From my research I think the zone is not the problem since Bloom-A-Thons are listed as hardy in zones 6 to 9 and I'm 7b. However, the "Polar Vortex" that hit our region at least twice this winter brought atypical periods of intense, below average cold temperatures for extended periods of time. I think this may have had the largest impact on my poor azaleas and it is just bad timing that they had to go through this their first winter before they could become established. I think the second blow against them was my not watering them more often. I had read so much about not freezing the roots that I was afraid to water if the night temps were going to go below freezing. As a result I only watered twice all winter (they had good soakings in the Fall right up until our second freeze. Since all are Bloom-A-Thons (well, there are 2 red blooming ones that were sent by mistake but I am guessing they are also B-A-Ts) but they all had different degrees of damage despite being in a row with pretty much the same amount of sun, wind and rain exposure that the problems may have stemmed from the slight variations to each plant in particular. Perhaps some that suffered from lack of water more than others did not have their root ball spread properly, perhaps the one with the worst damage of the three pics posted was affected worse by the nearby concrete wall and patio that the others don't have as close, etc. I am taking notes for the future and continuing to read up whenever possible! All observations/comments/advice always appreciated. :-)

I just had to save this LOL thread from the Southern Gardening Forum...it goes with our Compost Wackos thread. Enjoy... * Posted by Eddie_GA_7A (My Page) on Sun, Mar 14, 04 at 14:02 You Know You're A Redneck Gardener When...... ...you edge your flower bed with beer bottles. * Posted by: Feather_Inc z8 AR (My Page) on Sun, Mar 14, 04 at 21:19 hahahaha, there was a big discussion about edging a flower bed with empty wine bottles on junk gardening the other day. * Posted by: WannaBGardener 8b & 4a (My Page) on Mon, Mar 15, 04 at 9:52 ...you sit your old comode (toilet) on the front lawn and plant petunias in the tank. Then chain your old coon dog to it and let him use the bowl for his water dish. Very up scale. :-) * Posted by: CheriG22 FL Z9 (My Page) on Tue, Mar 16, 04 at 7:31 ...you cut v-shaped chunks out of tire rims, turn them inside out, fill it with dirt and grow tomatoes in them.....they look like crowns, and some folks even paint them white to make them purty! * Posted by: ccoombs1 7B SC (My Page) on Tue, Mar 16, 04 at 12:12 Another fine use for those old tires...cut them in half, paint them white, and edge your drive way with them! Lovely! * Posted by: nature_lover_ga Thomaston Ga.z7 (My Page) on Tue, Mar 16, 04 at 14:38 ...you convert your junked conversion van into a greenhouse. * Posted by: BDnBAMA 7/Alabama (My Page) on Tue, Mar 16, 04 at 15:16 ...you move your refrigerator and the grass underneath it is yellow * Posted by: heather_arch 8NC (My Page) on Wed, Mar 17, 04 at 12:34 ...you cut those tires in half and line a couple up in a row - looks something like the Loch Ness Monster. (white paint is optional) * Posted by: Rosie NE Georgia 7A/B (My Page) on Wed, Mar 17, 04 at 23:10 ...you use your clippers to turn the old water heater into the perfect planter. * Posted by: TSmith2579 Z7B/8A-Alabama ) on Wed, Mar 17, 04 at 23:26 You know you're a redneck gardener when... ...you plant the driveway and sidewalk beds with collards and poke (sallet) weeds. ...you run out of drinking glasses during canning season. * Posted by: Dieter2NC z7b NC (My Page) on Sat, Mar 20, 04 at 22:10 ...you think a spatunia is for used 'backy juice ...you think fertilizer is an awful fancy word for what you clean out of the barn. ...you dont get around to canning because you value your 'shine in those jars more than any amount of canned okra. * Posted by: DaisyMae43 Alabama (My Page) on Tue, Mar 23, 04 at 18:55 ...your favorite dish is okry 'n maters * Posted by: TSmith2579 Z7B/8A-Alabama ) on Wed, Mar 24, 04 at 16:12 ...your garden "to-do" list starts "fill a cooler with ice and beer". ...you always attempt to identify people who come into your garden before shooting at them. ...you know it is time to change the bed sheets when they are the color of you compost pile. ...the centerpiece of your dining table is that armadillo you shot last summer. ...your choice of a wedding gift is enough veggies to make a pot of