Easy Care Native Plants for NC, by the coast?
Question:I am a terrible gardener!
My whole neighborhood is full of part-time or full time gardeners and they make my front yard look like the red-headed stepchild.
I also am trying to be environmentally responsible.
I need to get some input on easy care native plants of NC that would thrive in areas by the coast. (plenty of decent soil) I need to know what to buy, how to plant them and how freqently I should water them. I can't afford a landscaper.
Answers:
Hey, I live on the Outer Banks and am starting a new garden, so I feel your pain! Coastal NC does have native plants - think live oak, bayberry, sea oats - but they are not all suited to an attractive front yard. My way of being environmentally responsible is to use plants that thrive in the sandy, hot environment, regardless of their county of origin.
I would start with some attractive perennials you can get at any garden center. Echinacea (coneflower) is beautiful, incredibly drought-tolerant, and multiplies year after year. Since I've just planted different stuff all over the yard, I water most things every day, but I skip this one and it doesn't even droop.
Another idea is the Mediterranean herbs: rosemary, sage, thyme, marjoram, oregano. I'm not sure if lavender counts, but it grows in the same conditions. A single rosemary plant can grow to 5 feet around and just as tall in a few years. You can practically put them straight in the sand, or just mix a little peat humus to hold the water. All of these will thrive in hot sun with very little water - only water them if they are obviously droopy or it hasn't rained in a week. The only way you can go wrong is to mulch them - instead use rock to keep the weeds down if you need to. If you need a quick focal point to impress the neighbors, make a bed of all these mixed together and it will look great.
I could go on forever about this, but hopefully that will get you started. And, if you have questions, ask your neighbors while you are all out there gardening. We can talk for hours about this stuff! Good luck!
http://www.ncsu.edu/jcraulstonarboretum/...
If you don't find what info you need , just ask them . From what I've heard & read , helping the public was part of what Dr. Raulston was all about . Look around where you live , & see what is doing well in the same situation . Ask some of those gardeners that you mention . Ask at a local garden center ( emphasis on local) .
ps What's good for wildlife, may not look that great as landscaping , so those sites usually aren't that helpful. & as far as native goes , if it works, who cares where it's from? As native Carolinian Tony Avent says" Everything was native, before the continents divided" ;D
almost anything grows there. you could take some photos of the neighbors plants you like and then go to a garden center and buy them. I lived there 9 years and seldom had to water anything, pours rain so often.
If you get a dry spell just water the bases of the plants once a week. I would avoid roses they get black spot and look awful and die. Azaleas are easy, butterfly bush, hydrangea, gardenia, calla lilies, canna lilies, zinnias, marigolds, black eyed susans, shasta daisies. also I found the library to be an excellent spot for info on native plants and care and propagation. Hope this helps.
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