I hope I didn't discourage you. It's possible to successfully grow many plants on limestone, if that's what you have, and for those plants that need a deeper soil, you simply make a raised bed. I have 4-6" of soil on limestone (depending upon what part of the yard you're in, and I have hundreds of plants. No joke.) Also, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is only 10 minutes from my house, and all of their soil is limestone too... What can you grow? agaves, abelia, agarita, most antique roses, irises, Jerusalem sage, Mexican oregano, greek orageno, bridal spirea, ruellias (can be aggressive), various kinds of passion flowers, Victorian blue sage, mealy blue sage, oxblood lilies, rain lilies (natives varieties easily grown), mock orange, basil, cupheas, shrimp plant, chili pequin, St. John's Wort, gulf muhly, yuccas, cedar sage, cherry sage, Pride of Barbados, Mexican honeysuckle, Turk's cap, yaupon hollies, evergreen sumac, sun flowers, lantana (all kinds), hymenoxys, golden shower thryallis, flowering senna & other sennas, Esparanza, bulbine, artemesia, calyophus, rosemaries, cannas, Texas sage, culinary sage, cottoneaster, coral vine, white mistflower, flame acanthus, barbados cherry, figs, coralberry, jujubes, pomegranates, lemon verbena, daffodils and jonquils, crape myrtles, crinums, Peruvian lilies (not sure of exact name), a wide assortment of wildflowers, and many, many, many more plants to name just a few. In raised beds I grow: asparagus, blackberries, Swiss chard, radishes, spinach, Jerusalem artichokes, & marigolds. All thrived this year although I had to water because of the drought. :-) You'll do fine, and if you buy a house built on limestone, it's probably less likely that your foundation will crack. Clay usually shifts. Limestone doesn't move as much. How do you combat bad soil? Compost helps a lot. Mulching is good. Raised beds can help. I wish you luck.

Thanks everyone for the nice comments. Sheila and erasmus: Yes, that's cosmos. But, as I eventually learned, it gets too big and was taking over the pot and I had to pull it out so that the roses would show. Looks like there are smaller dwarf varieties too if I want to do it again. flowersaremusic: I am already obsessed with roses and gardening in general.. ask my wife :) And yes, jude smells delicious. I love roses that are very fragrant. Jude (fruity scent) and gertrude (classic rose scent) were the most fragrant to me. Next up were Abraham darby (fruity) and Scepter (anise?). Bathsheba was mild to me. And I didn't detect much fragrance in Wedgwood and Spirit of freedom. Also love the cup-shaped blooms, hence the obsession with Austins. I also have a tendency for climbers to drape all the walls, fences.. but I am running out of garden space, and most importantly, sunlight. On the topic of sunlight, all these pics are from spring. But I think the summers here get too hot (several days of 100s this year) for the Austins and the colors fade quite a bit. So morning sun and afternoon shade is a really important for Austins. One of the walls that gets only hot afternoon sun, I planted a climber rose last year -- before I discovered the world of Austin roses. Now I am glad its not Austin but a $10 bareroot I bought from big box store :D It's climbing america, and I think its very capable of handling the hot afternoon sun. Kristine: Yes, the bathsheba is a climber per DA website (several canes 6+ feet in the first season for me).

Hi everyone, I've been trying to track down Queen of Sweden for a few months now. I've checked the big nurseries around me and no one seems to carry it. Does anyone know when and where I can find this rose in the GTA (Toronto) area? I tried ordering it straight from the David Austin website, but I had to call in and by the time I did, it went out of stock. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

have you perced your soil.. does your soil drain ... will the floor of you house drain??? think of the variables that are requisite.. and then properly address them.. starting at the ground.. and working your way up ... you will only need heat.. if you are gorwing in your cold season.. whatever that may be in austin TX ... how cold does in get in the middle of austin.. what will you be growing during that month or so ... you want answers.. but you really havent given us any facts to speculate on .... otherwise.... INSURE its windproof.. nothing good will happen.. if you find it a few miles down the road after some windstorm .... and again.. attaching it to the ground.. is starting at the ground and working your way up.. there. full circle in 4 paragraphs.. lol ... ken https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=perc+garden+soil&iax=videos&ia=videos