soup. ...you send your wife for gasoline for the rototiller and tell her to not forget the can of Skoal and a case of beer. (Wanted: Attractive woman for marriage, 30-60 y/o who can cook, clean, wash, iron, fish ,hunt, skin critters, tan hides, plow, plant, hoe, can and freeze veggies, owns her own fishing boat and rototiller. Please send picture of boat and rototiller.) * Posted by: Josephine_SC 7a -SC (My Page) on Sat, Mar 27, 04 at 7:14 ...all your mulch is full of dog wallows and your yard looks like it's been shelled * Posted by: FoxesEarth z8b (My Page) on Sun, Mar 28, 04 at 9:22 You know you're a Redneck Gardener when your suntan is face, neck, just below the elbows down, and to just above the knees. * Posted by: Eddie_GA_7A (My Page) on Sun, Mar 28, 04 at 13:39 You know you're a redneck gardener... when you sell whirlygigs out of your front yard. * Posted by: girlgroupgirl 8 (My Page) on Sun, Mar 28, 04 at 14:02 Or when your yard decoration is a pink wooden pig that says "OINK IF YOU LIKE BBQ"! * Posted by: Robin_northtexas z7 dfw tx (My Page) on Sun, Mar 28, 04 at 17:38 You know you are a redneck gardener if... you have whirley gigs in your yard (I do) and an airplane made out of beer cans and you show it off when company comes. * Posted by: Eddie_GA_7A (My Page) on Wed, Mar 31, 04 at 20:56 You might be a redneck gardener if... you're still finding Easter eggs from last year. * Posted by: reesebug Zone 8, S. AL (My Page) on Thu, Jun 17, 04 at 16:21 ...your goats are eating this year's crop. * Posted by: merriss TN (My Page) on Fri, Jun 18, 04 at 11:50 ...your hubby thinks the best "mulch" in the world is the "stuff" he just cleaned out the barn...fresh!!!! True Story!!!! Cheap, also! * Posted by: savannarose z9 GA (My Page) on Sun, Jun 20, 04 at 16:52 ...your neighbors use their wrecked demolition-derby car as an improvised greenhouse(true story.) * Posted by: CaseysMom 8b (My Page) on Tue, Jun 22, 04 at 22:54 ...you drive by the neighbors house just to check out how tall their okra is... ...you know that teepees mean greenbeans, not Indians. * Posted by: Twinkle 7 GA (My Page) on Wed, Jun 23, 04 at 11:29 ...you wear pantyhose to keep the chiggers off. * Posted by: savannarose z9 GA (My Page) on Thu, Jun 24, 04 at 18:40 ...you use roadkill for fertiliser. * Posted by: vicki7 z7 N.Ga. (My Page) on Mon, Jun 28, 04 at 8:45 I don't know if it is redneck or not, but the first thing I thought of was... people who prune azalea bushes into perfect, round balls. * Posted by: aisgecko 7 (My Page) on Mon, Jun 28, 04 at 19:31 (No, the round azaleas aren't redneck... just plain wrong! Let the poor things be.) ...you know you're a redneck gardener when you design your flower beds around the old cars in the front yard. * Posted by: MellieH z7 GA (My Page) on Mon, Jun 28, 04 at 23:03 ...when a huge tree uproots during a storm and instead of cutting it into logs and getting rid of it you plant flowers in its roots. I actually have a neighbor who has done this. I nearly ran my car off the road when I saw the flowers growing out of the giant root ball. * Posted by: TheCaretaker z7b S. Cobb,GA (My Page) on Wed, Jun 30, 04 at 5:51 ...you put white plastic garden edging like a little fence 'round the edge of your truck's flat bed, then pull it up next to your trailer: voila! Party deck! I also nearly ran off the road when I saw this. :) ...you're also a redneck gardener if you're regularly tossing aside car parts, home repair detritus, and cans as you cultivate. After examining each item for possible utility, of course! * Posted by: ladybug24 z8 AL (My Page) on Wed, Jun 30, 04 at 13:46 You might be a redneck gardener if...you have "hundreds" of artificial flowers in your flower beds instead of live ones. And when the flower beds are full...they start sticking them in the links of their chain link fence!!!! * Posted by: nanahanna a8 AR (My Page) on Wed, Jun 30, 04 at 17:03 You might be a redneck when you find a new(er) bedroom suit and put granny's old iron bedstead out front and plant flowers in the center of it! Yee Haw! (told my husband I would kill him if he did this after we actually saw it on a trip a few years ago) * Posted by: live_oak_lady Zone 9 (My Page) on Thu, Jul 1, 04 at 20:23 nanahanna, that is called a true "flower bed". I have seen that in central Mississippi. * Posted by: Renee_Z8a 8a (My Page) on Sun, Jul 4, 04 at 15:59 Great thread! There's such a flower bed in a trailer park in our town. The bedframe is spray