Choosing plants for both beach, town houses

By Audrey Post
MS. GROW-IT-ALL

Q: We have a house in town and a house at St. Teresa, and we split our time between the two. To keep things as simple as possible, I’d like to use the same kinds of plants at both places. What is good for coastal property as well as the north side of Tallahassee?

A: Trying to maintain gardens at two homes is a big chore – I have my hands full with just one -- so you’re smart to try to use the same plants in both places.

One problem you’re likely to face is choosing a plant that would grow well in your Tallahassee garden but isn’t salt-tolerant, so it wouldn’t survive at St. Teresa. Another is drainage. Coastal plants love good drainage and a lot of Tallahassee yards are red clay, so you’ll probably need to amend the soil to improve drainage. Adding peat and compost will help.

I checked with Amanda Kollar, whom many readers probably remember from her days at Tallahassee Nurseries. She and her husband, Bill Kollar, now operate Gardens, Inc., in Apalachicola, which includes a design business and The Garden Shop in the historic Bowery District, so she’s well-versed in both coastal and Red Hills plants.

There are many plants that are native to both areas, she said, including yaupon holly, American beautyberry, magnolia, pine and wax myrtle.

She also recommends pittosporum, podocarpus and any of the junipers. Other favorite plants include white African irises and Sabal palms.

“For flowering shrubs, go with dwarf Indian hawthorne and Majestic Beauty Indian hawthorne, a gorgeous flowering pink that’s just as salt-tolerant as it can possibly be yet does well in clay soil,” Amanda said. “Most of the lantanas do beautifully down here, too. Gold-mound lantana is an especially good one.”

Her basic rule for landscaping: “Try to keep ‘introduced’ plants closer to the house, fence, driveway, or mailbox. Up close is where you’re going to plant anything that’s not native. As you move farther away from the house, use native plants.”

Internet Radio Show: Ms. Grow-It-All’s Internet radio show broadcasts live at 6:30 p.m. today [Thursday, Aug. 27] and we’ll continue the discussion with Bill Kollar about salt-tolerant plants and native plants. Go to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Ms_Grow-It-All. Just cut and paste the link into your browser window. If you can’t join us live, you can download a podcast from my Web site.