Swaps and garden clubs are a great way to acquire free plants.

You don't want instant garden anyway so let things grow over time - thats what gardening is all about. In the end it is way more fun to have grown something from a tiny seed than to have bought it as a mature plant.

Beware that many bulbs after years of being in the same garden get infected with viruses for which there is no cure. Without knowing, it may be best to buy new bulbs for the new yard.

There is a whole section at the library on garden design, gardening in the south and other such topics. I found alot of inspiration looking through those books. Also, once you have some plants in mind and if you don't mind driving a hour or so out of town there are some great nurseries that can give you large plants for a whole lot less then in town nurseries. Congaree feed and seed is one that comes to mind. Oh and yes, The Market bulletin is a great source for gardening stuff, it is a farmers listing of ads, folks in the country selling just about everything for very cheap. You should be able to find it by googling 'market bulletin, south carolina'.

I would spend the rest of the summer researching, designing, sketching and perhaps getting the soil tested and amended correctly, then have fun in the cooler fall beginning to put that plan into action.

Good luck to you.

Scott,

It is always a good idea to wait a year before you do anything major. You may be surprised like I was when I bought my house in the Fall of 2002 and discovered in the Spring I had iris, amaryllis and other flowering bulbs all over the place. You might have some hidden treasures on the property you don't know about.

I think Roses, Confederate Roses, Azaleas, Hydrangeas and Dog Wood are the mainstays of southern gardening. See if you can find a Franklin Tree. They are now extinct in the wild but were native to Georgia at one time. They are small trees like dogwood that have a white peony like flower in the fall and beautiful foliage. It's been called the lost peony. They grew along river banks and were discovered by William Bartram. It is believed that the cotton industry is what killed them all because of a chemical found in raw cotten that polluted the streams and rivers when they washed it.

X

Thanks everyone.

In the past, I acquired most of my plants and nearly all of my spring bulbs through salvaging and trading. I salvaged from several old homesites that were being torn down for commercial development so I do like the "old" way of trading and propogating. Going down to Lowes just doesn't do it for me. The plant trades around Columbia are somewhat scarce, the "Big One" in Columbia is a free-for-all that I wouldn't go back to on a bet.

On the design front, I can't tell you how many design books I have bought and/or checked out from the library. But when I walk outside with shovel in hand, it all goes kind of fuzzy. I just can't get it out of the books and into my garden. Just like I have tried painting and drawing before and I can see it in my head, but it just doesn't make it onto the paper the way I see it in my mind.

On the Franklin tree, does it have a seed pod growing out of the center of the flower that looks like a hard raspberry about the size of a small marble? If so, they have those growing outside my apartment. Maybe I could try to grow one from seed.

Thanks for the tips. Looking for more.

If you want an Old Southern/ cottage look, you need a southern magnolia or live oak, some azaleas, and some camellias, for starters. Short of someone else drawing a plan for you, you could try looking through magazines and the Cottage forum gallery. Carolina Gardener magazine, especially. Also, you can trade for seeds and cuttings through this site without having to make it to a big plant swap.

I know exactly how you feel when it comes to design. I had a huge backyard with nothing in it but grass. Another gw member in a different form gave me some invaluable advice that worked for me.

Divide your space into rooms and plant one room at a time with your mainstays. I ended up dividing my backyard in half, the left side would be tropical and the right side Cottage Garden style.

On the left side i have brugmansias, cannas and castor plants. On the right I have my franklin tree, roses, azaleas and delphinium with 15 baby confederate rose bushes along the chain link fence. I then plant various annuals.

If you divide it up and not look at it as a whole, it gets much easier. Maybe that approach will work for you!

X

That really is a wonderful approach to take and certainly one to follow if you are starting over from scratch. Adele

Hey Columbia! I'm in Sumter.
The folks over at the cottage forum are really nice. If you post a picture there is one person who likes to use some sort of software to 'revamp' your yard for you. I would post the same question over there with a picture and see what they come up with.

My husband and I are starting over too (previous marraiges). Would love to get together and swap cuttings, seeds, etc. once we both have built up a supply of plants.

