Being brand new to coastal gardening (I moved to Wilmington, NC in September 2006 and immediately began digging out diseased pittosporum), I’m hoping to discover the secrets new friends and neighbors have learned to outsmart inhospitable soil and meager rainfall. Well, rainfall has been generous this summer compared to the drought of 2007. Above normal and it shows in healthy, longer-blooming plants.
Taking action after drought
Late last summer, disgusted with the ground in front of my house loosely labeled “lawn,” I planted ponytail grass (an amazingly soft, palomino-hued ornamental that blows in the wind like a horse’s mane), Mexican bush sage and a Red Bud tree, then spread a thick layer of mulch.
This spring I filled in with a variety of sedum-type groundcovers; herbs like rosemary, African basil and Spanish lavender; and yellow and pink daylilies, coneflowers and black-eyed susans. My goal is a front garden filled with colorful, drought-tolerant plants. The whole xeriscape idea intrigues me.
Above all, I’m looking for inexpensive ways to make my home site attractive and contribute to making my neighborhood a charming place in which to live.
A Growing Season Calendar
Stumped by what to grow and when to plant? David Shumpert, a Wilmington gardener, shared his success growing 20 types of vegetables and five types of flowers with gardening members of the Wilmington Newcomers’ Club (http://www.wilmingtonncnewcomers.com/index.html).
In addition to following a schedule, David rotates his spring and fall gardens each year.
February/March: Plant spring garden
Feb. 1 Sugar snap peas and spinach.
Feb 15 Turnip greens, rutabagas, radishes, broccoli, romaine and beets.
March 1 Radishes, beets and potatoes.
March 15 Radishes and beets.
April/May: Plant summer garden
April 1 Bush beans, squash, cucumbers, cantaloupes and flowers (from seeds or small plants)
April 5-15 Tomatoes.
April 10 Okra, peppers, eggplant and limas.
May 1 Bush beans
June, July and August Eat up!
Sept. 1 Potatoes, rutabagas and mustard greens.
Oct. 1 Spinach, lettuce and radishes (harvest in January and February)
Featured Flower
Mexican Bush Sage
I bought my first Mexican bush sage (salvia leucantha) at the downtown farmers’ market last spring because its soft, fuzzy, purple and white flowers looked pretty and a fellow customer said it was a great plant for coastal Carolina. Research proves he was right: Mexican bush sage is a xeriscape plant that can live with little or no extra watering once it gets established. This perennial wants sunshine. It starts blooming in mid-summer and will keep going into fall achieving a height of 36 to 48 inches. I found three more plants at the Transplanted Garden on 16th St. in Wilmington last October and gave them a prime spot in the front yard (a work in progress). Besides being one of the most ornamental of all salvias, Mexican bush sage is a sturdy grower with good form. The big bonus? It attracts hummingbirds!
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