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Jackson Countians Capture True Southern Style Daylilies and azaleas, jonquils and camellias: all staples of the Southern garden, and gradeners in Jackson County know how to make the most of these wonderful plants to create year-round beauty and breathtaking color. Many of the gardens here are informal in style,” said Elizabeth Benton, with the Pine Tree Garden Club, one of four active clubs based in Commerce. “Most people plant what they like and know will do well, and these plants create the foundation for beautiful gardens in our area.” Jackson County is located at the top of hardiness zone seven, which means that colder weather can sometimes damage popular plants. However one of most hardy harbingers of spring is the ever-faithful daffodil. With bulbs best planted in the fall, these standards poke their leaves from the earth at the least sign of warm weather, then withstand late freezes to provide blankets of color naturalized under trees and planted among winter annuals, such as pansies. Four Seasons of Color Depending on the variety, azaleas create massive shows of color from early spring into the early summer. They’ve long been a staple of Georgia gardens because they thrive in slightly acidic soil typical of the Georgia clay. From single blooms like the popular George Tabor to the showy smaller double ruffled Red Ruffles, azaleas impress onlookers with their shows each spring. “Azaleas and camellias are truly southern beauties,” says Ruth Fowler, a longtime resident of Jefferson and one of the early members of the Jefferson Home and Garden Club. “People plant a lot of woody ornamentals that add color at various times of the year, but they also bring in great perennials, such as daylilies, purple cone flowers, Black-eyed Susans and others.” Fowler also plants tulips, which can be tricky in the South where the winter temperatures frequently don’t dip down enough to encourage repeat blooms year after year. “I buy tulips every year, and sometimes they’ll come back,” she says. “They are really beautiful.” As the weather warms and the danger of frost passes, gardeners rely on fresh color from annuals. Petunias, marigolds, salvia, zinnias and begonias thrive along sunny driveways and open flower beds. Shady areas are perfectly suited for impatiens; hybridizers have created a rainbow of colors in single and double blooms, solid colors and variegated. Annuals typically require more constant care—watering and feeding—as the weather warms, but the rewards are great. Deadheading, or removing spent blossoms before they set seed, encourages repeat blooming. Irises are another popular summer bloomer, requiring full sun. They’re tough and showy and are available in hundreds of varieties and colors. The trademark fragrance of gardenias and the large heads of showy hydrangeas reward gardeners each summer. Fall color typically relies on deciduous trees—maples in a full range of shades, the bright to deep reds of dogwoods, the vivid lemon yellow of ginkgos and the stunning foliage of Bradford pears. The glossy green leaves of camellias herald a rich flush of blooms during the cooler months. Both sasanquas and japonicas can fill a yard—and your home—with showy blossoms and stunning colors from pure white to deep reds, solid colors, variegated petals, in single symmetrical flowers and massive double ruffled types. They’re incredibly cold hardy, but protect tender buds and blooms from sub-freezing temperature drops. The Lenten rose, also known as Hellebores, is becoming extremely popular in Southern gardens. Hybridizers have created a full line of colors and bloom types. They’re hardy, they multiply on their own and they’re a great shade-loving plant with huge star-shaped leaves and delicate blooms. Most area nurseries sell them.
“A Southern garden is not complete without daylilies,” Beck said. “They’re hardy and fairly easy to maintain, but it’s a myth to think that you can just plant them and ignore them.” Daylilies require regular care and feeding. Watering is critical. Beck said that some commercial growers water for an hour every single day. “The better you care for them, the more they will reward you with more scapes (bloom stalks) that bear more blossoms.” There are currently more than 50,000 named varieties of daylilies, ranging in size from less than a foot tall to more than three feet tall, in evergreen, semi-evergreen and dormant types. Bloom styles include single, plain or ruffled, doubles, spider-type and UFOs, a style of daylily that has wide-open blossoms. Colors range from pure white to deep black, although the most predominant and popular colors are goldens, yellows, reds and pinks. Solid colors or bi-colors, blossoms with edges tinged in contrasting shades or blooms with throats of deep colors add to the mystique of these traditional Southern plants. “People can use daylilies in a variety of ways,” Beck said, “from borders to beds, depending on the height of the plant they choose.” Daylilies are very easily propagated. The fans, as each individual plant is called, multiply year after year. Beck recommends dividing daylily clumps at least every five years to allow room for growth and for the plants to receive the maximum nutrients from the soil. Hybridization, however, is another story. Beck spent 15 years trying to develop his first named hybrid. “I’d work with them, plant the seedlings then throw them in the compost pile. It’s not as easy as it looks to produce a new hybrid,” Beck said.
