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kckelso

Types of plants appropriate for this region

kckelso
19 years ago

We are new to this area and very new to gardening. Can anyone recommend plants (annuals and pernennials) that are able to withstand the heat. Also, is it possible to have a flowering garden during the winter months here? Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

Comments (6)

  • wilmington_islander
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    where to begin? bumping this down.....if you could be more specific you'd get lots of suggestions :)

  • AnnaK20
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    For this area, to begin at the basics for this time of year, lantana is hard to beat for color and ease in growing. That's only one among literally hundreds -- or more -- of possibilities. For winter, the first suggestions that come to mind are pansies for annuals and camellias for perennial shrub. I'm sure you'll get many more suggestions. Something's blooming year-round down here.

  • PRO
    Nell Jean
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    To give you a starting point, what did you grow in Pittsburgh? Many annuals and perennials will grow here as well as there, so you can plant some of the familiar but not all. Peonies and lilacs do not bloom here; you can have amaryllis and crape myrtle instead.

    I invite you to take a look at my web site, it lists some annuals for the coastal south and some other things that I grow. 'Sandy Bedders' is a list of annuals that do well here.
    'Summer Flowers' and 'Winter Garden' has a suggestion or two as well.

    Lilies and Daylilies are among my favorites. You can grow many tender bulbs like cannas and elephant ears without lifing for the winter. Enjoy.

    Nell

    Here is a link that might be useful: Foxes Garden

  • Blooming_annie
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Welcome to the coastal south! Gardening here is definitely different but very rewarding. Hope you have a quick learning curve and lots of fun!

    As said above, you can have reliable winter color with camellias, snapdragons, and pansies. But a lot of annuals and perennials don't stop until early December or later and you may also have some roses blooming on Christmas Day or later. My verbena tenuisecta never stopped blooming last winter. Then things start hopping again in late February so there isn't really much of a winter anyway.

    As a group, salvias seem to be great for the southeast coast. I have indigo spires, mexican bush sage, anthony parker, purple majesty, forsythia, rosebud, limelight, argentine skies, waverly, pineapple, van houttei, victoria, and black and blue. The van houttei is the only one that is tender and they all thrive. Most get fairly big (okay, maybe VERY big) but are worthy of the garden space. Indigo Spires blooms FOREVER starting in spring and going right on through fall. Purple majesty has great color but is a bit leggy and floppy for my taste but it blooms early too. For the most part though salvias bloom more towards the end of summer.

    Another broad group that does great is the malva/ hibiscus family. Someday I'll have to look them up and see what the family tree looks like but in general I've found that lots of them do well here either as annuals or perennials. There are a lot of hardy hibiscus that do well here such as Lady Baltimore, Lord Baltimore, Disco Belle, and on and on and on! But then some tropical hibiscus will overwinter in the ground here too. Or, more accurately, most tropical hibiscus will overwinter MOST winters in the ground in the right microclimate. And a random freeze may do them in though. Malva sylvestris is a great spring bloomer here with great big fat sassy leaves that add a real punch in the foliage department. Texas Star Hibiscus needs a lots of water and a little shade but has great red flowers and foliage that may get you arrested it looks so much like a pot leaf! Rose of Sharon is a traditional southern shrub that will do well and is a hibiscus relative. Other family members that do well are turk's cap, scarlet mallow, abelmoschus manihot, abelmoschus moschatus, hibiscus radiatus, and most lavateras. Pardon any misspellings and sorry for all the botanical names but I don't even know common names for all of them.

    Like FoxesEarth above, I'm wild about gerbera daisies and for good reason. If you make them happy to start with, they really thrive in the heat and bloom from very, very early on until frost without pausing for breath. I highly recommend them, especially if you like to have flowers to cut.

    Other random ideas: larkspur are easy to grow annuals from seed and look really impressive around late April and early May. Columbines will bloom from seed sown in the ground the previous fall and most plants will survive the summer and come back stronger the next year. Purple hyacinth bean grows easily from seed and is a real traffic stopper when in bloom. Herbs that do well in sandy, well-drained situations are Spanish Lavender, Fernleaf (or maybe it is laceleaf, I never can remember!)Lavender, and Rosemary. The rosemary will get huge and smells heavenly!

    I didn't mean to get so long-winded and promise that I'm really a novice and not a "know-it-all"! But sound gardening guidance for our quirky little coastal zone seems so hard to come by that I'm more than happy to pass on any little tidbit to anyone struggling to figure it out. And am happy to receive little nuggets of wisdom myself!

    Happy gardening. And don't forget to amend your soil!

  • PRO
    Nell Jean
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    We didn't have more questions about gardening in the South, KCKelso. Have you begun yet? And did you weather the storms okay?

    You, too, Annie; did the storm give you any trouble? And Anna and Wilmington Islander?

    Stay safe, everybody.

    Nell

  • Blooming_annie
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Charleston was so on the outer edge of the storm that downtown was barely scathed, my part of Mt. Pleasant had lots of wind, lots of rain, and loss of power, and my sister's area five miles north of us had a lot more all of the above.

    My sympathy to all who were impacted more seriously by this storm. It is certainly a painful and confusing time for lots of people.

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