I agree you should probably try doing it in sections, Scott, but maybe doing ALL of one section each year, while STARTING some of the other sections as you can, then you complete another section each year, or as you can...

For instance, you may decide you want to start the first year with a few trees and shrubs and a perennial bed in a certain spot, but know you want to also do some border beds... maybe put in the first species for some of those beds then, too, if you can, and add to them as time goes on... That way, some of the beds in your long-term plan can start filling in as you go along...

As for design, there's landscape garden design software at Best Buy for $20 or $30 that allows you to play with various plants and combinations and layouts... I've given it a cursory look, but since most of mine is already laid out and I have a good idea where I'm going with everything else, I didn't see the need for it. Something like that might come in handy for you, though.

Good luck!
Jeff

P.S. I'm about to start some gardenias from my bush... should have a few of those to share in a few months, if you'd like some... I have one started already, by accident, the same way someone else mentioned on the gardenia blossom thread... had a stem with blooms on it in water... the blooms faded and I didn't take it out... I noticed earlier today someone had pulled the flowers off but the stem was still there with leaves on it, so I pulled it out of the vase, and sure enough it had lots of fresh roots growing off it.

(didn't read all the answers)
Scott, I'd check out the local garden centers for some really good bargains. This time of year Lowes and Home Depot throw out more plants than they sell so they don't have to water them. Look for foxglove. They make a super background along with tall phlox. You can plant annuals and other plants in front.
Look also for rudbeckia. Not the normal black eyed susans but the gloriosa daisy types. They make nice clumps in cottage type gardens, reseed well and are very long blooming.

Next season, or whenever you move in and start planting, look for Perilla Magilla (a cutesy trade name for perilla, a relative of coleus. I planted two in a dry bed(not irrigated) in full sun and they have grown into three foot tall by two foot wide clumps of color. They are now shrub sized and I hate to lose them this winter.

The taller varieties of artemesia are great bed fillers. In the spring, before they really get leafing out (they don't die or lose all their leaves in winter) your bulbs can sprout and bloom intersperced with the artemesia plants. The dying foliage of the bulbs is concealed by the artemesia.
Plus, if deer are a problem in your area, they don't eat artemesia so they also won't get your bulb foliage and blossoms. Dianthus, with the blue gray foliage makes nice perennial clumps and , if trimmed after first bloom and fed, can be coaxed into blooming again. The clumps are tidy looking and look great in the front of the bed.
Sedums make a nice addition to cottage garden beds. They bloom late in the summer through most of fall and are dry tolerant.
In swaps, look for lavenders, lavender cotton,santolina and other flowers that like dry conditions of full sun locations if that's what you have for these beds. Chrysanthemum pacificum is also nice to look at in a mid-bed location.

How long will it take to get this house built on the lot?
Construction makes a mess of a lot, disturbs tree roots, changes drainage patterns.
If you have to build the house you might not want to go heavy on buying and storing plants on the lot.

Dottie - that was my thought too - need to wait till the house gets built and all the construction is over - then watch the sun patterns over the 4 seasons - get the soil tested and ammended and just read, look, visit other gardens and then get started. I found out the hard way when I moved down here from Delaware that if you DON'T get the bones of the garden set first - i.e. GOOD soil prep and start out with a few good RIGHT plants for the RIGHT places - you will only have to do it all over again anyway

Good Luck Scott

Yes, I agree with Lynn that soil prep is key. Your soil will probably be in awful shape after construction anyway if you have clay.

Check out Pasalong Plants by Bender and Rushing. It is all about southern cottage garden plants and heirlooms. It's called Passalong Plants because nearly plant in it is something you can get from cuttings or seeds. One of them - can't remember if it's Bender or Rushing - has also published a book about southern landscape design. Also check out the Winter Sowing forum for great directions to start seeds over the winter.

Passalong Plants....got it two or three years ago, just bought another copy to give to a friend for her birthday. Great book. It rates right up there with Scott Ogden's Garden Bulbs of the South book. I look at those two as the old and new testiment of gardening. Hope I didn't offend anyone with the biblical reference.

