Well welcome to the Volunteer State!!! We're glad to have ya here. Do you bleed U-M Blue or MSU Green?

Wow, what a shopping list!!! You didn't tell us where in Tn you are. There is a HUGE difference between what will grow well in Memphis but not in Bristol. Here in Nashville we have some stuff that won't grow here but West TN has no problem and the same goes for Nashville versus Johnson City. This is a LOOOOONG state with several different climates. I think that the USNA has us at 7b, 6a & 6b but that's very misleading! There are bunches of micro climates in every county. So we could run anywhere from 5b to 8b depending on the year, county and what side of the house you're planting on.

Let me be the first to invite you to the Middle Tennessee Plant Swap on Saturday May 20th. Email me at jtoothmanindadj@comcast.net and I'll send you all the info. You can meet a ton of the folks here on the TN Forum as well as other folks that are fellow gardeners from all over the state. If you want excellent advise, that's the place to get it!

Jeff

Welcome to TN!

I have two words for you: Raised Beds. They are life savers! They are also very easy to create -- much much less work than trying to modify serious clay.

Of the plants on your list -- the agaves will have to go inside during the winter. They won't stand for our winter wetness. Most of the rest of the list looks okay as long as you get the raised beds, but I'm not gonna go through it plant by plant right now. I will mention that there are plenty of hardy hibiscus for this area, but I don't know the variety 'Fantasia' in particular. Just look up "hardy hibiscus" on google and you'll find lots of great ideas! Oh, also -- I never have any luck with poppies, but I know some people around here grow them. Again, it's the humidity and winter wet that gets them!

"Agathapanthus" made me chuckle.

Builders take the topsoil off your lot and sell it. Then you buy topsoil for your lot. No, it doesn't make sense. This isn't just a TN thing, they do it all over the country from what I can tell. Unfortunately here the subsoil is that clay you mentioned. Raised beds are a good solution. Over time, of course, you can build your soil back up with compost. Gypsum helps loosen tight clay soils, as does a product called Planters II, which is granules of gypsiferous shale. This product both chemically loosens clay and physically breaks it up. Plus it attracts earthworms like a magnet when used in conjunction with organic material. It's available from several Nashville area garden centers.

I saw on your page you're located just east of Nashville. Just FYI, that's not usually regarded as Zone 7b, which is more like, say, Memphis. It's probably safe to figure you're in Zone 6b.

I don't have experience with a lot of stuff on your list, but here's what I do know...

I have a friend growing Agave parryi in Donelson (just east of Nashville). Not sure if his is either of the forms you list, and he offers his some protection in winter, I believe, but you should be able to grow that species.

Hibiscus 'Fantasia' should do fine here. All the Fleming cultivars thrive in our area as far as I know. Rosemary 'Arp' does well as long as you give it good drainage. It's fully hardy here; what usually kills it is winter wet feet. Ditto all lavenders; the L. x media types like 'Provence' and 'Grosso' tend to do better than others in my experience. Some achilleas thrive, but the majority don't like our humid summers. Haven't tried 'The Pearl'; you'll have to experiment.

Any Lonicera semp. will do great here. Same with 'White Pearl' and bronze fennel; you're likely to get Black Swallowtail caterpillers on the fennel, but that's a good thing. :-) Feverfew tends to melt out in summer -- too hot and humid. Annual/biennial poppies are sown in fall for spring bloom. They're toast by June. Forget oriental poppies. It's just too hot here, plus we don't have enough winter for them; they need extended chilling to thrive.

I have my doubts about the hacquetia, since it likes England and the PNW. It's usually safe to say that anything that thrives in Portland, OR is going to struggle here. There are exceptions (e.g. Helleborus x hybridus, Acer palmatum) but not many. Musa basjoo makes it here unless we have a horrific winter, and those are few and far between these days. Oregano does great -- in fact, often *too* great. I grow mine in pots to contain its thuggish tendencies.

Primulas are typically shortlived here. I've gotten P. veris to survive for four years before it croaked, which is pretty good. Most people treat them like annuals. Heucheras do great, both species and the ten thousand-and-counting hybrids. Persicaria 'Red Dragon' does pretty well for me. Haven't grown that Thalictrum, but T. flavum glaucum and T. rochebrunianum do very well in middle TN. Stachys 'Big Ears' is a garden staple in these parts.

Some lilac varieties that do well here in the mid-south are 'Blue Skies' (icy lav-blue), 'Lavender Lady' (straight-up lavender) and 'James McFarlane' (pink). The Korean types like 'Miss Kim' do well, too. Kalmia is native here, but you must plant it and all ericaceous plants carefully (meaning quite high with improved drainage and acid mulch) for success in our clay. Bergenia does OK -- it gets a little ratty looking by mid-July, since it's not a big fan of our heat and humidity. Fothergilla does great. And so does castor bean.

Hope that helps, and welcome to Tennessee!

Marty

And that, folks, is why we love Marty!

I also got a kick out of the "agatha-panthus" handle. Very clever!

Lots of good advice above. Not a lot I can add except that what Marty says is true about the topsoil. I managed to keep ours, since my brother-in-law was the builder, but that dries out so quick once it's exposed that it pretty much reverts to it's clay like origin. Not quite as bad, but close.

Also, come to the plant swap! More fun that humans should be allowed!

Mid TN Plant Swap Website
Lots O' Photos

Hi, "Agatha" (love that!)--

Welcome to the land of nasty clay soil! I've been dealing with amending soil for years, but even more since I moved into my house last summer--it wasn't new, and had been landscaped professionally (read: commercially, yuck) by the previous owners, but I've pulled out some ugly unruly junipers and such and found the soil to be clay and rocky. Here's what I've used in the past with great success, and have been working into my beds all spring: Mushroom Compost, Dakota Peat (not like your average Home Depot peat moss), Soil Conditioner (available at all Home Depots, Lowe's, etc, it's very fine bark mulch), and Planter's, which was mentioned in one of the above posts. I also throw in PlantTone by Epsoma for good measure. I did this in a bed that I put pansies in last fall, and when I pulled them out last weekend to put in impatiens, I could not BELIEVE the worms! I've been told that it's better to amend the soil than to replace it, and I'm now a believer.

Hope this helps and welcome again to Tennessee. Might I also suggest that if you have sunny spots that really bake and you need a good annual, lantanas are wonderful.

Jana

My feverfew melted then I decided to plant my feverfew at the base of my okra.It's beautiful now and doing well. I had the rock and clay problem when I bought my place in Williamson county. I do raised beds and sq ft gardening. Works very well. I mulch leaves,make compost and have the tree trimmers dump truck loads of oak & pine in heaps that become the best soil after a couple of years. Much better than I paid for previously.

Soeur, I think you are still using the outdated USDA map. Memphis is 8a, east of Nashville should be 7a these days, 7b closer in to the city. Knoxville has shown 7b/8a in the past 15 yrs. Look it up, the numbers don't lie.

:-)
Marty's post is over two years old now.

oops