Georgia Girl
I grew up in Georgia, but I don’t think I quite got that Georgia is different until recently. What do I mean? Reading gardening books and novels, I formed an idea of what a flower garden ought to be and what a vegetable garden should produce and what types of shrubbery should surround my home.
The Ideal Garden Comes From Somewhere Else
Somewhere along the way, I realized that many of my ideal plants would never grow here in middle Georgia. For awhile, I thought it was my lack of skill which caused those plants not to flourish. My gardening books would claim such and such a plant would stand up to the heat and drought… And then that plant would shrivel and die before it ever started blooming. That’s when I read on our Georgia Extension Office’s webpage that Many gardening books are written by New Englanders. What grows in Vermont will probably not work here.
Is the Ideal Possible?
Can you hope to grow that peony, lilac, rhubarb, or hybrid tea rose in Georgia? It’s not totally impossible. I recommend one of two things. First, go to the experts for really good advice and then follow it to a tee. I’m pretty sure that my peony died because I only half followed Walter Reeves (he’s a Georgia master gardener) advice. Second, grow zinnias. Well, maybe not only zinnias. Also, okra. What I mean is, find out what plants do thrive in your zone, in your soil type and in the kind of light you have in your garden. Begin simply and your success will drive you onwards.
My Poor Success May be a Lesson
Pictured above is a lilac bloom from my own garden. I have a lilac bush in Georgia! I’m so proud and pleased that it’s here, although the credit really goes to the former owners of our home. Thanks to them, I have beautiful lilac blooms every spring. About six blooms. And, then the heart-shaped leaves form a beautiful backdrop for my flower garden… For about a month. As the summer progresses, the leaves become diseased and deformed.
Is the Wrong Ideal Worth the Hassle?
I’m currently trying to decide whether to give the lilac one more year with very good care or to dig it out and replace it with something more robust. Sounds Scriptural. One of my dilemnas is that I don’t even know where to turn for advice. Lilacs are so unusual in Georgia that there’s very little information on how to care for them here. On the other hand, the advice from places where lilacs commonly grow does not address the problems faced here in Georgia. It’s a question for us gardeners to decide. Is the novelty, or the misplaced ideal, worth the trouble of it’s keep?
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