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Southeast Coastal Gardening

All I have is ligustrum and want hummers/butterflies

newtocharleston

18 years ago

Hi, friends - I've just relocated to Summerville (just outside of Charleston, SC) from San Francisco Bay area where I had a 1906 home with a lovely, established garden, with no lawn at all. We've bought a home in a lovely neighborhood, but we bought a new home from the builder and all I have is centipede grass and ligustrum that hasn't been cared for at all. I've got Mrs. Whaley's book, "Garden Perennials for the Coastal South", "Some Like It Hot", and The Gardener's Guide for Charleston and the Lowcountry. So, my main problem is not what to plant, but what to plant *when*. None of these books are set up to tell me what I should buy in late Feb/early March and put in the ground. I want a lovely herb garden (will any be perennials here?), and also want to attract butterflies/hummers in any way possible. I also want fast-growing vines, etc, so that my yard isn't completely naked for years to come. I also need some evergreens and some things for winter show (it's terribly naked right now). Thanks in advance to any of you who have ideas!

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Comments (3)

MidnightStorm
18 years ago
Welcome to the Carolinas! We're so glad to have you. I have two books to recommend to you that I have found to be very helpful for gardening in our area (I'm a wee bit further north in Wilmington, North Carolina). You can run out to your nearest bookstore and buy these books or you can usually find them cheaper online at Half.com or Amazon.com:

The Southern Gardener's Book of Lists by Lois Trigg Chaplin
and
Month-by-Month Gardening in the Carolinas by Bob Polomski (there is an older version and an updated version of this one; get the newer version if possible.)

Month-by-Month Gardening in the Carolinas sounds exactly like what you are looking for. It will tell you what to do and when to do it. I'll include a link to that one at the bottom of this email.

I plant for hummingbirds and butterflies myself and one of the vines I'm going to try this year is the Cardinal Flower vine as I heard it grows fast and is very attractive to hummers. Be wary of some vines in your new gardening zone. Because of the long growing season and mild winters, many things can get invasive here. Like kudzu. Be afraid of kudzu; very afraid . . . think Jack and the beanstalk. Without the golden goose.

Seriously, that's where the other book will come in handy. It gives lists of the best hummingbird vines and perrenials, best butterfly vines and perrenials, best plants for humid wet sites, best plants for dry sights, best roses to grow up a pillar, and on and on.

Very best of luck to you with your new southern garden.

Here is a link that might be useful: Month-By-Month Gardening In the Carolinas
nandina
18 years ago
Welcome to the Low Country!

The simple answer to your question is that you can plant most everything twelve months of the year. The winter months are best for planting evergreens and deciduous shrubs, roses and perennials (if hardened off) in February, annuals when it warms in the spring, winter blooming annual gardens in September. In this sandy soil you must water well during the first growing season of any new plant. Also be aware that many perennials marked for bright sun are usually happier in dappled shade or just morning sun. You will go through a learning process coming from CA. The gardening situations are not the same.

Suggest that you attend the open garden tours in Charleston this spring and really study the plant material, how it is used and the light conditions they are growing in. This is one of the trickiest parts of growing in this area. Viewing these old gardens is an excellent way to become acquainted with the various vines that will grow here and how they are used in the landscape. Hummers are attracted to many plants and you should find lists in the suggested books.

BTW...you had better Google the latest information on treating mole crickets. That will be a new experience for you.
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Thank you leafhead, now you are just exhausting me! :-) I am out of room for any thing larger than Marigolds, snapdragons and yes, asters. I cannot decide which asters to get. They recommend Aster lateriflorus 'Lady in Black' and Aster novi belgii Alert (red), for my area. I did find a great plant list just for the Texas High Plains, so I think I will try their local varieties. They also sell plants, however it is a long drive, but they do have native milkweed, several varieties, I would like to try. Next year I will have time to put in more garden space, as I do away with more lawn, but for now I am full-up! I think I will learn alot this summer, and by next spring I should know more about what is good for me as far as natives, and if I see butterflies I did not expect, I will plant what I can to meet their needs. I am very excited about my first season. I don't think I have a chance of seeing either a Giant or a Tiger Swallowtail. The sulfurs we get are happy with grasses, so I have that covered. I do need Violets! The list never ends.... Thanks again, Debra
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I found one more of him that's a little better:) I took two new roses out of one flower bed that I'd already transplanted the azalea out of. I counted sun hours and one got 2 and the other got 4 hours sun. So I planted 2 hydrangeas there instead. They may grow on me, DH really likes them. I thought I'd get something he likes for a change. If they don't do well, I'm going back with another azalea there. I need to take out the rugosa I've got in there also that I'm using as a climber, it only gets 4 hours sun too. No wonder it's not growing as fast as it was last fall! I'm working on digging a hole for that in the back. Then I picked up 2 more dahlias a glowing yellow and a pink. This brings me to 5:) All will be 3 to 4' tall bushes. Then I'm going to get something to plant where the rugosa was. Maybe one more dahlia. I was going to get one when I got the hydrangeas but they had white flies bad. I just got rid of mine and didn't want to bring more home!! Then I hope I'm done again, well there still is that one more load of humus and I need a couple more daylillies for the front of this same bed because two didn't come up. This one flower bed totally defeats me. This is the 3rd planting for it. It just doesn't look the way I hoped for, either plants way over grow or don't grow at all. Front view. You can't see the back part in shadow, that's about 8 feet I'm working on. The planters will come out if I can ever get something to grow here. How about you? Anything you're working on Brenda? I know even my eyelashes were dripping by the time I got done yesterday! I'm open to any suggestions though. I wouldn't have planted two lavenders if I knew they'd get that big that quick, I'd have spaced them better...differently. That's Iceberg behind one, I just pruned it down after blooming. It was shooting up all over the place. Leslie
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adalynn
17 years ago
To answer some of your questions. Yes some herbs are perennials in our region. Lemon Balm, Mint, and Oregano to name a few. Most of these you want to plant after fear of last frost. To attract hummingbirds heres a mixture that hummingbirds can not resist. Tropical Butterfly Weed, Verbena on a stick, Red Salvia, Shrimp Plant, Nicotiana, and Petunia. Hummingbirds love red and orange flowers that are tubalur in shape. As for the butterflies they will enjoy the cominations above also, if the hummers let them get close. You can add the wonderful Butterfly Bush and some Lantana in your yard. Butterflies love these also. Try putting a wide shallow dish of water close for the butterfies to drink and your sure to have many. Hope this info is helpful. Happy gardening. P.S. If herbs are planted outside, plant extra for butterfly larve to eat on or they may not be much for yourself.

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