Hey Linda, welcome to Georgia. I can't tell you about a lot of the plants you mentioned, but I can tell you that anemone will do fine. Mine started blooming late last week, and already the bumblebees are all over them. They do great here. Mine usually bloom for a little over a month and finish up near the end of October. I have Honorine Jobert and September Charm and some double I never remember the name of.
As for phlox, it depends. You need to grow phlox that do well in the South. I don't grow David, but I hear from everyone that it does well here. Others can fill you in. I grow Miss Lingrad - which has been better every year I've had it. This year rabbits ate it to the ground, and it didn't recover.
This zone will be a new experience for you for sure. I think you'll find out that you have to adjust sun exposures for some plants (adjust to less than full sun) and that plants that bloom together in NY bloom in succession here. But you'll still be picking tomatoes in October.

i think pasque flower may not like the humidity, but if you were to put it in a place with really good sun, circulation and drainage, maybe. i think eventually it'll decline, but i'd try it anyway.

my neighbor and I both have tall phlox, different ones, but I don't know the names. The ones we have do fine, but I know a lot of people's do get powdery mildew. that's bad on a lot of things here, verbena and roses in my yard to name only 2. I have heard that a milk and water spray will stop it, but I haven't tried it yet.

ah, tomatoes. the real secret is to go ahead and get them as big as you can indoors before you plant them out, and then don't be fooled by the first couple of days of high air temperature. they're not really going to do much until the soil warms up. the earliest ones do really well in containers for me for that reason - i put them on my porch in black pots, so they start earlier. also if we get a weird late freeze i can bring them in at night. then I stagger plantings all summer for different varieties. i have some new ones coming up now, but I don't know if they will have time to make fruit or not. we shall see. it depends on the year.

Thanks so much to the two women who answered my questions. As you can imagine, I'm a little nervous about the move but it helps to hear from folks down there. I'm going to begin searching the stores for heirloom tomatoe seeds and hopefully start some early next year. Here in NY state I'll leave two very established perennial beds. The tall phlox I grow here are Niki and David. I'm so glad to hear that fall anemone will be okay. My son lives in Oregon and it grows wonderfully well there. It have been a struggle to grow it hear in NY state. thanks again. Linda

no problem. you will love the long growing season, but someone should warn you about the clay. red clay. there's not much else in our soil, except rocks. it's like gardening in terra cotta. amending your soil is the absolute first, best thing you can do here.

welcome aboard!

Linda, you're going to love the longer seasons. I didn't answer before because I've never grown pasque flower here, though I understand you can if you give them very good drainage, and a little black beetle has been eating my anemones for the past three years, but I could get rid of those if I tried. The anemones themselves have grown into a very sumptuous banquet for thousands.

Regarding those longer gardening seasons, the biggest pitfall you'll find isn't clay soil but rather an amazing lack of awareness and appreciation for the benefits of gardening here among the people around you. Partially that's because for centuries the northeast was the publishing center for this country and most gardening publications have been about northeast gardening experiences. So my suggestion is to look to books by Southern authors to benefit from their years of Southern experience in a hurry. An excellent investment (fat reference book) is Michael Dirr's Manual of Woody Landscape Plants. Also Allan Armitage's Herbaceous Perennial Plants is great (although he's from Georgia, it's not possible to tell that from his later book on annuals, but his perennials book is wonderful for us). Elizabeth Lawrence's books are all classics and musts, as is William Hunt's "Southern Gardens, Southern Gardening." And there are, of course, a bunch of others these days.

The South has been having something of a gardening renaissance, although the enlightenment is also undergoing a setback these days because many of the great new plants developed just aren't selling well enough to justify stocking them. You just have to search them out (including great ones for spring and autumn), as well as the nurseries that do provide them. Most ordinary nurseries down here go dormant in autumn themselves.

In any case, if you wish, your active garden year can probably start in February and end in November (I'm guessing as I'm up farther north in Georgia) after a long lovely fall. Some of your once-blooming plants are going to be rebloomers in your garden here. And you'll likely find that sheltered areas by your home are actually a solid zone 8, and you'll be spending years falling in love with many of the thousands of new plants available to you for those areas.