By the late ’90s, he had introduced four flowers; in 2006, he brought 12 varieties to the market. Beck is quick to point out that other hybridizers also grow daylilies in the area. He encourages people interested in daylilies to participate in the North Georgia Daylily Society, which meets once a month in Gainesville. The website is www.ngadaylilysociety.org. He offers a word of warning: “If you don’t want to get addicted, don’t plant daylilies,” he said. “They’re extremely habit forming.” Connecting with other Gardeners
The Pine Tree Garden Club maintains the triangle park at Jefferson Road and Washington Street in Commerce. The Jefferson Home and Garden Club’s project is the Pocket Park in front of the Alltel building at Lee and Washington streets in downtown Jefferson. “Community service is much of what we do,” said Debra Plott, newly elected president of the Jefferson Home and Garden Club. “We work with the Better Hometown program, Keep Jackson County Beautiful and the City of Jefferson. We also support the Jefferson Library by donating funds to purchase books and providing flowers for the front entrance.” The Jefferson club awards an annual environmental award; last year it was presented to the Tri-County Master Gardeners for their work at the Crawford W. Long Museum’s garden. The Jefferson club’s annual Flower Show will be presented on Oct. 24 at the Jefferson Library. It’s an opportunity for members to showcase their design skills, creating fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas arrangements that will be judged and kept on display for the public that day. The Pine Tree Garden Club presents Yard of the Month and Beauty Spot of the Month from March to November each year.
Mastering Gardening “The goal is to train gardeners in many aspects of gardening and to do community projects,” said Mark Shirley, cooperative extension agent in Jackson County. “The classes cover a wide range of topics, from herbaceous and woody ornamentals to fruits, vegetables and lawns. The idea is to help get the correct information into the community.” Master gardeners voluntarily staff the telephones in the county extension offices, answering questions that range from bugs on plants to the care of rare ornamentals. Most counties across Georgia have master gardener programs. They all come together as the Georgia Master Gardeners for seminars, meetings and networking. “Our master gardeners do community education programs and will speak to garden clubs, groups at the libraries and other organizations,” Shirley said. “The members are volunteers who are specially trained and are more than willing to share their time, expertise and talents with the community.”
Free Plants “I’ve just always wanted to share my plants with others and didn’t want to charge anyone,” she said. “I’ve had all these old-fashioned plants that multiply—jonquils, Rose of Sharon, snow drops, spider lilies—and it’s just nice to give them away.” MacLean moved into her home near the Braselton post office in 1961. A native of South Carolina, she has spent most of her life in Oconee and Jackson counties. She said she simply likes to dig in the dirt. “I’m glad to be able to pass them along because I love plants so much,” she said. “Even the young people just moving into the county have stopped by to pick up some of my plants. I’m so thrilled to see these new homes getting started with these old varieties.”
The Commerce Public Library organizes two free plant swaps each year, one in the spring and one in the fall. On Saturday, March 24, the spring event will bring residents together to share from their gardens and exchange information about how to care for them. “In some ways, it’s more social than anything else, but it’s a great way to share plants from your garden,” said Susan Harper, director of library services for the Commerce Public Library. “I often hear people giving instructions about how to care for certain plants, and I know of several people who come each year and have done their complete landscapes from these plants.” The event is informal, taking place from 10 a.m. to noon. Members of garden clubs, master gardeners, backyard gardeners and the like bring surplus plants to trade. “It’s such a great way to share and get people together,” Harper said. Southerners don’t have the corner on gardening, but with the relatively mild climate and the wealth of plants that do well here, it’s easy to see why the gardens of Jackson County continue to thrive.
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Daylilies— A Southern Tradition
