- Spring bursts with color in Georgia.magnolia image by Grigoriev Vitalii from Fotolia.com
Georgia may be in the South, but it's not all about heat and humidity. Spring bursts onto the landscape with an abundance of colorful flowers, while certain plants keep blooming through the summer heat. Fall brings changes to the foliage, enhancing the landscape, into winters that are mild with some parts of the state experiencing snow. You can choose a plant for every season to fit the landscape of your dreams. - Wherever you live in Georgia, you can experience the delicate fragrance of star magnolia. The magnolia flowers are snow white with 12 to 30 thin, layered petals. The large shrub or small tree is covered in blossoms in late winter or early spring. Later in spring the dense, medium- to dark-green leaves emerge, then turn bronze to yellow in fall. Star magnolia grows slowly, eventually reaching a height of 15 to 20 feet, with a 10- to 15-foot spread. In winter, the young bark is nutty brown, while the main trunk is silver to gray. Star magnolia needs acidic, moist, fertile soil, and light shade in the afternoon.
- Thunberg spirea puts on a show as early as January or February, as the tiny, white flowers bloom along the length of the stems in small clusters or individual flowers. The thin, multiple stems arc to one side and dip toward the ground, giving the 5 to 6 foot tall shrub a graceful look. It's a sun-loving shrub, prefers well-drained soil and tolerates Georgia's dry summers. The thin, pale green to yellow-green foliage appears after the flowers are blooming, turning orange-yellow in the fall. Thunberg spirea has a steady growth rate.
- As Georgia's state flower, the Cherokee rose is a hardy climbing rose, growing in almost any type of soil, dry or wet. For the fastest growth, plant in fertile, well-drained soil in full sun and give plenty of water. It can withstand dry summers and needs infrequent pruning to keep the vine-like canes within the bounds you set. Cherokee rose is an ideal plant for low-maintenance landscapes, with the added bonus of being insect- and disease-free. When left as a ground cover, it can form a mound up to 12 feet high and 15 feet wide, or it will climb up trees and other supports to the top. The plant blooms in spring with a profusion of single, pure white flowers in dense clusters along the entire length of the canes. The red edible fruit, called hips, are edible by wildlife and humans alike.
- During July and August, the dense clumps of 10- to 18-inch-tall, ribbon-like, dark-green foliage transforms into a sea of white, purple or violet, star-shaped flowers on 10-inch-long stalks. Despite one of its common names, border grass, liriope is a member of the lily plant family, giving it another name, lilyturf. Liriope grows best in fertile soil located in full sun or full shade. It tolerates less fertile soil, but may take longer to become established. In the fall, black or white, pea-sized berries appear on the stalks and mature in September and October.
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