Welcome! I live one Town to the West, near the University of Montevallo. Get ready for "air you can wear!". It was 90f in the shade at my house today. There are some very adept persons at "Petals from the Past" nursery a little south of your new place. Jason only holds a Masters degree but his father has a PhD and taught at Auburn, so any gardening or other questions should be readily answered even if they are complex.

Hi & welcome!

Welcome to the forum! When you do get ready to move can I have your spot in Colorado?! I'm tired from "wading" in all this humidity.

I grew up in the humidity so I know what you mean, from the swampy part of east Texas. I'll give up this dry climate for a reasonable growing season! Here we can't plant vegetables until around the 1st of June and our first frost is often in September. Nighttime temps easily dip into the high 40s until mid June where I live then we have hail....looking forward to the move but it'll be a few years.

Another lady from the Peony Forum recommended Petals from the Past as well, I'll definitely visit there on my next trip out, thanks!

Excelllent! And enjoy planting peas in January!

That's going to take some getting used to!

Hi, I too am making the move, back to Al. I'm looking for a place NW of BHAM.

moved here from Jasper co Texas.

Ive lived here in NM, z5, too long. Gave up on growing tomatoes yrs ago when frost killed the plants before they ripened.

dont mind the humidity. Hay, they discovered Air Conditioning.

looking forward to meeting all of you. Move has been a long time coming.

jo

Welcome! Why not start a new thread and tell some details about where you would like to live?

I'm with you, josephene! A place you can't grow tomatoes is just not a place I want to live anymore, we have the same issue. We're at 6500' altitude which puts us at a zone 4b, so ready for a real growing season! I've been watching this forum since we selected our land in March, closed in April....now just have to make it a couple of years until retirement.....

I'm planning to divide and move some of my existing garden here in CO to AL over the next few years. Do any of you grow peonies, penstemons, agastache, daylilies, lilies or iris (mainly tall bearded and standard dwarf, a few Siberians in the mix as well)? That'll be the bulk of my move. I know we'll be on the warm edge to get the peonies to bloom, that's not a concern, just need them to survive right now, I'll fix the blooming part once I get there permanently. I'm thinking I'll have to do raised beds to make sure the roots stay dry enough for the iris and peonies at least.

Lilies do great at my house.

i can say that bearded Iris do amazing things in AL!

Oh yeah peonies do great here in North bama but lilacs are soso

Lilacs do amazing here in CO--in the off years when we don't have a May blizzard! In the 21 years we've been here I think there might've been 4 or 5 springs when it was GORGEOUS--the rest not so much. I'm looking forward to growing wisteria again! And pecan trees--I so miss the pecan trees! Agapanthus, too! Gardenias...I could go on and on but you all know how amazing the growing season is there! Getting excited just thinking about it!

Josephene_gw: "I'm looking for a place NW of BHAM...moved here from Jasper co Texas."

Then how about moving to Jasper, Alabama?! :)

Oh yess at least 8 months of it if u push it some years 9

Do not forget to bury a zinc coffee can at the base of your new pecan trees!

Haha, tricky.....zinc coffee can, lol.

Old School.

Ok, I'll bite....what's with a zinc coffee can? I've never heard of that...

Something my maternal Grandmother did with her pecans. I believe the thinking was zinc was good for them, but it could have been the iron also. I was barely in school. I just thought it was a great secret at that age. Never have forgotten it. This happened in Frogeye AL across the river from Horseshoe Bend. Those trees are still there. My Mother looks after them now. My Grandmas' people settled the area when Andrew Jackson beat the Indians at Horshoe Bend and they were packed off to Florida on the trail of tears. Here is a more modern take on zinc and pecans.

http://www.texaspecantrees.com/mobile/pecan_trees_zinc_requirements.html

I don't care too much about your take on history, tricky. Your grandma's people didn't settle the area, they "unsettled" it. And by doing so murdered thousands of innocent people. How proud you must be.

The fact that native Americans were "packed off" to anywhere is sad & pathetic. The story here about "nuts" is perhaps more about your historical views than it is about the growing of trees.

I wasn't born yet.

And they did settle it. Everybody refers to them as early settlers. And they killed the natives and took it. And I am proud of my people. They actually go all the way back to a Danish King named Rothgar in the old tale of Beowulf from 1103. (EDIT: Germanic TH pronounced as a heavy D thus Rodgar now Rodgers or newer Rogers) Now those vikings were real killers. Should I feel your guilt about them too? What a mess that would be. I am proud of them too. According to the story Grandpa Rothgar slept with a Demon and had a spawn named Grendel that raised all kinds of hell.

The point about the history was they have been farming there for that many years but you wanted to spew some hate and you just missed it. My Grandmother was born in that house and died at 96. Those old people knew a few gardening tricks.

For their time they did what they did. I recall Andrew Jackson even became the popular President for his protectionist activities. Folks change over time though. Like your idea about me being told by you that I should be feeling a certain way about my history. Thats real popular on CNN. Maybe you should invite Don Lemon over to exchange ideas. Maybe that kind of thinking doesn't change.

Roll Tide! Coffee Cans Rock!

What a delight to happen upon this discussion! It looks like we, too, will be moving to Alabama in the next year or so. We'll be looking for a place not too far from my daughter and her husband, who moved to Alabaster (about 30 min. south of Birmingham) three years ago. Our visits there have been delightful, as was my visit to Petals from the Past - Love that place!

