Capitum

Looking for any active members in the North Atlanta area (I've just relocated to Gainesville GA from Seattle). I donated my large (potted) collection to another member before I moved, so I'm looking to connect and see what varieties do well here (preferably in-ground), and whether anyone has gotten fruit here (and if so, what variety).

Hoping to make plant friends and get small corms of stuff that grows here, clumping bamboo, and/or a Gunnera plant. Not in any rush, I figured I'd introduce myself at this new location, and maybe get some plants in the early spring of 2016.

Best wishes to all!

Mark Dragt

It sucks that I missed out on the banana plant garage sale before you left. Bummer. Good luck with your new adventure and location.

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RobG7aChattTN

I don't know of anyone that has been successful with Gunnera in the southeast. They just don't like our heat. The only bananas that you can leave in the ground that will fruit will be velutina and ornata and they will be full of seeds. Some folks have had luck storing plants over the winter in crawl spaces but it takes a few years to get a bloom and sometimes they bloom too late to make fruit before fall. You can grow a lot if cool stuff that I can't even though you aren't that much further south but the difference is that out average winter night barely dips below freezing and your average winter low should be right above it. I grow basjoo, sikkimensis, itinerans, ornata and Musella lasiocarpa (sometimes called Musa lasiocarpa). I lost my velutina a but that had more to do with crowding than temperature. You can experiment with some cold hardy palms and even citrus. The tropical look is pretty popular in the Atlanta area.

Capitum

That's disappointing- I had one for years in Seattle, and it never got bigger than my rhubarb plants. I was hoping I could get better results with a little heat. The good news is that water won't be a problem, my planting area is right next to a stream where the elephant ears (previous owner) are doing great.

I'm willing to do storage, if someone locally has done so to successfully get fruit. In Seattle everything had to be in pots unless I wanted to let it come up from the corm again each year (which I did for some varieties). I was thinking a short-season will be my best option either way. I'm not in to seeded/ornamental varieties.


I had similar temps in Seattle (foothills of the cascades) and even the most cold hard citrus available couldn't take the lowest temps. As I meet folks here I'll look for any exceptions, I grew up in Florida and would love to have any type of citrus

Tytaylor77

Meyer lemons and satsuma seem to do best here in my 8b. They produce a lot and I use no protection in winter. In 15 years I have yet to loose any. We are on a very large lake so it may help the temps a little. I am hoping the lake will help my bananas as well. This will be their first winter so we will see.

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RobG7aChattTN

The citrus that people grow in the Atlanta without protection are mostly hybrids involving Poncirus and they aren't the tastiest...usually having at least a hint of the Poncirus "Pine-Sol" flavor. Those would all fall into the "Citrange" category. I think Rusk Citrange might be one of the best. I'm not sure how these last two winters effected some of the more marginal varieties but Bloomsweet Grapefruit is extremely cold hardy. Changsha mandarins are very seedy but might be more cold hardy than Satsuma Mandarins. There is "Ten Degree Tangarine" which might be good to try as well as the new Arctic Frost Mandarine which I think is rated at zone 8a. I'm not sure exactly what microclimates are possible in the Gainsville area. Atlanta has such a heat island and so many great microclimates I think the range can be as bad as 7b and as good as 8b.

Capitum

According to the USDA zone map, I'm in that 7b. I'm too far North of Atlanta to benefit from the heat sink

Snarkie

Hi Keith. Welcome to the South. I'll bet it looks an awful lot like Seattle the past couple of days, eh?

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The Only Eastern Redwood Forest in America




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RobG7aChattTN

It's been like Seattle in Chattanooga for the last few days and here I am in Seattle and it is sunny and warm! Unfortunately I'm just here at the airport passing through...

Snarkie

Well, I am fully convinced that all of this is courtesy of HAARP, or the Russians or the Chinese with comparable tech.

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Doug (D.A. Hänks) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2955582/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1


The Only Eastern Redwood Forest in America




"Nuke my 'nanners, will you?!"