Just Beginning

I have to say that I am so totally excited to have found this site! I have a million questions I'd like to ask...again...I can't tell you how excited I am to be here! I don't have a Green Thumb. I don't know if I have a 'thumb' at all, but last year, I did attempt to start gardening. It is very hot and humid here in the summer time, Southwest Tennessee, so I looked for drought and heat tolerant plants. I have some beautiful blue sage, a red sage that I believe is called Hot Lips, and several cone flowers in different colors. I know I am in Zone 7. Is there a site that I can go to, to find out what kind of plants grow well in my area...or...could some of you recommend plants that would do well here?

Thanks so much...again...I am just so excited to have found this site. Almost as excited as I'll be when I get my hands back in the dirt!

Are you doing mostly flowers or veggies? I do know that part of Tn., for some reason, has better luck with rose bushes. The diseases that I have so much trouble with here are much more in control there. as far as the veggies go,Madison Co. and surrounding areas have wonderful rich soil, and grow great gardens. Go to your local extention agency and they will help you a lot. By the way, i'm excited to have you here. My hometown is Jackson.Good luck,
Lynda

Thanks Lynda!

I do have three rose bushes. One is a knock out rose that I got towards the end of summer last year...but so far it has lived thru the winter. I also have a G. Masterpiece that is a Tea Rose...it has very pale yellow blooms...almost blonde in color. It made it thru the winter as well. I planted, just last week, a plum/purplish 'Intrigue' rose bush.

I have a book that I kept every single tag that I planted last year in. I can't wait to see what, if anything at all, comes back.

To answer your question, I am mostly looking for flowers, but, I do intend on having a veggie garden this year also!

Lisa

This message was edited Feb 18, 2009 10:41 PM

I am also a relative newbie, so I hesitate to offer advice on specific plants.

HOWEVER. I learned a 'southern gardening issue' the expensive way: when many plant labels say 'requires full sun' they are not talking about southern full sun! Even sun-loving petunias burn up in my FULL sun areas by July.

The easiest way to clearly communicate this to the nursery folks is to ask if the plant will be happy by the pool - meaning, the hot patio that surrounds the swimming pool (which I don't have).

My experience so far is that dahlias and lantana do great. I'm far enough south that I can leave the dahlia bulbs in ground over the winter. Last year I planted lantana that supposedly sometimes comes back, so we'll see. There are a BUNCH of annual tropicals that do well, but that means dumping money into annuals...

Anyway, almost everything I've encountered that says full sun really means afternoon shade, so you might want to at least consider that when you're planning flowers.

Vegetables, of course, are another matter entirely. If you like tomatoes and have full southern sun you are one lucky dude.

I do have some dahlia bulbs to put out, but that just brings on another question. If I wait until spring to plant the bulbs, will they bloom this year? I do have some Miss Huff lantana that I put around my mailbox last year that I moved because it grew so well that it took over the mailbox. I don't know if it will actually come back or not, because I seemed to have moved things at the hottest part of the year, not knowing until afterwards that I should have waited until spring to transplant things.

I have a small pond area that we made out of one of those blue kiddie swimming pools. It is nothing but total sun. Like you said, hot blistering southern sun. I have a few cannas around that. They seemed to do okay, and some tickseed close to it.

My petunias, all summer long they kept dying off and then coming back, time after time. I don't know if that was because of the sun, or if it was just because I don't know what I'm doing.

I don't really want to plant annuals. I know they are beautiful and bloom for most of the season, but I really want things that will come back year after year.

Thanks for your help, and if you know, please tell me if I can go ahead and put those bulbs in the ground!

This is a shot of the pond in full bloom...please excuse the grass in the rocks. It was probably after 7:00 pm when I took this picture...as this spot is full sun all day long.

This message was edited Feb 19, 2009 11:41 AM

I planted last year's dahlias after April 15th (my last-frost date) and they not only bloomed but went out of their way to be beautiful. I planted some that bloom early, some middle, and some late.

I didn't know much about dahlias when the early bloomers came up, so I didn't know to pinch off the tips until at least June - so those ended up being about eight feet tall, which is way too big. By the time the others came up, I had learned, however, and they ended up between 4 and 6 feet and were beauticul bushy dahlias.

