Roundpeg...welcome to the forum...glad you decided to come out of hiding.

While I can't answer your questions, you might come to the middle Tn plant swap on Oct 21. Go to www.buffalocanoeing.com for directions. You will find the friendliest people here that you will ever find, and you can ask all kinds of questions. We have a lot of very
experienced gardeners that attend this.

If you will email Jeff our swap nazi, at jtoothmanindadj@comcast.net he can send you the info about it.

Hope to see you here in Oct.

Jan

Hey there Peg -- welcome to the forum!

Sounds like you've been bitten bad by the plant bug. :-) IMHO, probably the best thing for your plant pots is to keep them well watered and out of the sun til at least next week, when I think it's supposed to be a bit cooler. On the South African mallow, can you tell me a genus and species name? I'm not familiar with that common name off hand, and I'm not in a situation to look it up right now. If you don't know the scientific name, don't worry -- I'll look it up this weekend! And as for lavender -- drainage, drainage, drainage!! I finally got several lavender plants through the winter this past year after YEARS of trying, and I think I finally succeeded because of giving them LOTS of drainage so they could deal with our wet winter. Treat them like cacti!

Thanks for the invitation and the welcome. I'll see about getting info for the plant swap.

The South African Mallow is Anisdontea x hypomandarum, which appears to be the same as a Cape Mallow. I think it was probably a mistake that the store got them in, that is why they were marked down (it was on a "take the whole rack for $25" deal).

On the Lavender, it is my clayish soil that causes my failure? How do you acheive good drainage, my brain is thinking gravel in the bottom of the bad or plant on a slope.

Thanks for telling me to hold off on planting, I am going to give myself a heat stroke out there! I did plant some stuff today, but I stayed on the shady side of the house. Thunderstorms are likely this weekend, my fingers are crossed.

Ahhhh. I saw some Cape mallow for sale at Lowe's this summer. There's been LOTS of tender stuff at all the big stores this year -- maybe they're getting a jump on global warming! LOL.

If it was my plant, I think I'd do one or two of three things. 1. I do LOTS of container planting, so I might plant it in a large pot and then put it in my sheltered pseudo-greenhouse over the winter; 2. I might plant it in the ground in a sheltered spot, mulch it with something that breathes like pine straw, and cross my fingers; or 3. I might start some cuttings to keep inside over the winter.

On the lavender -- all my lavenders are in pots. I have them in potting soil with extra perlite for additional drainage. Yes, IME clay will kill them! If you are determined to put them in the ground, try raised beds.

I think the raised bed is the way to go for my lavender. I have a spot picked out, I will do some lasagna composting there and cross my fingers.

Thanks for the Mallow advice. I bought some large pots last night. So I'll pot them, take cuttings and put them in the shed for winter, and see what happens.

I agree about the raised beds or pots for lavendar. For pots, I mix in one scoop of builders sand for every two scoops of potting mix. For every six scoops of this mixture, I mix in one scoop of pebbles. What you use for a scoop doesn't matter - just the proportions. So it goes: 2 scoops potting soil, 1 of sand, two scoops of potting soil, one of sand, one of pebbles. Even if you don't use pots, this is the soil texture you are looking for if you amend your clay - it's real hard to do. I don't even know how to tell you to amend clay to get this texture. People grow it in the ground though, so I'm sure someone here can tell you. I hope so - I want to know how to do it too.
Good luck and enjoy your new garden.

Hello roundpeg! I am new to the forum also. Have we found a great group of people or what? Everyone extended me such a warm welcome and I wanted to pass my own on to you!
I buy my plants mainly from clearance racks during the summer also. I keep mine in pots in one shady spot til fall. Otherwise you can kill yourself (not to mention the plants) trying to keeping them watered and alive. You will have to water the pots almost every day but it's easier if they are in one spot. One exception, if one is severely pot-bound (so that it does not retain any water), you may need to pot it up adding some more soil.
I was so glad to see the advice on lavendar! I've tried but never been able to keep one going for a full year. I knew they needed good drainage but I didn't know they needed GOOD REALLY REALLY GOOD drainage. Now I will try again. Thanks everyone!