Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Best Perennial Plants for Georgia Gardeners


Recently, I gave a talk about this topic at the Tannery Row Artists Colony in Buford (great audience!) and now that I am getting ready to present "Georgia Native Plants" at the Len Foote Hike Inn, following which I plan to post an overview on this blog, it occurred to me that a summary of the Buford talk might benefit the Amicalola hikers as well, so here goes!

"Best Perennial Plants for Georgia Gardens. Or: how to keep your garden beautiful if you have no time, no money and only a little water."

Actually, with all the rain we've had lately, water worries are not as prominent this year as they have been in the past few, but we are still under watering restrictions in Georgia and sooner or later a drought will come back, so invest in a rain barrel! There are many available from local "Big Box" stores and on-line vendors, but I believe in "buying local" and supporting local small businesses, so my rain barrel has come from Karen Alexander in Suwanee, whose telephone number is 770-813-0271. This is also where the "no money" of the subtitle comes in -- Karen's rain barrels are not free, but they are a lot less expensive than those you see ubiquitously advertised.

This is my Georgia plant list for sun:
Bearded Iris
Coneflower
Daylily
Garden phlox
Gaura
Goldenrod
Joe-Pye weed
Russian sage
Sedum
Shasta daisy
Verbena
Yarrow

And this one for shade:
Astilbe
Begonia
Calla lily
Cardinal flower
Columbine
Heuchera
Fern
Ginger Lily
Hosta
Lenten rose
Snakeroot
Woodland phlox

Two resources for locally-grown plants for your garden:

1. The Farmers' Market in Hoschton (exit 129 off I-85 north - one exit up from Chateau Elan) is open every Saturday from 8 AM to 2 PM and has expert vendors with great plants, including lots of herbs and lots of flowering annuals and perennials. Call Dan Graves at 770-861-7232 for details.

2. The UGA trial gardens in Athens host an "Open House" once a year, with the Athens Area Master Gardener Association conducting a plant sale. This year's is on July 11, from 8 AM till noon, and the association charges a $5 admission fee.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

What type of plants to you suggest to add root structure? we have a slope in our back yard and want to plant something to help hold in the dirt.

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