I moved here from Northern California 15 years ago to get my BS at Clemson and never left. I'm in Greenville.

This is my first year gardening, so I don't know much. If you can, befriend some older neighbors. Not only will they likely have gardened here for years, they will most likely be happy to share their knowledge and plants! I do know that all the nurseries around here highly recommend ammending the soil with either mushroom compost or composted cow manure (like Black Cow brand). I always ammend my soil with that at planting and so far, I have had decent luck. I think I am also pretty lucky in that I am gardening in a yard that has been worked or neglected for 70 years. Unlike a new development, I still have topsoil. Some areas I can tell have been used as a garden in the past.

If you haven't already, get a soil test. I'm sure there is somewhere you can take your soil actually at Clemson, I took mine in to University Ridge here in Greenville to the Clemson Extension office. I think the soil test was $6.00 per sample and they will tell you what if anything you need to add to your soil.

The hydrangea forum here on the board has WONDERFUL information and I learn a bunch each time I look there.

Clemson itself has their Home and Garden Information resource that has been helpful sometimes.

Also, Dr Al Pertuit (fyrewyr1@bellsouth.net) is supposed to be a hydrangea specialist according to a friend of mine. Not sure if he is still at Clemson or if he retired, but he is still in Central. I know him mainly as a wire fox terrier breeder, terrier judge and someone I talk to at kennel club meetings. I'd say dropping him an email should be worthwhile, as he is quite interesting to talk dogs with, so I'm sure he would be great to talk plants with as well!

I also learned a lot from the book "Tough Plants for Southern Gardens" by Felder Rushing. Check with your local library and see if they have it. If not, I know Greenville libraries have it. It helped me with plant selection, as I wanted things that would do well here and not be easy to kill.

I planted an Endless Summer last fall and it was just starting to leaf out when the Easter Freeze hit. At that point, it became an endless slumber... I planted another ES in May and it has been doing well. I ammended the soil with mushroom compost at planting and currently hand water it daily. It gets shade or filtered sunlight all day and seems to be doing well. I also planted a Fuji Waterfall at the end of July. I know, wrong season to plant... This time I ammended the soil with Black Cow. The Fuji also pretty much gets shade or filtered sunlight all day. It too seems to be doing well, but it is not nearly the water hog the ES is. I typically water Fuji twice a week, just like all my other shrubs. I just got around to mulching around it the other week. I don't have a sprinkler system or soaker hoses (what most of my gardening friends recommend), so I hand water everything and check on all my plants daily (I also started getting up 30 minutes earlier to make it to work on time).

I also have two Variegatas that I rescued from Lowes during the heat wave. They were in 1 gallon pots and I repotted them into 3 gallon nursery pots in Miracle Grow moisture control potting soil. They are in the same area as the ES and currently require maybe weekly watering (potted plants in this shade area seem to need less water than the inground plants, guess the Miracle Grow potting soil really does conserve moisture).

Here in Greenville Underwoods Nursery is having a 20% off sale through the 16th. Their staff has been very helpful and they have been a major enabler in my new garden addiction. Lichtenfelt Nursery on the far east side of Greenville also has very knowledgable and helpful staff and a great plant selection. The Farmer's Market on Rutherford Road has some nice plants as well and they will have a Fall Festival in October that will bring in a lot of other vendors for the weekend. Carolina Wild (http://www.carolinawild.com/) in Anderson is a native plant nursery. I have bought plants from them at the festivals at the Farmer's Market. Again, very nice and helpful people. Sorry I don't know anything about any nurseries in the Clemson area, hopefully someone else will be able to give you more information. Happy Plants in Easley just closed about a week ago unfortunately.

Here is a link that might be useful: Clemson Home & Garden Information Center

Hi! I'm in NC, and I actually have rather sandy soil, but I have not found hydrangeas to be the easiest shrub to start with. They are definititely worth the effort, but after seeing them bloom profusely in certain yards here, I assumed they'd be easier than they are.

There are different kinds, and they are picky about soil quality and soil moisture and sun/shade ratio. Of course pH is a consideration also.

So do read up on them and don't feel like a failure just because you didn't have luck your first year. I'm sure we'll all get the hang of it if we just give them the attention they require. I've been distracted by some other things. I can tell you my experience with plumbago has been wonderful, and I'm very pleased with my winter daphne. (Admittedly, these are planted in raised beds with wonderfully amended soil, and my poor hydrangeas are suffering under established trees, in dry shade and neglected soil).

Welcome ! Think I'm in laurabs's area and will second her comments about hydrangeas not being easy. I have a few successes and a few that are about to be 're-homed' thru no fault of mine that I'm willing to admit to! Also, a couple of my neighbors have had off the charts success and off the charts failures with plants from the same nursery, planted mere feet apart.

So, don't give up and explore all the other wonderful plants that thrive here!