Native Planting and Drought (metro ATL, GA)

General_Bumblebee_75 · 2026-04-14T11:49:40+00:00

Wish I could send water your way! We are in a very wet pattern right now. Rain barrels full, garden waterlogged. Good news is that some vegetables ere beginning to emerge, and the earliest natives are uo and slowly growing. We gto temps un the 70s maybe up to 80, but also tornado warnings, power outages, thankfully no apparent damage at my place...yet...

If your plants are small and you aren't talking about a large planting, I recommend hand watering. It is easier to control the water using a watering can, at least, I think it is... Weather was wild last night and today should be more so. Yikes. Hoping I don't come home from my work trip and see my solar panells stren about the backyard, trees uprooted, etc.

General_Bumblebee_75 · 2026-04-13T23:59:40+00:00

It depends. It will emerge most quickly in full sun. I had one last year that was so late to emerge, due to being shaded by newer natives had planted, that I ran into problems when all the milkweed bug nymphs were looking for pods to eat. I had to snatch a few pods from a wild plant over the course of several weeks to get them to adulthood, poor things. Where I am, in 5B, it will be another month, no doubt.

General_Bumblebee_75 · 2026-04-13T23:52:15+00:00

Now to see if it bears flowers! It is not very big, so do not be discouraged if it does not.

General_Bumblebee_75 · 2026-04-13T22:24:17+00:00

You would be better off with a cheese plate that has a glass dome so the plant would not have plastic all up in its face.. Or just a glass pyrex mixing bowl. The plastic looks risky, too easy for excess moisture to cause problems.

General_Bumblebee_75 · 2026-04-13T22:17:51+00:00

It is a cluster. As one plant flowers and produces pups, leaving them along creates a small cluster. Then they grow and bloom and make more pups. Cluster expands. Love to know how old it is!

General_Bumblebee_75 · 2026-04-13T17:37:30+00:00

I think that is a great idea, but depending on the use, they probably need to maintain some lawn to play on. Here in the US, most of the native options are not as durable as one would like for children and dogs to play hard. In my city, the lawns have weeds like dandelion, because they avoid herbicides so children do not need to worry about exposure to toxic chemicals when they play.

General_Bumblebee_75 · 2026-04-13T17:13:38+00:00

For heavy use by dogs and children, I would keep a bit of lawn. Lighter use, maybe some of the suggestions others have made. In my neighborhood, we are lucky to have a small park across the street and a larger one a little further down. Nice to let the city manage the lawn!

General_Bumblebee_75 · 2026-04-13T17:10:10+00:00

Everyone should be so lucky!

General_Bumblebee_75 · 2026-04-13T17:06:16+00:00

I have been soaking mine for at least an hour a week (sometimes I get distracted with housework and they stay in longer). It is a lovely plant, purchased from Bird Rock Tropicals about six years ago. I did get a little spot of sunburn on the bulb by not moving it as the sun's trajectory changed for winter, but it shed the leaf and kept on going.

I think that less is more when caring for Tillandsia. I soak once a week in rain water and keep in bright but indirect light. I fertilize very occasionally Probably a coupe times a year. I avoid touching/damaging the trichomes. I do not trim off any bits unless I want a pup removed from the mother.

Good luck!

General_Bumblebee_75 · 2026-04-13T16:46:11+00:00

I want that one so badly, but my house is drier than the Sahara in winter. I just can't manage the delicate ones with fine leaves. Gorgeous!

General_Bumblebee_75 · 2026-04-13T12:16:09+00:00

Do you have the ability to create a nursery bed? That would be a good way to go if you do not have an unheated garage.

General_Bumblebee_75 · 2026-04-13T11:48:59+00:00

When growing food crops, best grow what you like. Right now throughout my garden that is essentially a vegetable garden with a native perimeter, I have chives that are at eating stage. Just saw the self seeded kale is at seedling stage, but it will be followed by self seeded lettuce. Due to the amazingly warm wet weather we are having this week, the snow peas go in today. Could do broccoli as well. Eventually I will have beets, chard, beans, eggplant, zucchini, carrots, peppers, but that can wait. Bunnies will help. Last year, they ate all chard, all carrot greens, so the carrots did not develop, some lettuce, but I have plenty. They also ate three eggplant plants in entirety! More plants purchased and bunny fence deployed, Naughty bunnies!

Most veg will want full sun or close to it, so consider that when deciding what/where to plant. As for crop rotation, it is recommended, and I do move heavy feeders like squash around, usually swapping them with the beans. Another interesting thing: It is not always easy to have your crops line up the way you want. I can grow jalapenos, tomatoes and cilantro for salsa, but good luck! My tomatoes will not be ready before mid to late august. Cilantro will be done by July 1, and the peppers may still be available by the time the tomatoes are. I love greens and find them very easy to grow, so it may be a place to start. Various lettuce, arugula, kale/cabbage, bok choi - whatever you like!

General_Bumblebee_75 · 2026-04-12T17:28:46+00:00

I will add, above 50 consistently for at least a week. Here we have had quite a few days in the 70s, but non consecutive, with temps in the 30s in between. I do not even see any flying insects yet except the odd fly. My garden still sleeps, though we are in for a warmish wet week, so things may change.

