DURABLE PLANTS FOR SOUTHERN GARDENS

Prepared August 2016 by horticulturist Felder Rushing. author of Tough Plants for
Southern Gardens, Passalong Plants, and Slow Gardening (www.felderrushing.net)

A garden is more than the sum of its parts

Long-term success with garden plants depends mostly on two factors:

choosing proven, well- adapted plants to begin with, and planting them in a way
that prepares their roots for supporting growth with little or no extra help.
Over-preparing soil, over-watering, and over-fertilizing can doom even
very tough plants that don’t require it. The “lean and mean” approach works
MUCH better than constant coddling.
The following plants are enjoyed in countless Southern gardens, usually
with little or no care, though a few suffer occasionally in some gardens, some
seasons. Understand that opinionated gardeners consider a few to be overly
common, old fashioned, even weedy; make up your own mind on them!
And get this: Locally-owned garden centers can order most of them from
their regular suppliers, if they choose to and value you as a customer.
Otherwise, do a name search online to find good sources.
NOTE: There are some beautiful and very popular plants which are NOT
on these lists because in my longtime personal and professional observation
they require more care, or are less durable in hot, dry weather or heavy soils and
rainy seasons, or are short lived or seriously disease-prone. They include
azaleas, euonymus, red-tip Photinia, peach and plum trees, hybrid tea roses,
Japanese hollies, and more cold-hardy peonies, freeze-sensitive gingers and
many borderline “iffy” plants best suited for either cooler or frost-free climates.
 Some astonishingly tough plants
are not on these lists simply because
they are hard to locate, such as the
early-blooming ‘Festiva Maxima’
peony and the “butcher broom” or
Ruscus – an indestructible, clump-
forming, red-berried relative of
Aspidistra and Liriope that I inherited
from my great-grandmother and have
grown and shared for decades.
Ruscus with berries

Plus, I am aware that many potentially great plants haven’t been widely
grown – yet; some simply need a good, long try in garden-variety gardens!

Honestly, no list will ever include ALL the dependable favorites that
fellow gardeners, horticulturists, and landscapers love - it’d take an entire book,
so cut me some slack on those favorites of yours I’ve no doubt overlooked.

And again, many great plants are disliked by a few hide-bound gardeners.

Lastly, don’t overlook the value

of artwork - carefully-placed, all-
season, eye-catching and plant-toning
“hard” features such as sculptures
(classic, contemporary, whimsical,
human, animal, or other), large urns,
grouped containers, birdbaths,
birdhouses, sizeable stones,
driftwood, garden benches, wall
hangings, water features, or…well,
you get it. Even bottle trees!
 DEPENDABLE SOUTHERN LANDSCAPE PLANTS
(updated August 2016)

In my long experience, and that of many others, the following

commonly-grown plants reasonably tolerate the Southeast’s wet winters,
sudden deep freezes, and long, dry summers. For one reason or another some
widely-cherished plants are not popular with a few opinionated gardeners,
and truthfully some can be invasive in small spaces or have relatively minor
pest problems.

There are more great plants, of course, but the following are
dependable. Again, you may not find them all in local garden centers, but
keep asking around, or go online, or get a “start” from a gardening neighbor!

TOUGH TREES

Bald cypress Lacebark (Siberian) elm Red buckeye (shade)

Cherry laurel Magnolia (Southern and Redbud
Chinese parasol sweet bay) River birch
Chinese pistachio Native red maple Tree hollies (yaupon,
Crape myrtle Oaks Foster, American)
Eastern red cedar Ornamental pear Vitex
Golden rain tree Parsley hawthorn Western soapberry

STURDY SHRUBS

Abelia Elderberry Rosemary

Agave Florida jasmine Spirea (including the pink
Althea (rose of Sharon) Flowering quince summer flowering)
Arborvitae Fig (Celeste, others) Smoke bush (Cotinus)
Barberry (burgundy or Hollies (not Japanese) Sweet olive (Osmanthus)
golden varieties) Hydrangea, incl. oakleaf Viburnums
Bay laurel (culinary herb) Indian hawthorn Virginia sweetspire (Itea)
Beautyberry (Callicarpa) Junipers (many) Weigela
Calycanthus (sweetshrub) Kerria Winter honeysuckle
Camellia (fall sasanqua, Ligustrum
winter japonica) Lorapetalum EASIEST EVER-
Chinese Photinia Magnolia ‘Little Gem’ BLOOMING ROSES:
(serrulata – very large) Nandina Knockout, Mutablis, The
Cleyera Philadelphus (English Fairy, Mr. Lincoln, Gene
Cutleaf sumac (typhina) dogwood) Boerner,Carefree Wonder,
Deutzia Prickly pear cactus Iceberg, Ballerina, Floral
Dwarf palmetto (native) Poncirus ‘Flying Dragon’ Carpet, Caldwell Pink
Many plants are durable enough to
survive around old home sites and
even cemeteries with no care at all!
Who says hydrangeas are hard to grow?

