Braveheart:
I live just 20 miles outside franklin.. It all depends on
where you move to. I have a place on 1/2 lot that is nothing a rock bed. I have to bring in alot of admendments to my soil and raise my beds. the heat here is ok until august. The temp is 100 degrees right now. But I also have a little green house that I experiment with. I am able to grow daisys, black eyed susans, elephant ears, grasses of all kinds. lillies, iris, bleeding hearts, hens and chicks, lambs ear, rose compion, salvia, rose of sharon, southern magnolias, crepe mrytles, just to name a few,
Bugs we have are share, black widow spiders, brown reqlouse
spelling may be a little off on that...rat snakes, dear, turkey, rabbits, japanse beatles are what destroys my garden, I am trying not to use pesticides because of all the hummingbirds and butterflies. what else can I answer,
I moved here 3 years ago and I love the gardening climate for the most part.. I am still learning..
Carolyn from Fairview, Tn

If you can, do a little research before buying. I have a large farm in Knoxville that overall has very good loamy soil. When I was looking for land, I first looked at a lot just a few miles away that was about 20 acres of solid rock. A neighbor saw me looking over the place and came over to tell me there was no drainage in the whole field. If you are able to look around and spend some time finding the right place, it could pay off big time later on.

I have Cytisus (Broom) weed in my field that, to me, looks very much like sagebrush. When I mow in some places, it's like being on a horse back in the old west. LOL.

Welcome to the area! I live in Franklin--not downtown but northwest of the city. We have an acre lot and the soil has lots of clay in it. Clay can be a rich soil, but it does need good amendments to get it well drained. When you get moved, be sure to post and let everyone know. Gardeners are very generous at sharing plants. We have a Middle TN Plant Swap twice a year, spring and fall. You can always post questions about particular flowers/shrubs/trees and you will get quick answers from extremely knowledgeable people.

I grow lots of different varieties, even some tropicals. You will find that the climate here is great in that we can grow such a wide assortment of plants. Yes, we do have heat and HIGH humidity, plus our share of pests. I know Japanese beetles were mentioned in an earlier post. After having literally seeing thousands of them eating my plants for the past 4 summers, this summer I had very few. No matter what climate you live in there will be pluses and minuses. I think the +'s far outweigh the -'s here in Middle TN.

Ann

Thank you for all the valuable information-we're looking forward to moving to your wonderful friendly state!!

Welcome to TN braveheart. You will be able to grow many things you couldn't grow before, and many things that you could grow before will be challenging or even impossible here due to the humidity and warm night temperatures.

A good place to start would be simply to browse local nurseries and garden centers once here because most are not very ambitious with their offerings, and mostly you will see the same things over and over. It will give you a good idea of what works. The upside to this is most of the plants they sell are tried and true in the area; the downside is many cool plants are rare or impossible to find locally. I tend to order 75% of my plants/seeds from suppliers in other regions or countries, even though I would prefer to buy locally. Overall, it is a nice climate with many possibilities. With recent winters, we have been able to grow even more variety. I have had borderline hardy plants be wintergreen the past couple of years. Be prepared to experiment and grow many interesting things!