So yes they will bloom this year, but wait to plant.

I love petunias...the trick is to deadhead every day. If you miss more than about three days they'll put all their energy into seeding and get brown. Sometimes I've had them recover from that stage, but usually not. If you are deadheading and they still die out it's because they're getting too much sun.

Yes! to the cannas. My gosh, though, they will multiply like crazy. Yeah, it's tough on plants when they're transplanted in summer, but what the heck, maybe it worked.

Hey, here's something weird...I've had a giant elephant ear in 'Pool' sun for three years and it gets about six feet tall every summer. I never dig it up. I thought it was supposed to be a full shade plant, and I do have some in shade, but they don't get as big as the one in sun. Probably someone out there knows why...and I'd love to know.

I had two elephant ears behind the rocks at the pond. One lived and one didn't. Do they multiply also?

My gosh to the Cannas multiplying. I have about 8 more bulbs I was planning to put there. I guess I should find somewhere else to put them!

Oh, your picture is beautiful! I have a feeling some coreopsis (I like the moonflower) would give you a nice shot of color, and an elephant ear behind the pool a bit of 'solid' height. I personally like coreopsis better than black eyed susan because it seems to me more of a garden flower than a wildflower. In my yard I've set an area aside for wildflowers, but no way are they going into my groomed areas, although I'm sure that offends many gardeners. Or maybe coreopsis is a wildflower and I'll get slammed for being ignorant - which I essentially am, so am therefore also filled with bliss.

Don't know how you feel about trellises, but a thought would be to plant some morning glory seed (after frost) and train it up the trellis rather than your fence since it's ugly after it's killed by the frost. Get the biggest flower size you can. If you start with a pretty enough trellis you can leave it up all year (I like to decorate them with Christmas lights in December) - otherwise you can stick it away until next spring.

None of my elephant ears have multiplied. As to the cannas, I don't know HOW to get rid of them! I had a patch in an inconvenient space (meaning my husband planted them behind my back) and every time I move the ones that come up, more KEEP coming up.

Coreopsis...I'll have to look that up. I don't know what it is!

I have the same problem with hosta. I have it growing every where!

Easter presents. Housewarming presents. Mother's Day presents to all the women who are or might someday become Mothers. Goodwill gestures to neighbors (it is permissible to ring the doorbell and run).

Hi NoGreenThumb and welcome to DG. Living here in Mississippi, I know a thing or two about raising flowers and veggies in a hot, humid climate. Here are some of the perennials I have been growing very successfully that have come back every year: coneflowers, daylilies, Shasta daisies, Stokes aster, achillea (yarrow) larkspur, coreopsis, eupatorium "Little Joe," rudbeckia hirta "Indian Summer," African iris, creeping phlox, May Night salvia, Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly weed), and Ruellia Brittoniana "Katies Blue" (Mexican petunia). I also have several flowering trees and shrubs if you're interested. Most of these flowers attract butterflies.

Thanks NatureLover!

I'm off to look up those now! And yes...I'd love to hear about the trees and shrubs!

Lisa

Hi Lisa,
I've got my grandson for the weekend but will try to dig out my list as soon as I get time. Almost all of my flowers and shrubs attract butterflies, hummingbirds, and bees. I like to make sure I have plenty of plants for the bees so they can keep everything pollinated :-}
Marleine

Marleine

Thank you so much! I will be looking forward to your list!

Lisa

Hi again NoGreenThumb,
I finally got time to go through all my plant tags again to get the list of shrubs for you (also found a few more flowers).

Flowers:
Liatris
Frosty Morn stonecrop (sedum)
Goblin Blanket Flower
Clematis vines
Confederate jasmine "Trachelospermum jasminoides"

Shrubs:
Dwarf Yedda Indian Hawthorn
Rose Creek abelia and glossy abelia
Plum Delight Chinese Fringeflower "Loropetalum Chinense"
Butterfly bush "Buddleia davidii
Camellias--Yuletide and Apple Blossom
Azaleas
Crape myrtles
Lady Banks rose
Saucer magnolia "Magnolia soulangiana"
Vanhoutte spirea
Mock orange
Texas Star
Rose of Sharon

This isn't all of my plants (we have 5 acres for me to play with) but I think it will give you a good start. If you're like me, you will have to buy them a few at a time :-} Hope this helps.
Marleine

Marleine,

Will all of these grow in my zone (7) ???