VINES
climbing roses cypress vine ivy (shade) trumpet creeper
confed. jasmine gourds moonflower Wisteria - esp.
coral honeysuckle honeysuckles muscadine ‘Amethyst Falls’
cross vine hyacinth bean Smilax yellow jessamine

GROUNDCOVERS (note: some are very invasive)

Asiatic jasmine Liriope muscari (clump) Moss (shade, hard soil)
Dwarf bamboo Liriope spicata (spreads) MULCH – bark or fallen
English and other ivies Mondo grass (shade) leaves work well!

HARDY HERBACEOUS PERENNIALS

Ajuga - shade Var. Solomon seal mints Ruellia
Amsonia ferns (many) narrow leaf Salvias (many)
Artemisia Gladiolus sunflower Saponaria
Aspidistra - shade goldenrods native gingers Sedums (many)
banana Hellebore – shade orange crocosmia Tex. star hibiscus
beebalm Hibiscus mutablis oregano Tradescantia
Canna Hosta - shade Phloxes (many) Trillium (shade)
Clara Curtis mum Iris (many kinds) Physostegia Verbena bonariensis
daisy lantana purple coneflower Violets
daylily Liriope Rudbeckia fulgida yarrow

ORNAMENTAL GRASSES
bamboo (clump-forming Miscanthus (many) ribbon grass – shade too
types are not invasive) Pampas river oats (native)
dwarf bamboo purple muhly (native) striped cane (Arundo)
 Many great gardens have mixed
groups of plants of different sizes,
shapes, and colors of both foliage
and flowers. This makes it easier to
include something for every season.

Here is a combination of golden

cut-leaf sumac, burgundy smoke
bush, pink Knockout rose, and a
clump of Miscanthus grass.

Perhaps all it needs to be a perfect

scene is some type of garden art to
carry it through all seasons!

PERENNIAL BULBS
chives, garlic chives garlic Lycoris (red spider lily,
Crinum grape hyacinth pink naked ladies)
Cyclamen coum star flower (Ipheion) Oxalis
daffodils (many, not all) Leucojum painted Arum
Dutch iris Liatris rain lilies
elephant ears Lily (tiger and others) red Amaryllis

ANNUALS (Require a little better soil prep, fertilizer, and regular watering, esp. if pot grown)
Angelonia copper plant Melampodium periwinkle
Asparagus fern Coreopsis moss rose Porter weed
basils Cosmos okra sunflowers
Begonias (many) dusty miller pansy sweet potato
Caladium Gomphrena parsley (winter) Tithonia
castor bean kale (winter only) Pentas Viola (Johnny
Celosia larkspur peppers Jumpups)
Cleome Malabar spinach Perilla Zinnias

For information on those you are not familiar with, browse my Tough Plants for
Southern Gardens book, or Southern Living Garden Plants, or check them out
online by common or Latin name.
 IMPORTANT PLANTING TIPS FOR STRONG PLANTS
These are steps I strongly recommend, based on my over half century of
personal and professional gardening and forty years of trained professional plant
problem diagnostic experience.
While many gardeners and landscapers skip or ignore these general
guidelines – especially with regards to overwatering with automatic irrigation
systems, not loosening roots at planting time, and over fertilizing, all you need to
do is look around in older parts of town and country gardens to see incredibly
beautiful plants that never get any help whatsoever. The truth, from a plant’s
perspective, is somewhere in between.

Still, I cannot over-emphasize these simple tips for successful planting.

- Smaller plants get established and grow faster than larger of the same kind
- Dig holes wide, not deep; and rough up edges to help roots spread quickly
- No soil amendments are needed for most tough plants! Plant in MOSTLY your
native soil, thoroughly stirring in just two or three shovelfuls of organic matter at
most to get roots used to the native soil outside the hole.
- If your soil is heavy clay, set plants a few inches high on a low, wide raised bed,
like a baseball pitcher’s mound, to help drainage during wet spells.
- OFTEN OVERLOOKED: Always loosen potting soil and spread roots out.
- Cover planting area with mulch or a groundcover, and keep turfgrass away.
- No fertilizer is needed the first summer for nursery-grown trees and shrubs;
fertilize woody plants lightly at least every 3-4 years, every 2-3 three years for
herbaceous perennials, and once or twice a season for annuals.
- Protect tender trunks from mowers and string trimmers - one hit can kill!
- Water new plants deeply at planting time, and again every few days. With the
exception of annuals and container plants which may need watering every week or
more, most perennials and “woody” plants, once gotten through their first summer,
can survive for decades with little or no care; however, a slow, deep soaking once a
month in extreme weather will help them cope better. Main thing is don’t weaken
tough plants by overwatering!

NOTE: Trees should not be planted under power lines, and shrubs should not be
crowded or planted in long rows of all the same species – mix them up! And avoid
planting within four feet of house foundations where soil is often very poor quality
and rain running off roofs causes winter root damage.