Successful Southern Gardening: A Practical Guide for Year-round Beauty

by Sandra F. Ladendorf

In this practical, how-to book on the problems and possibilities of gardening in the tricky environments officially known as zones 7 and 8, Ladendorf draws on her own experience, interviews and research for her weekly newspaper column, and visits to hundreds of public and private gardens. Although this book will be particularly helpful to novice gardeners and newcomers to the area, it also offers a vast amount of current information for the seasoned gardener.

304 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1989

Reviews

[Grady · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 1989, this book focuses on gardening - soils, bulbs, perennials, annuals, trees, and vegetables -- in climate zones 7 and 8. Written by a resident of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the book remains a useful resource for North Carolina gardeners. It's also fascinating to read Ladendorf's references to then-current and now legendary names in Carolina gardening. For a reader in another part of the country, and without an interest in the tradition and community of gardening in the Triangle, this book would likely seem dated and less worthwhile.

Some of the cultivars mentioned in the book as new in 1989 are now commonplace (for example, the Stella D'Oro daylily). A few I haven't been able to find, including the gas plant, Dictamnus albus. When I've asked at nurseries this year, I've been told North Carolina's summers are too hot for it to grow here. In fact, zones have been migrating north as a result of climate change; I suspect the species was marginal here before, and has been forced out.