Thanks so much!

Lisa

Now that I think about it, the Texas Star probably won't and I'm not 100% sure about the Chinese Fringeflower. Everything else should be fine.

I have hot humid weather in the summer and one of my favorite perennials is Batface culphea. It gets full afternoon sun and grows very well for me. Lantana is another one that flourishes.
Bonnie

This might help later on ..in all the excitement ! I built myself a blog that I use all of the time..It has a chart that explains NPK in the fertilizers, with symptoms that plants may exhibit. There is a lot of info in it..but ..once you go through, it helps during your experimental phases.. I also put in a trouble shooting check list that I use when trying to find out what's ailing a plant
Fertilizers, Soils & Plant Nutrients
http://davesgarden.com/community/blogs/t/rjuddharrison/1624/

This one even more stuff..but..these are the two blogs I use most
"Off the shelf Gardening Tips" http://davesgarden.com/community/blogs/t/rjuddharrison/1923/
recipes, seed starter tips, use of Hydrogen Peroxide, using seaweed...I built these blogs to shorten my searches on the internet. Hope they can be useful to someone else too.
Have fun!!!
Rj

RJ

WOW! Thanks so much!

Lisa

Thanks from me too rjudd--I bookmarked the fertilizer info. It will be real handy.

Hi NoGreenThumbnTn,
I'm new here and from Tennessee also! East Tennessee, near the Cumberland Plateau. I wondered if you have tried any herbs yet? I've not had the greatest luck with flowers except the spring bulbs (it is so hot and miserable in the summer that everything I plant seems to wilt and die :-( , but my herbs thrive in the summer and make my yard smell awesome. I have lavender and sage and rosemary. I've actually lined my walkway with lavender and it smells so good as I brush against it going into the house.
I've also had some luck with bushes. My Granny planted rose of sharon years ago and it and the peonies under it come up every year. The butterfly bush I planted last summer still looks great.
I just wish I could get lilies, irises, cannas, and hollyhocks to come up. My mom had success with hollyhocks as a child and my Granny grew Irises in my backyard and they come up sometimes, but when I plant them, no luck. Irises are the state flower for pete's sake!!!
P.S. my granny also planted orange daylilies years ago and they grow everywhere. I dug up dozens of bulbs to plant in my backyard this year, and some were left in my yard over the winter and have green shoots coming out of them, even though they were exposed for months to the dry, cold elements! So, if you like the orange daylilies, they are hardy and will give you tons of blooms :-D
-Audra

Audra

Welcome! I love meeting people from Tennessee here!

Last year...my first attempt at planting anything at all...I had a beautiful lavendar bush growing...and then it just died. I'm going to try again this year though...and I'm going to attempt to grow rosemary.

I have a little spot by an old tin shen that I refuse to let my husband tear down that has iris and daylilies shooting up right now! My neighbor told me last year that the iris won't bloom until the second year but we shall see.

I have cannas around my little pond and believe it or not...I put four rose of sharon in the ground today! I have a black knight butterfly bush that I put in last year. It seems to have lived through the winter. I ordered two red butterfly bushes that came in Friday.

It was 75 degrees here today. I so pretended that spring is here! I moved several bricks around...rearranging beds and that sort of thing. Today was a day in the dirt...that's for sure!

Lisa

Lisa,
I've got spring fever, too. It hit 67 degrees in our area today and I took my little niece and nephew around and showed them all the little sprouts. So different than when I grew up in Michigan and we would try to hunt Easter eggs in the snow!
I don't know if these will show up or not, but here is some pics I took today:
Actually it'll only let me do one at a time. These are the first flowers I get each spring. I can't remember what they are...I go them at Dollar General for a buck or so.
-Audra

Audra,

I wonder what they are! I'd love to have something actually blooming in my yard right now! I have hosta shooting up.

