little hollows in the pieces for seed, water and watermelon (I hear butterflies really like that) so we'll have little natural bird and butterfly wood pieces throughout the gardens. I'll send pictures when they're done. It's a pretty easy project, will look good and will hopefully attract lots of birds and butterflies. We already have a bunch of feeders in our sugar maple so we have lots of birds anyway.

Janet, what lovely,lovely lilies, particularly the top & bottom ones! Looking forward to seeing pics, fairy girl.

Good sources for roses are Antique Rose Emporium, Ashdown Roses, Rogue Valley Roses, and Vintage Gardens. Just letting you know other rose options other than J&P! :)

Eric

Plant swap here in Louisville June 7th....there is a thread about it. Join us!

Yes...all those In Louisville and the surrounding area, please check out the June 7th-2008 Louisville Plant Swap-Save the Date! thread.

Sue...Head Ringleader

Hello and Welcome!
Louisville is a great place to garden! We can have so many varieties-after a cold winter, we really look forward to spring and all the green :)

my son lived in Phoenix for a time, and I got to visit-what beautiful country! SO different from this 'side of the Mississippi' LOL

do post at the swap thread, so we can all keep up -
there will be lots of plants - you don't have to have a lot to trade, we love to share

best wishes and happy gardening!
Linda by the airport