Clay soil.....absolutely! My old house is 10 houses away so I am used to this type of soil. I will be adding some organic matter to it. However, I have noticed that a lot of the plants that do well here do fine in the clay soil without a lot of help. Amending the soil was not real common in the past and lots of hydrandeas, azaleas, dogwoods, condfederate rose, etc. are doing just fine in soil the consistency of dried concrete. The perenial beds will need lots of attention though. I am also making sure I have the basic plan laid out before construction so I know where the irrigation pipes and hose bibs need to go.

Construction....will take about a year before I even break ground. I am going to prepare two holding beds, one mostly shade, one part sun, so I can transplant some of plants from the old house per my divorce decree. These areas will be fenced off with that attractive orange fencing before construction starts. Likewise, the dogwoods and oak will be similarly off limits. I will most likely be building with a crawspace so the grade shouldn't be changing much if any.

Rudbekia.....two years ago, I missed about 100 plants. A local roadside produce market brought in a bunch of Rudbekia in one gallon pots. It didn't sell for some reason. It was withering away and looking horrible and I kept telling myself to stop in and offer to haul it off. Then one afternoon I was driving past and it had all been cleared out. I quickly pulled over and checked the dumpster. Empty. Oh, well. You can't be bashful and frugal at the same time.

The mystery tree turned out to be a walnut. I stopped by yesterday and took one of the tennis ball sized, hard as a rock things off the tree and split it with a hacksaw. Walnut. Don't try this at home, I can't get the stains off my hands where the outer shell bled as I cut through it.

Magnolia......not on a bet! I had one of those boogers at my old house. Sure they look cool, but mine never really had much fragrance and messy, messy, messy. A bagging mower won't pick up the leaves and a mulching mower won't chew them up so I had to rake, and rake, and rake. Never again. There is a small one on the property now. It is under a power line and too close to an oak. I will have no problem cutting that one down.

The problem you will have with the clay after construction is that they will strip any organic matter that was on the surface from the old yard, and soil will be compacted by the heavy machinery. So be prepared to do some amending if machinery is run all over the yard. If not, you will be all right.

(I speak from first hand experience.)

Lots of good advice listed above. Now my 2 cents:

:-)

Choose the borders of the flower beds so that they flow nicely with your preferred method of mowing the remaining lawn. Pay attention to the sun and shade zones. Remember if you are a person who will water or not (I won't). Take a lot of time in deciding on shrubs and trees, as these won't shuffle to new spots without incredible effort. As to the annuals, bulbs, and perennials I place them according to their sun/shade/water preferences and put the fragrant ones near windows and along paths. After that, I just use the rule of "do I like it there and does if thrive there?" If I don't like it at all, it goes in trade to someone else for something else. If I don't like it THERE or it doesn't do well where it is, I just move it.

I started with an empty yard and in the first fall installed a 2,000 sq foot bed into the front yard. It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOo EMmmmmmmmpty and SOooooooooooo big. Everything was over 6' apart to start with. Now it is jammed full. I still follow the same rule, if I don't like it, I move it. If it doesn't thrive, I move or replace it. I don't worry overmuch otherwise.

Here is a link that might be useful: my veggies and herbs

Scott, I'm over near Irmo. Are you building in downtown Cola? If you have a place for something that can grow very tall and happen to like tea olives, LMK. I have a teenaged son who wouldn't mind layering one for you.

There are plant swaps in Cola? I didn't know that! Do tell! The only one I knew of was a GW one in the spring of last year & I didn't know about that until after the fact because it was before I joined the forums. I thought I was too shy for free-for-alls, but the Raleigh swap taught me they can be fun.

Between now and the time your house is in place, I'm sure you will come across more plant material than you can use. I thought it was very amusing that you had plant propagation rights written into your decree. Chuckle. I don't think most people would even think about that.

Scott,

I'm not sure how much work you want to put into your new garden. If you want to deal with roses and perennials, it's a bit more labor intensive than shrubs and trees.

A quick way to get the cottage garden feeling is to install a fenced garden with white or natural pickets, arbors and other hardscape like stone walkways. Whatever you plant inside or outside a picket fence always has twice as much charm automatically as it would without the fence. It's also a good way to keep out unwanted critters.