painted the loveliest shade of bright yellow! :0) * Posted by: savannarose z9 GA (My Page) on Mon, Jul 5, 04 at 8:58 ...you paint a sunflower on your giant-sized satellite dish in the front yard of your trailer. * Posted by: jessay3 SE Georgia (My Page) on Tue, Jul 6, 04 at 11:53 Please tell me you havent really seen that savannarose. * Posted by: savannarose z9 GA (My Page) on Tue, Jul 6, 04 at 18:36 Yes, indeed. The satellite dish(big, huge variety) was known as the West Virginia state flower. (Duct tape was otherwise known as West VA chrome-used to hold bumpers on cars, etc.) These names were only used in EAST Virginia of course! * Posted by: jessay3 SE Georgia (My Page) on Wed, Jul 7, 04 at 20:00 Thank goodness it was in West Va! I didn't want that to pass around the internet, poor Georgia has a bad enough name now for being redneck capital! I got one for you! You know your a redneck when you have to weedeat the front yard because your dear husbands two riding lawn mowers AND his push mower are broke! True story, I did this yesterday! * Posted by: savannarose z9 GA (My Page) on Wed, Jul 7, 04 at 21:26 Sounds familiar. We had 2 tractors, a bush hog, a garden tractor with a rotary cutter (walk-behind Gravely) and a Stihl weedeater and my yard was still full of tall grass and weeds. Now I do it myself with a $99.00 Walmart pushmower. Works great! * Posted by: live_oak_lady Zone 9 (My Page) on Wed, Jul 7, 04 at 23:28 ...you have flamingos, turquoise dolphins,and the Virgin Mary statue all on the small front porch from which Christmas lights are still hanging, topped off with a patriotic sign and a college football banner. I have to look across the street at that everyday. Hope she doesn't read this forum. * Posted by: botanicalwonders 8a MS ) on Fri, Jul 9, 04 at 2:25 ...you might be a redneck gardner if you plant poison sumac in your flower bed... I actually have seen this and talk about it to all my horticuture friends.. I saw it in Greenville, Mississippi... I still laugh about it. It was not the staghorn variety. * Posted by: Pappa z8 WaxahachieTX (My Page) on Fri, Jul 9, 04 at 23:47 You might be a Redneck Gardner... ...if every vehicle you own, including your riding lawn mower,is equipped with its own CB radio. ...if you've ever struck a match to kill the smell in the bathroom. (Then there was the lawyer who stepped in manure, and thought he was melting...) * Posted by: jaceysgranny 7aAR (My Page) on Sat, Aug 14, 04 at 18:51 ...if there's a bathtub smack dab in the middle of your yard planted with flowers. * Posted by: dancingdachshunds 8/9 SC (My Page) on Fri, Aug 20, 04 at 16:36 ...when you turn a (big) satellite dish into a fountain for your garden. I saw it!

Today I pretty much finished planting out tomatoes. 6 plants in the raised beds, one in the wine barrel, one or two more in pots on the porch. The rest of the raised beds will be for peppers and eggplants in a week or two. Ignore the weeds; we've had a wet spring and everything that didn't come up last year is making up for it now. I would have started earlier, but the weather just is not cooperating. It's been unseasonably cold for most of May, with a few 80+ days thrown in here and there. Snow flurries last Friday. Cloudy and cool. I think I have your weather, Sey. Please take it back :) Believe it or not, this week is the most favorable it's been all spring. So I went for it. Hopefully the plants will acclimate before this weekend when I'll be gone for 4 days and I can't keep an eye on them.

The bloom looks different to me but, it is always difficult to tell what variety one purchases when buying from a grocery or florist as those varieties tend to include varieties not typically sold at plant nurseries. Sometimes those plants have cryptic wholesaler variety names (meaning letters and numbers). The plants from plant nurseries tend to have less disease issues and more hardiness. The ones from grocery stores can -sometimes- be planted outside and kept for years but like you suspect, they may not be as winter hardy in which case they would not last through cold winters and you have to pot them and bring them inside during your winters. The wholesalers probably want you to treat them as annuals but, in my milder climate, I have been able to keep and grow a few florist plants. They always have been more sensitive to cold though. Have you tried contacting someone in the store's florist department to see if they can trace where it came from and the variety name?