BTW, regarding the slowness of answers, just keep posting. A group of regulars has developed, but they're otherwise very nice and will end up chatting happily with anyone who hangs around. Happy gardening, Rosie

Here's a link to the trial gardens at UGA. It will give you a pretty good idea how some perennials do here.

You might want to check out the thread on this forum called Whiners Only for an idea of gardening problems in GA. Also check out a thread called What Do You Wish You Never Planted on the Southern Gardening forum for some idea about problem plants down here.

Don't get discouraged by either thread. The South is a great place to garden, has a long gardening tradition, and every Southern gardener you run into knows a ton and will talk your ear off. There are tons of good perennial nurseries around Atlanta and, especially, Athens. UGA is a wonderful source of help and info. We have two plant swaps a year here in Atlanta. Every county has a good extension service.

Sorry you're having to leave your perennial beds behind.

Here is a link that might be useful: UGA Garden Trials

Hey Linda, just want to add my warm welcome to you also. BTW, in this part of the country, saying 'hey' is like saying hello. It's also frequently two syllables.

Hope you'll bring lots of phlox and any other perennials you've enjoyed. We may be begging you for some pasque flower in a couple of years.

The gals who have written prior to me spoke volumes of truth. I hope you love everything about life here. Also I'm on your way to Athens, so hopefully we can meet and go see the trial gardens and visit some of Athen's great garden shops.

Another Rosie, in Sugar Hill

Hello Some 50s. I moved to Ga. a litle over 5 years ago from Northern N.J. and except for the nasty red clay I think you'll find many similarites to gardening in N.Y. I garden in Gwinnett Co. so I may be a different zone than Marietta but I think you will be pleasantly suprised by the things that will grow here. An added bonus is the plants from zome 10 that will survive and thrive here!
When I put in my big hillside garden, Georgia was in a prolong drougth, so I planted sun loving drought tolerant plants (lavender, salvia, baptisa..)and I have lost only a few. The biggest problem I have is the wet winters!

I actually like my clay... after it has been amended. There are some plants that don't do well in GA, but there are so many more that love it here! Search for a thread about plants that grow well in clay. You'll be plesently surprised.

I think that mulch is manditory. The summer is hot and can be dry at times.

Welcome Linda!

I grow pasque flower. It flowers lovely in the spring/early summer and then sometimes stays green all summer (this summer) and sometimes dies back during the summer only to return in the fall. It has also seeded itself - not heavily but enough so that I have a few more than I originally bought a couple years ago.

I also have a couple of different varieties of tall garden phlox ( David does extremely well, Frans Shubert and ??a red one). Some years I have a problem with powdery mildew sometimes not. Doesn't effect the bloom only the leaves so I leave them. They are lovely and so long blooming.

Thank you, thank you to all of you who have answered my initial question. I am really looking forward to exploring gardening in Georgia and appreciate your encouragement and suggestions. Here in my tiny sheltered backyard in Liverpool, NY I could have thrown pots with the red clay some 15 years ago when I began gardening. Now, it's mostly ammended and will grow just about anything. I'll be sharing a 3/4 acre backyard with permission to garden everywhere. I'll start small and grow. There are two large raised beds in place right now and several trees. So, I'll be watching the sun patterns as the seasons change. I heard from someone about county extentions, and from someone else about some books I should get. I'll investigate both and will stay in touch. I'm a little slow with response since there's so much to do getting ready to hit the road. Thanks again to everyone down there and I'll join you by the end of October. Linda

Dear gardening friends, I have arrived! And, today I went to a gardening center. To my surprise, among the perennials was a "Santa Claus" fusia. Of course, back in NY state fusias are simply annuals although some hardy souls winter them over. Well, I'm thrilled! Will I be thrilled in the spring? Will it live? Linda

Another ex-NYker here. One thing to watch out for here is the sun, both for the plants and for you. Wear a hat (even on a sunny February day, you can get sun stroke, I did) and sunscreen is a must.

Also, some plants that loved full sun in NY will bake here. Not only are we further south, but at a higher elevation (for the most part, not sure what Liverpools elevation is). So be careful.

Hi Linda,

Welcome to GA!

We have several fuchsias - don't think I have ever lost one over the winter. -Sorry, not sure of the varieties. I just try to keep them watered during a drought. They're easy.

Have fun!

Sharon