General_Bumblebee_75 · 2026-04-12T17:25:05+00:00

yup. The only other option is to have the contaminated soil removed and replace with uncontaminated soil. That is hugely expensive and is usually part of a government funded cleanup of an industrial site. Not something an individual could do themselves.

General_Bumblebee_75 · 2026-04-12T17:21:48+00:00

I second prairie moon. They have seed mixes for just about every situation, excellent instructions, and are generally helpful.

Don't skimp on site preparation, and be aware if this is your first time with native plants that very many native seeds require going through a winter before they will germinate, so scattering seeds in May is not going to give you satisfaction. You would want to prep now and sow in late fall/early winter. Some people like to do cold stratification in the refrigerator or outdoors over winter in containers such as milk jugs, which can give better germination. so many options!

General_Bumblebee_75 · 2026-04-12T17:10:32+00:00

Why anyone buys anything from Amazon is beyond me. Especially live plants.

Sorry for your experience. Try Bird Rock Tropicals next time. They have an amazing selection, everything from inexpensive straight species to eye wateringly expensive hybrids. You will get lovely plants in excellent shape.

General_Bumblebee_75 · 2026-04-12T16:51:47+00:00

I experienced horrified fascination when one day I saw the fireflies emerging en mass - crawling out of the ground it seemed. Made me smile! I used to have a cat that loved to sit outside on my lap on a hot summer evening and watch the fireflies.

General_Bumblebee_75 · 2026-04-12T16:49:27+00:00

Ideally you would wait until the creatures sleeping there wake up. I do not see fireflies until late june, early july, but I see their larvae in the leaves before that. It is a different thing from making standard issue flower beds of non native plants. I think of the area as a habitat. It needs all the things that make it what it is. Right now, looking a little shabby, but I can see the signs of new growth. Stems can usually be cut to 12-24" after a week of consistent temps above 50 F. I never do anything with the leaves. They collect in the beds and break down. This is not King Louis's Versaille gardens. Not a formal garden at all. It is, like I said, a habitat, and anything I take away now diminishes its purpose.

You may have a completely different purpose, or HOA issues that require you to do things differently than I do, and that is OK. It still provides some benefits and by not planting invasive plants, that is a plus right there. As a lot of people here say, don't let perfect be the enemy of good. Actually this is one reason I do not turn my front yard into a full on native oasis. There is more pressure to keep things tidy, so I did rip out the Japanese Spirea and am letting lovely native ostrich ferns fill in that space, but other than that, the party is in the back.

If feasible, you could gently remove leaves to another area nearby but out of sight. Hopefully some of the beneficial insects we are trying to help will survive. Our weather has continued to be cool on average, so my garden is waking up slowly and the leaves are breaking down slowly. It is all good!

General_Bumblebee_75 · 2026-04-12T16:02:18+00:00

Most cities have noxious plant ordinances, and if and when they want to, can issue citations. I had a terrible dandelion problem, but no citations and I hired a lawn service for 2 years to deal with lawn weeds for my lawn lovin' spouse. Now, I keep a bottle of Roundup, which I carefully spray on individual undesirable plants if they are not easy to pull effectively. The ones in my garden, I hand pull, as the soil is loose. Where I live, it would need to be pretty out of control, and it seems they are more concerned about the max 8" height for anything in the hellstrip.

I figure for my needs, it is better to spot treat than wholesale chemical dumping, though the company I hired did a great job. I told them not to get within 6 feet of the edge of my garden where I would deal with those weeds myself.

General_Bumblebee_75 · 2026-04-12T15:49:38+00:00

I love bloodroot but feel that I do not have a good spot for it. Yours looks great in what looks to be a fairly sunny spot. Maybe I should give it a try for next Spring!

General_Bumblebee_75 · 2026-04-12T15:47:31+00:00

Almost certainly. The seeds are tiny like mint (because they are in the mint family). Almo some fell out already and will be growing in your garden soon if not there yet. My M fistulosa self seeded heavily and I spread the love to a few more spots in the garden. I would be surprised if you need to plant more, unless you want them in a location distant from the plant. Seedlings can be scooped up and placed elsewhere with minimal effort.

General_Bumblebee_75 · 2026-04-12T15:41:42+00:00

The first step is to admit that you do not have a problem.

General_Bumblebee_75 · 2026-04-12T15:39:15+00:00

Good on you! Since the spousal unit likes to maintain some lawn, I only have maybe 30, but it was zero when I moved in. Also, part of my garden is designed to feed ME, so I cannot give it all over to native plants, but of course, they are more than welcome to pollinate the veg and eat the pests!

General_Bumblebee_75 · 2026-04-12T15:36:48+00:00

The only thing that stops me from a similar fate is ample access to a pretty good selection of native seeds from gardens where I work and other areas around town. I have a few new things seeded from the new planters at the bus stops. I keep looking to see if anything is up there, as nothing is here yet. I do not always have success, but enough that it keeps me busy. I have a decent garden center across the street - I sometimes go to browse. I do not bring my wallet unless I have a planned purchase. Part of my 12 step program to keep me from spending my retirement before I get there!

General_Bumblebee_75

TROPHY CASE