#zone 7

[yonderlyforsooth]

This is an illustration of a sizable, formal, shaded backyard stone garden with a fire pit.

Eastside Community Action Center

[continent-of-wild-endeavor]

Fellow zone 7 resident, what plants can I plant that will thrive in clay soil? Next time I get paid, I'll be back on my gardening kick.

Do you like okra? Okra will grow like the dickins. Be prepared to pick it almost every day in the summer, or you'll be overrun with huge pods. It will be nine feet tall by the end, in full sun, so get a step ladder.

Sweet potatoes like this area well, though you should break up the heavy clay with a fork for them, and if you've got a slightly sandier spot they'll like that even better.

Collards will grow in just about anything. I've had great success with cowpeas (field, crowder, pink eye & black eyed peas - that whole family), plus those will reseed themselves if you're not too thorough with picking them, which I find convenient.

(Seems like a theme here - things that are traditional old time foods also grow well here. Not too surprising, in the end.)

I also grow tomatoes well without amending the soil much. And many herbs, though lovage is defeated by the heat after a season or so. But basil, oregano, thyme, parsley, rosemary, lemon verbena, and dill have thrived for me.

For almost anything, see if you can help the soil out, just a bit. Rotting logs buried in the bed, or mulch on top, or a couple bags of that cheap aged manure you can buy, mixed in over a large area, will go a long way. Don't feel like you have to totally reshape what the soil is like, bc clay will grow good vegetables, but just help it out a little if you can.

[belle-tane]

Me, the third week at my new landscaping job: So when does this job end?

Supervisor: end?

Me, a Zone 5 girl in Zone 7: yeah like when is it too cold to work?

Supervisor: It isn’t. We work year round and we plant from March-December. You might get a break in January.

Me, a fucking idiot: I.... I don’t get 5 months off?

Supervisor: You thought you got 5 months off?

[belle-tane]

I’m a Zone 5 girl living in a Zone 7 world.

I just today realized that instead of bemoaning the fact that I live in fucking Kentucky for another year and a half I can view it as an opportunity to grow some plants that I never had the chance to grow in Chicago and will probably never have the chance to grow again because I’m a snow beast that yearns for the tundra.

Only now I can’t remember any of the warmer climate things I used to long to grow when I lived in northern Illinois and Wisconsin. I think I might be able to get cotton to grow in a pot but other than that I’ve got nothing.

I have the misfortune of being in a townhouse with a paved patio and soil around the edges that is of dubious quality. There is a nice shady area I could grow things in and I have room for pots. There’s no sun or appropriate soil for a veggie plot but I could rent a garden plot even though in my experience those are usually vandalized and abandoned.

So, internet gremlins, what should I grow this year?

[stephenivesburr]

Common Name: Large Leaved Cucumber Tree

Botanical Name: Magnolia macrophylla

Native Region: Southeastern United States

Mature Size:  Height: 30.00 to 40.00 feet, Spread: 30.00 to 40.00 feet - Missouri Botanical Garden

Hardiness Zones: 5 - 8

Preferred Growing Conditions:  Best grown in moist, organically rich, well-drained loams in full sun to part shade. Generally intolerant of soil extremes (dry or wet). Intolerant of most urban pollutants. Best sited in locations protected from strong winds which may shred the large leaves. May take 12 or more years before first blooms appear - Missouri Botanical Garden 

Wildlife Uses:  Seeds are eaten by squirrel, opossum, quail, turkey, mice, and chipmunks (Hodges et al., 2010; Elias, 1980). Seeds are high in fat and are a good energy source for migratory birds (USNA, 2006). They are eaten by eastern kingbirds, mockingbirds, robins, wood thrushes, and red-eyed vireos (Arnold Arboretum, 2011). Pollinators, especially beetles, are attracted to the pollen that is high in protein. - USDA Plants 

[stephenivesburr]

Common Name: Hay Scented Fern 

Botanical Name: Dennstaedtia punctilobula

Native Region: Eastern North America

Mature Size:  Height: 1.50 to 2.00 feet, Spread: 2.00 to 3.00 feet - Missouri Botanical Garden

Hardiness Zone: 3 - 8

Preferred Growing Conditions:  Best grown in moist, rich, humusy, acidic, medium moisture loams in part shade to full shade. With consistent moisture, it tolerates full sun. Also tolerates a wide range of soils, including poor rocky soils and, once well established, dry soils. Also tolerates full shade. Spreads aggresively by rhizomes to form colonies. - Missouri Botanical Garden 

Wildlife Uses: Provides cover for small mammals and ground nesting birds 

[stephenivesburr]

Common Name: Blue Ash 

Botanical Name: Fraxinus quadrangulata 

Native Region: North America

Mature Size:  Height: 50.00 to 75.00 feet, Spread: 35.00 to 60.00 feet - Missouri Botanical Garden

Hardiness Zones: 4 - 7

Preferred Growing Conditions:  Easily grown in average, dry to medium wet, well-drained soils in full sun. Prefers consistently moist, humusy loams, but is generally considered to be one of the best of the ashes for dry sites. - Missouri Botanical Garden

Wildlife Uses:  Mature trees offer feeding sites for woodpeckers, nuthatches, and chickadees, and nesting sites for great blue and green herons, and Cerulean warblers. Older and larger trees provide cavities for fisher, and wood ducks, hooded mergansers, and goldeneyes when near wetlands. Downed decaying trees provide cover for salamanders. - Missouri Botanical Garden 

[stephenivesburr]

Common Name: Black Spruce 

Botanical Name: Picea mariana 

Native Region: North America

Mature Size: 30-50′ tall 

Hardiness Zones: 3-7

Preferred Growing Conditions:  Easily grown in acidic, moist but well-drained soils in full sun. Tolerates some light shade. Prefers rich soils, but tolerates average to poor ones. Soils should be kept consistently moist and not allowed to dry out in the early years. Once the roots are well established, plants generally require less moisture. Prefers cool climates and will struggle in the heat and humidity of the deep South. - Missouri Botanical Garden

Wildlife Uses:  providing food and shelter for animals such as the red squirrel (that eats the seeds from the cones), fisher and marten (that eat red squirrels), and birds like the boreal owl (which hunts for voles and shrews among the dense spruce groves) and the spruce grouse (which feeds on the buds of various conifers in winter). Because the seeds of black spruce often remain in the cones, they are an important food source for birds such as pine siskin, crossbills and pine grosbeak. Black spruce also forms important habitat for one of Manitoba's rarest species, the woodland caribou - http://www.naturenorth.com/winter/blspruce/Fblsprce_4.html

Photo of: Boreal Owl

Photo URL: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Boreal_Owl/id