It got up to 77 here today. Mother Nature is such a tease! They say we will have cold weather again next week so I am fighting my spring fever still...:)

Lisa

I think they are crocuses. I looked up "purple white yellow early bloom march" on google and the pictures of the crocuses looked like mine.
I hope my hostas shoot up soon. It's fun to see how big they'll get. I planted from bulb so they've been tiny the 1st 2 years, but last year looked twice as big so I can't wait for this year!
I wonder if the daylilies I mentioned earlier might be considered invasive? My Granny had planted a row in the middle between her picture window and her hill, and they started showing up at her picture window. They got quite full and I saw a snake while gardening and my dad said that copperheads hid under them near the window before. So, I dug them up along the window to plant in my backyard this year, and planted hostas there instead. Well, yesterday I noticed several popping up amongst my hosta plantings and in the banks of dirt where I discarded extra bulbs, oboy!
Here are the one's my Granny originally planted. Looks like there'll be a ton this year:

ps the weather was in the 70's today and we all went to the park (but a little too windy for our picnic). Glorious weather!

I don't know a lot about gardening...but I do know that the daylilies can be divided. That's how I got most of mine last year. My uncle had passed away and my aunt was moving from their country home back to town, closer to her children. She invited me out one day to dig up any and everything that I'd like to have in my garden. Needless to say, I left there with the back of my Jeep full. She told me that I could divide the daylilies and have even more. Same with the hosta, as far as dividing. I got lucky with my hosta too. There was a rental house on our street. The owner was getting ready to sell it. I saw him over there with his lawn mower one day...about to shread a whole bed of hosta. I went over and asked him if he was planning on cutting it down. He told me that he was, but if I wanted it, he'd wait until the next day to do his mowing. It didn't take me 5 minutes to run across the street to get my shovel!

Hey there - thought I send out a plug for DG - if you join, there's a lot of folks on the mid-south forum who are usually from TN, AL, MS, AK, etc. - I don't participate there much anymore, but they are awfully nice and very helpful.

Enjoy!

Lisa,
that's really good luck! I've been buying my flowers from Lowe's and Walmart , when there are flowers all around and I really need to look into sharing/trading. I'm not sure how to do cuttings, though.
Last year my mom went down to my house to my Granny's forsythia bush and cut off a piece and planted it, and I was amazed when it survived and this year it's about 3 ft tall and yellow. My mom's a genius! I wish I studied under her when I was young, but I hated gardening as a child. Now I love it, but have to work all the time so we try to get together on my days off and she teaches me tricks. Better late than never!
I have an aunt that wants to give me flowers, but I didn't know where to put them in my garden and was afraid of killing them. I think I might have hurt her feelings. :-( This year I think I'll accept her generosity and plant them...somewhere!
At least I know my daylilies can survive anything. I gave some to my friend from work last year. I'll try to divide again this year because it seems to have made them thrive even more (I guess because they have more room to breathe).
-Audra

We lived in FL for many years and I grew plumbago and hibiscus in full sun with no problems at all.

welcome nogreenthumbntn, I get excited when I hear someone else excited about flowers and shrubs. Most of the plants named in this site are greek to NC but still interesting to see. I tried to plant a weeping fountain tree from Tn from my daughters yard but it didn't make it here. Keep us posted and the good advice you get will surely help in your gardens. Have fun and reep the rewards!!!

I love the flowers on those plumbago but I can't get past the weedy/leggy look to the shrub and foliage itself.

That is why so many companies manufacture pruners, Grantman....grin. Here is a plant file on it....

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/414/

yeah, don't you know nuttin grantman!!! rofl

LOL a pruner? What's that??!! My neighbor keeps these plants and I see him out there all the time taming that thing and it never looks more than a pretty blue-flowered weed to me...but to each his/her own!

Couldn't resist....grin

http://www.daytonnursery.com/encyclopedia/perennials/ceratostigma.htm

Did ya see that grantman? Has a handle and every thing!! You won't have to use your pocket knife on those mean ole weeds anymore and the gloves are handy when dealing with poison oak too lol

Pocket knife? Who said anything about a pocket knife? I prefer machete! You should see my father-in-law in action with one of those things. He grew up in the jungles and mountains of Costa Rica. That man can prune anything.