Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've just moved from Atlanta suburbs and brought with me a zillion cannas, They are blooming beautifully and my husband went back to Atlanta this week and will be bringing more from our garden there. While in Durham's Home Depot I noticed they were selling cannas as annnuals. I was in shock. I know there are two slilghtly different zones involved but it never dawned on me what was so prolific in Atlanta will not make it thru the NC winter. So will my cannas be worth all the trouble we have gone to to bring them with us? Should I dig them up and store them over the winter?
In Atlanta I have successfully grown these as perennial: Lantana, Cannas, asparagus fern, amsonia blue star, salvia blue spires and even had bedding begonias come back year after year. Somebody please tell me how I should treat my cannas and all the other above mentioned plants. I have a degree in horticulture and many years experience as landscape designer and certainly know how to look info up but word directly from fellow gardeners is worth much more than any printed info. Thank you very much. I guessd I'm a little embarrassed I did not take into account some of my favorites in Atlanta will not be perennials here. I just didn't think the climates would be so different.
Many thanks to my Gardening Forum friends.
I planted Salvia last year, three came back and four died...I think we are just on that "border" of what can survive the winters or should be considered an annual...
On the interstate on the way to Tony Avent's Plant Delights Nursery open house I saw red cannas planted with white crepe myrtle. It was lovely and of course the road folks are not going to plant annuals. I even asked Tony about it and he laughed. he said "more than likely your cannas will make it just fine." Then he went on and on about ice age and plates moving and a geography lesson asnd I loved it. Anybody who knows Tony knows what I am talking about. It was such a thrill to meet him and he was so gracious to speak at some length with me. So it goes to show you once again that most clerks at big box nurseries don't know a thing about gardening.
They'll be fine. Lantana, it may or may not survive depending on the drainage of the soil you plant them in. The yellow variety tends to be more cold hardy than the red/orange, purple, or white flowering versions. Just make sure it has good drainage.
Asparagus fern is an annual here, or has always been for me even in Charlotte. Black and blue salvia is sold here as an annual, but like Gerbera daisy and Dahlias, they tend to return, again, provided they have good drainage and can dry out a bit in the winter. Root rot is the biggest culprit, not the cold.
It was lovely and of course the road folks are not going to plant annuals.
They do plant some annuals, but only self sowing reseeders like cosmos, poppies, and larkspur. On 220S just below Greensboro, this spring I spied an area of blue larkspur that was just brilliant in the evening sun. I really wanted to return and collect a few seeds. Two weeks later, it was gone as the flowers had faded. Couldn't find it again.
You'll be surprised what can survive here. Star jasmine is another one that people here really want, but find it not to be quite hardy enough. Give it Western/Southern exposure against a brick wall and it will be fine. Crinums can live here too, same siting. Pushing zone limits takes a little imagination.
Thanks paperhouse. The flowers you mentioned on the 220S I think of as wild flowers. Many states have wonderful wildflower plots on their interstates. By Annuals I think of bedding plants like begonias, impatients, etc. I am planning on clearing a little patch in my yard for wildflowers. The road crews around the south are pretty good about not mowing these plots so the wildflowers can reseed. Aren't they a treat after driving monotonous miles on the interstates?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