Have fun and don't rush too much, just enjoy...claire in sanford, nc

Having gone through the "starting over" due to a move 5 years ago, maybe I can offer some suggestions. I allowed myself 5 years to build my garden. I had glimpses of what I wanted to do in 2 years and was mostly finished by the fourth year.

An earlier post says wait a year to see what plants might already exist on the property. That's a very practical idea for other reasons as well.

It is a huge undertaking to start landscaping from scratch. DO NOT LET IT OVERWHELM YOU. Put it together like pieces of a puzzle. The easiest pieces will come to you first and a few will take some time before you see a fit.

Start with what your limiting conditions are or will be once your house is built Watching the sunlight throughout an entire season will give you a different opinion than you first think. Observing every possible condition of your garden over a longer period of time will allow you not to make as many mistakes. Pay attention to places that may hold water longer than others..how the lot drains....to areas that will dry out faster than others....that get prevailing winds and may be prone to being blown over if they are too tall....knowing wind patterns will help you make good use of fragrant plants. A year will enable you to see any problem areas that you may want to camouflage or hedge out.....the neighbors that make too much noise...the ugly stump, pipe,whatever.

I made one very large bed in an area with good soil to use as my propogation bed and for temporary storage of plants. Plastic pots submerged in soil make an excellent way to store plants until you can place them, or a good way to over-winter hardy plants.

You may find areas of your yard that have rocks or roots that make digging difficult. In time conditions will tell you what can and cannot plant there. I hope you are getting the picture---just spend a year mostly observing and ideas will start to emerge.

I started several new beds each winter and early spring. They were first used as annual beds and then for perennials later.

My intention was to severely reduce grass and mowing to mostly pathways. Over time, I paid close attention to what seemed the natural ways to move through my yard and that is where the paths were placed. Keeping smooth continuous lines allowed for easier mowing.

Be patient. Be happy with continuing success and realize that you can't do it all in one season....and in time, you will recognize how best to lay out your garden. Truly, the enjoyment is in the process.

Now that it is nearly completed, I am seriously contemplating another house with a larger yard.

You're an ADDICT, peri_n_eal!
You need to get into a 12-step program, but FAST!
Or is that a 12-PETS program?
Hmmmm, I wonder if you count all my little fishies and froggies and Tater Tot... heck, I'm way past 12 with all the minnows -- shucks -- guess I'm PAST helping! :)

As for me, I'm sort of RE-doing a yard that didn't suit my fancy, and what should be about a 3-year program is taking probably 6 or 7, since I'm just not "up" to as much as I'd like to be... Yaknow, I see these projects and in my head they look so simple... easy (guess I remember being younger and so forth)... always takes me WAY longer, but eventually.

Scott, you can probably do in two years what I would in 10, so you'll be fine, I think... plus you have two kids just the right age to put into a little "indentured servitude," and if you're creative enough, you might even be able to get them to see the same joy in it you do :)

Continually improving circumstances to you,
Jeff

I am soo glaad I found this site! I'm divorcing and planning a move to the Sumter area. After living in the desert of Arizona for so many years, I can't wait to surround myself with green! And blooms! Trees! I've been looking for a home in the historic district (online..I'm a Realtor) and drooling over the lovely gardens. My problem is, after being deprived for so long, I want everything! Especially fragrance, and I'm drawn to white flowers. I guess what I need is any advice...or a leash! lol
What are confedarate roses? Antique roses?

Confederate rose is actually a late-blooming hibiscus, Hibiscus mutabilis.

Sounds like you need a gardenia, for starters. :)

When we first moved to NC, I had an acre to "fill". I told everyone I met or casually mentioned I needed plants. I was amazed at the gererosity of many. Some had me come to their houses to dig, others just gave me plants. I still don't know, till this day, who left a huge box of wonderful iris on my door step.

I did one bed a season, while working on building up the soil in my next future bed. You can't go wrong creating border gardens. You can always extend from there. I also went at the end of the season and would make a deal at the box stores, to take all their plants for a price.... usually $.35-.50 each. It all worked out well. Good luck!