Wherever we're coming from, what a gardening adventure we are in for! Seeing cool-season bedding plants and vegetable starts for sale in late November was uplifting, indeed! I'll only be transitioning from coastal New Jersey (will miss the beaches and all the small farms with their farm stands right on site - we're not really all turnpike and tank farms), zone 7, to Alabama's 8. Sitting where the ranges of northern plants and southern plants overlap, NJ is blessed with a wonderful diversity garden-wise, and I'm already familiar with many plants native to the southeastern U.S., but still have lots to learn.

I, too, will be bringing some of my garden with me, as I've seen what too often happens to them when they're left for the new owners. After tagging those that will remain for landscaping purposes (or are too big/delicate to take), I'll offer the rest to my fellow Master Gardeners, knowing they'll all go to good homes. Like Lizbest I'm wondering how some will fare: peonies, iris (tall bearded, dwarf bearded, siberian ... I'm sure the Louisiana iris will feel right at home), daylilies, roses, hellebores, ferns, sweet box, witch hazels. I'm taking cuttings of some of my hydrangeas, which I believe will do well.

Of the natives, I expect most will do fine, as long as they survive the journey. Haven't yet decided which to bring: heuchera, tiarella, passiflora incarnata, mayapple, baptisia, leucothoe, wisteria frutescens, winterberry holly, serviceberry, spicebush, fern-leaf and old-fashioned bleeding hearts, native honeysuckle, wild ginger, goldenseal, actea racemosa, clethra. Many of the plants have stories, and the whole garden started as a memorial to my late mother, so is very difficult to leave.

(Working at a public garden for nine years and living within reasonable driving distance of so many good nurseries really exacerbated my plant acquisition disorder.)

The plant list provided by Alabama Smart Yards should be an especially helpful resource for newcomers to the state. http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-1359/ANR-1359.pdf

Looking forward to the plant swaps, also. We had two each year at the public garden where I worked. Since I was running it, I had to watch a lot of tempting things come in ... and go out :-) but I couldn't partake. Always fun, though, to see so many happy gardeners.

But I ramble. I'll be lurking, hoping to learn as much as I can.

Alabaster is very close to the land we purchased, we'll be practically neighbors!

I laughed earlier at the suggestion of cans buried with pecans because I thought tricky was kidding. No zinc in cans these days.....maybe back in 'the day'. However, zinc is a required micronutrient for nut trees. A soil test should be conducted prior to applying in order to determine the appropriate rates; some soils aren't deficient. Pecan tree fertilizer is readily found in locations where pecans are commonly grown.

Tricky, it is important that we fully understand the truth about how this country came to be what it is today. I expect that school children, sadly, are still being given a false history but surely adults want to know the truth. Whether it becomes a source of pride or not depends upon the person and what he or she is made of. Most people know the Trail of Tears as a shameful part of modern American history.

Thanks for the consideration. I enjoy the fact that people have to have perspective. I am named after a fellow that parchuted into a Dday mess and died chained to a stump and doused in lit diesel fuel. I will not allow that kind of thought in my presence. The fact that I live on Ultisol soil of the Udult variety is a pleasure to have as a problem given what was sacrificed to get me here. But you are hijacking the thread so shush it.

Was in AL last week and got my first experimental bed set up with tree, herbaceous and Itoh peonies. All are divisions from my home in CO so while I'm really hoping for growth it won't be a big loss if they perish. Planted in morning sun, afternoon shade in a fairly protected area, now just have to hope AL gets plenty of rain this fall....

Will a tropical storm do for a start?

Lizbest1, the wet season here usually starts about the first week of November. This year has been moist though, so often Sept and Oct are dry months.

Yeah, managed to miss the tropical storm on our visit! It'll be interesting to see what survives the 5 months between that last visit and our next one. Some survival and growth would be encouraging but I think no big, mass plantings until we can get a large area cleared and the soil amended.

People will burn and bury in the spring, though it would easier to have it dry by then.

It seems a rough way, but the clay soil lacks potassium and can be acid. Ash helps both.

Are you saying a controlled burn is the best way to clear? I assume after trees have bee removed, if so....

It is an old way around here. I used to scoff, but we have a soil that needs carbon, potassium and liming effects of highly alkaline amendments such as ash provides. Bring your own nitrogen and forget about phosporous

Not scoffing, just here in CO in our "high desert" climate that practice would probably lead to an arson charge! The forest service does controlled burns at times and even those have been known to get out of control at times....Looking forward to a less dry environment!

Lol Careful what you wish for, you know some here call it "Air you can wear".

Just got back from visiting our property in Calera, AL. Planted an experimental garden last fall with around 20 herbaceous peonies, 2 Itohs and 2 tree peonies, almost all are up and several have buds! Won't see them when they bloom, if they make it that far 1st year, but wanted to share a few pics!

Abalone Pearl

Liz, I was in N Al early feb looking for a place to build. It was cold/ rainy it seemed to rain every few hrs. I too am looking forward to meeting these folks I consider friends already.

Can't wait! Neither grows well for me here, it's a good thing we have 20 acres!

Liz, on your 20 ac there has got to be loads of native flora. Dogwoods, magnolias, blueberries just to name a few. Just don’t let anyone bush hog before you walk the land.there is a magnolia that has leaves 3 ft long growing in the area. Native azaleas can grow there too have a smell to die for.

jo

Liz, you might like

Alabama Gardener, state-by-state gardening out of Ruston, LA

also

Treasured, a publication of the Alabama Forestry Commission. FREE

good reading

jo

Thanks, Josephene. I'll have to google the native flora, the only thing that I know for sure are there are tons of scraggly pines, scrub oak, blackberry brambles and some beautyberry. It would be amazing to have any of those--dogwoods, magnolias, blueberries or native azaleas!

Liz are you here yet?