Questions for avid gardeners (Raleigh: how much, new house, buying)
Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, CaryThe Triangle Area
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.
We have just moved from England and are buying a new house which we will move into at the end of September. I was wondering if there are plants down here that flower in the late fall early winter because of the relatively warm temperatures?
I was just thinking of some pots of flowers or plants to bring colour to deck/patio
I love growing pansies and their relatives, the violas and panolas, in Raleigh. I grow them from the time the bedding plants first appear in our local nurseries, Sept - Oct, until the weather becomes too hot for them, around late June or so. They bloom beautifully for me all winter long, although a couple of hard freezes have caused some of my pansies to briefly pause in flowering and growing. You're arriving at the perfect time to get in on the best selection and the most vigorous starter plants.
It’s pretty well established that the pansies and their relatives will grow here during winter with sufficient direct sunlight, but I also wanted to hear about the experience of others in this area when growing pansies in the shade during winter. Below is a link to the thread where I asked about this. There’s a nice discussion of how much direct sunlight pansies need in this area. Someone who is just starting out to grow them here will likely find the comment by tompope to be especially helpful.
I do want to mention the very happy surprise that I’m finding: some of the newer pansy varieties will tolerate heat much better and are lasting much longer than the older ones. This year my panolas lasted into July and would have lasted longer if I had begun pruning them in March or so. I only dug them up because they had blooms only on the tips and the plant centers looked messy - the blooms were still gorgeous. If I had pruned them earlier, I think I could have maintained an attractive plant shape with lots of blooms for a much longer time. This season I plan to try this.
BTW, I grow my pansies in large pots, about 14" - 16" diameter across the top. If a hard freeze is predicted, I sometimes cover them with old sheets overnight and remove the sheets early in the morning.
Fall is also the best time to plant trees and shrubs in North Carolina, since the roots will still grow all winter long even if the leaves are gone. A little superphosphate in the planting hole is all you'll need the first year, although keeping evergreens watered is a must lest they dry out. Come spring, your plants will have had an entire growing season to get their roots under them without having to battle the heat of summer.
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.
I grow them from the time the bedding plants first appear in our local nurseries, Sept - Oct, until the weather becomes too hot for them, around late June or so. They bloom beautifully for me all winter long, although a couple of hard freezes have caused some of my pansies to briefly pause in flowering and growing. You're arriving at the perfect time to get in on the best selection and the most vigorous starter plants.