Alicia, gardenias, for sure! One of my all time favorites. I actually had one here that for unknown reason thrived for years...took my house burning down to kill it. And I'd like iris of course...do lillies, anemomes, and rannuculas do as well as iris? What about tulips? Dahlias, begonias? It's too hot, doesn't get cold enough in the winters here for most bulbs or tubers...
I need to order a good book on gardening in the area...
I'm not at all surprised by the post mentioning all the people so willing to share. Everyone I've talked to there has been so helpful, open and friendly. Oh, to taste a tree ripened peach again...
I'll probably get locked up for hugging trees! lol

IMO, A Southern Garden by Elizabeth Lawrence is THE reference book on gardening in this area. I love it. Not only an excellent gardening book but very readable. Don't be put off by the fact that it was published in the 30's -- in many respects it might have been published last year.

Lillies (Asiatic, Oriental, L. superbum, and Formasa) do very well here. Which sort of anemones were you thinking of? The Grecian windflowers and wood anemones are happy here, the Anemone coronia needs to be replanted with some regularity, and the fall anemones can be grown here, especially A. huphensis and A. tomentosa Robustissima. Tulips usually need to be replanted annually unless you get a species like the lady tulip (T. clusiana) or the Florentine tulip (T. sylvestris). There are several species of tulip that do well here, as long as they're well-drained. Lots of people grow begonias, and dahlias too, although the most spectacular dahlias I've seen were in the mountains. Not sure about Ranunculus. At any rate, there is a LOT of stuff that you can grow here.

Scott,

Seems to me that you were asking about sources for restoring period-style garden layouts and the plants that were used in the "good old days".

Gardening was completely different in the old days. It was a time of pre-air conditioning, so the garden was not just a thing a beauty, it was a cool respite in the hot summer. A place to entertain and relax in the shade and even sleep on "sultry summer nights". The fragrances lifted your spirit and the beauty made it all worthwhile. For the weathy, their were competitions for the best roses and garden tours so you could show off a bit. Lady's had "Teas" in the garden. It was a favorite place to read a book or write letters. Children played in the garden, making up stories and acting them out. Bees were kept for honey.

The new version of cottage gardening does not much resemble the old style of by-gone eras. The old gardening methods, styles, designs, flower and shrubs selections, and purposes for gardens have been lost for the most part. You can find some newer books written by people who sought out the old gardening ways. I have found a great many good books in England and Ireland, as many of the old practices are still carried out there.

A good source for ideas for designing old Southern gardens, paths, ornaments, "reflecting pools", potting sheds, with descriptions of the types of plants, trees and flowers that were grown in the old days would be in old Southern garden books and even illustrated books of historical fiction. I'm talking old books.

Used book stores, second-hand stores and garage sales, and eBay (if you known what you want) are great places to get old books - my favorite places to shop!
I have found lots of great books at those places, esp. garage sales. I love the old books and periodicals (published 1930s and earlier). What beauty! What charm!

Anyway, it's an idea. Hope this helps.

~SweetAnnie4u

Oh, Alicia,

I will have to find that book, A Southern Garden, by Elizabeth Lawrence (publ. 1930s)!!!
That is precisely the kind of book I was referring to in my previous post. Wonderful. I love those old books.

Thanks for posting that. I will look for it.
~Annie
(SweetAnnie4u)

Actually, A Southern Garden was first published in 1942, but much of the data and gardening experiences are from the '30's. Not only does E. Lawrence talk a lot about gardens, but garden literature as well. She was a great reader. She did a good job of mining old references (many from Britain) and applying them to our climate.

Annie and ALicia, thank you. Books and gardens....my downfalls. I have a friend in Virgina who has an old book business. I'll call her today. I got a package from her yesterday with a "keep the faith" gift...
I've so much to learn, but I AM remembering things from growing up gardening in Texas. We always had beautiful roses and gardens, and I spent so much time tending them growing up. And escaping there with a book...
It seems so right when plants are shared and passed down..livng pieces of beauty and history, feeding the soul and body.

byrdlady,
What is a box store?
Thanks,
kerai