Moving to S. Carolina. What do you grow?

Hi,

I'll be moving to the Columbia area sometime within the next 6 months. What grows well up there? Can you grow hostas, peonies, gardenia, jasmine, lilacs? Will bulbs like tulips and daffodils come back?

What are your favorites?

Thanks,
Leslie

Hi Leslie, there are certain varieties of peonies (early flowering ones) and lilacs (maybe Miss Kim?) that will grow there. Daffodils will do very well. Tulips in general will be annuals however, the species tulips will indeed come back faithfully.

Next time you are in town visit the Riverbanks Botanical Gardens; you'll see plenty of wonderful plant material that likes the Midlands.

Will you be in town on March 22nd? The Midlands Master Gardeners Annual Gardening Symposium will be held that day and it is always an excellent program and there will be many vendors selling a wide variety of plant material. If you are interested, let me know and I will try and get you the info. Space is limited to a few hundred and it is always a sell out. alice

Hi Alice,

Thank you for the information. I won't be up there that soon, but had thought about taking a Master Gardener's course after we moved. I'll be looking for that symposium next year and hopefully will meet you!

Leslie

I agree on a trip to the zoo for a good showing of what we can grow here. As for tulips... never had much luck with them the few times I've tried. Our winters are usually a bit too warm for them. Most bulbs can survive the winters here, including Alocasia if they are deep enough. Even several of our palms have done well outside this winter. It's been a good bit warmer than normal though lately... we had the 70's several days this and last month. Today's the coldest it's been a while, in the 40's. We rarely get into the teens, and the low to mid 20's are usually as cold as we get around here (usually in short spells).

This message was edited Jan 17, 2007 10:34 AM

I'll be there! Feel free to Dmail me with any questions about Columbia. It was my home for many, many years and I still go back often to the dentist, master gardener activities and to visit friends and the botanical gardens.

Looking forward to meeting you.

keonikale,
Do you have kids in school? We're looking at a house in Richland/Lex 5 and I understand that's a good district. Do you know anything about the private schools in the area?

For both of you, can you tell me about the towns of Camden, Aiken and Newberry? I need a few acres so I can one day have a daylily business. I started hybridizing last year and have 1.000 seedlings going out at a friend's nursery now.

Leslie

The wife and I don't have kids, but I was a student at Rich/Lex 5 and I enjoyed it... one of the best districts in the state IMHO. I attended Dutch Fork High in Irmo - graduated in 1999. My wife moved here in 2000 and finished her senior year at Irmo. It's also a good school.

My wife and I are moving in a week to Lexington, and the school for that area will be Lexington 1, another good district. The proximity of USC is also nice if your kids plan to attend college locally like I did.

My wife absolutely loves Newberry. It's a bit small for my tastes, but to each his or her own. I liked Irmo's small town feel for a long time, but it's grown a lot over the last few years. No doubt you'll quickly discover Harbison Blvd is 'THE place' to buy anything you want. I've never seen so many stores crammed into one area before.

Camden is also nice, but provided we work in Columbia it wasn't a possibility. Same for Aiken. The best schools and value in homes in this area are in Irmo, Lexington, and perhaps now in Blythwood (near Clemson Road where all the development is taking place).

Currently we live in downtown Columbia, and we're very ready to get out of the city :)

This message was edited Jan 17, 2007 10:51 AM

This message was edited Jan 17, 2007 10:52 AM

thank you! The house at which we're looking mostly is in the Harbison area.

We were in Spring Valley and I loved it then because, at that time, the schools were excellent and there was little traffic. Nowadays it is almost as bad as Harbison traffic. Who shops at all these stores??????

Camden is a lovely little town about 25 minutes from Columbia on I-20. I think it is a bit closer to civilization then Newberry but not significantly. Aiken is also worth looking into if you don't mind the commute, about an hour. Camden and Aiken are both "horsey" towns with many thoroughbreds and steeplechase events.

Like Keonikale mentioned Lexington is the new "in" place with excellent schools. Blythewood is another place with lots of growth and new schools. My favorite daylily farm is there, Singing Oak Gardens, so it must be a wonderful place to grow daylilies.

I would visit ASAP and actually spend a few hours in each of the schools you are considering. For private schools you can look at Heathwood Hall and Hammond. If you are going to go the private school route you could also look into land in SE Richland county (way out Garners Ferry Road). The land is still reasonable out there.

Dear LALAMBCHOP,
This is my first time ever responding to a forum but you got my attention! I live in Florence and am fairly new in gardening (6 years). I am basically into vegetables in containers, believe it or not, and some flowers for the front yard. My son and his family live in Columbia and my daughter in law teaches at Irmo Middle School. I know the area and you will love it there. I even thought of moving there myself during the summer (serious illness in their family) but decided to stay where I am once the worse was over. My grandchildren go to Leapheart Elem. and they love it. There is a very good day care near Leapheart that is excellent. My children live in the Whitehall section which is easy access to Harbison. Frankly, there are so many things around Harbison, that I feel you would not need to go further. All of what I read in your earlier replies match my luck with bulbs here. There are several nice nurseries near this area though I will admit I have not visited them. You will not be too far from Park Nursery in Greenwood, SC which is well known nationally. It is a wonderful day trip there! Please let me know if I can help you any more. Happy moving!

Hi Skywatch,
Thanks for such a warm welcome. It's typical of what my husband has said of the folks up your way. I think our family is going up next weekend to look at houses. I'm filled with anticipation as I haven't spent any time up there yet. I'll keep you posted.

God bless you,

Leslie

I live on the south side of Lake Murray in Lexington County. Yes, gardenia grows well here, but not lilacs (unless you get a special cultivar to tolerate our heat and humidity). I have one scrawny lilac that has barely managed to survive for 20 years, but rarely blooms.

Will bulbs like tulips and daffodils come back? Tulips, usually do not. However, I bought some yellow perenial tulips from White Flower Farms (huge 14 cm bulbs) that came back a nice size the next year without digging them up. Also some very large Casa Grande red Greggi tulips I planted in '05 came back this year. However, those are the exception rather than the rule. Tulips do better here if you prechill them. I have found two places that will prechill tulips before shipping them here (Brent and Becky's Bulbs in Virginia, and tulips.com in Washington State). I have had good experiences with both. I have an older refrigerator on my patio that is a beverage refrigerator in the summer and a bulb refrigerator in the fall. Ground temperatures here usually do not fall below 60 degrees until mid November. I usually plant around Thanksgiving.

There are many daffodil cultivars that are perennial here, and some even multiply. However, I have had some trouble with doubles,such as Golden Ducat.
Ice Follies and Carton do well. I love Geranium (multiflowered, large white flowers with an orange center) and Trepelo (has a star shaped split corona). Thalia, a multiflowering, nodding trumpet shaped, white daffodil does well as does Sound.

I

Hi Leslie: How was your house-hunting trip? Hope you get to see the area in full spring bloom mode!
Deb

Hi Deb,
We've hit a big stall. I haven't even gotten to come up there yet. My husband's company hasn't decided whether they'll transfer him. It looked like we were all set and now, months later, they're second guessing it. Hopefully sometime this month we'll have an answer.

Leslie

Hi Leslie, pardon me for interrupting your thread, but I saw a post from you in the daylily forum and remembered you were planning to move. I went to your threads to see if maybe you told about it somewhere and I missed it. Anyway, they lead me here. Has your DH's work decided if they will move you?