Viewing comments posted by LoriMT

I have grown Sungold tomatoes for several seasons in my zone 8a north Georgia garden. These are dependably some of the earliest cherry tomatoes I harvest. The flavor is delicious and the yield is good early in the season. As the heat and humidity and summer rains hit, this tomato succumbs to splitting and disease pressures.

I have grown Dr. Carolyn in my zone 8a north Georgia garden for 2 years. It is a tasty tomato, nicely round, larger size cherry tomato. It is more a pale ivory color, not really yellow, making it a nice addition to a carton of mixed color cherry tomatoes. It succumbs to some disease pressure and it does not last through brutal August heat and humidity.

This is my favorite Amaryllis that I have grown so far. I potted the bulb up on 10/28, and it started blooming on 12/27. The bulb sat doing nothing for many weeks, then suddenly 2 bloom stalks started growing, with no foliage. The bloom stalks are 22 inches tall, and the flowers are 6 inches wide. All 4 flowers on the bloom stalk bloomed within 2 days, creating a beautiful display. The stalks did not need staking. I would gladly buy this variety again.

Very tall plant with large flowers in a deep red velvet. I bought a large bulb which was already potted with 1-inch foliage on 10/28. The plant bloomed on Dec 25. The foliage and bloom stalk grew to 29 inches tall. I got two stalks with 4 flowers each. Flowers are 7 inches across. For me this amaryllis is too tall, and the flowers are so big and heavy the whole pot fell over repeatedly. As beautiful as it is, I would not buy this one again.

Marianna's Peace did not work in my hot and humid zone 8a north Georgia garden. The plants developed blight early on and the fruit was diseased and cracked before it ripened. Will not be planting again.

I grew Chocolate Pear for one season. I loved the taste and appearance of the tomatoes, but the plant was totally overtaken by disease and was the first I pulled out of the garden by mid-season. Not a good choice for my hot and humid north Georgia zone 8a garden.

I grew Bella Rosa in my garden for a couple of seasons, and was not that impressed. The medium-sized fruits tended to develop cracks at the stem end, and the plants had some blight. Not planning to grow these again.

I have grown Goliath Original for several years in my north Georgia garden. The plants have good disease resistance, and the fruits are nice, but not particularly large for me. The flavor is good. No particular problems, but I will be trying something different in the garden next year.

I have grown Early Goliath for a couple of years in my zone 8a north Georgia garden. It produces good tasting, medium size fruit, but I don't find it particularly early or otherwise outstanding. I am ready to try something else in my garden.

Early Girl is a winner in my zone 8b north Georgia garden. The vines are vigorous and disease resistant. It is the earliest producer for me. In 2023, I couldn't put the plants in the ground until May 5 because of the cold, but I was harvesting tomatoes at the end of May. The plant was still producing tomatoes in September. This will be a regular in my garden.

"Mortgage Lifter" does not do well in my zone 8a north Georgia garden. The plant and tomatoes start out nice, but as the tomatoes ripen, they get sun scald on the shoulders and rot. I have tried this variety twice with the same results.

I have grown this tomato in my zone 8a north Georgia mountain garden for nearly 10 years. It is a dependable producer and has good disease resistance. It holds up well to Georgia heat and humidity. It takes a break in mid-to-late August, then produces a few more tomatoes in September. It produces large size tomatoes that are good for slicing.

I have grown this tomato in my zone 8a north Georgia mountain garden for 5 years now because it is a dependable producer and has good disease resistance. It holds up well to Georgia heat and humidity. It produces large size tomatoes that are good for slicing.

This bite-size red cherry tomato thrived in my zone 8a north Georgia mountains garden. The vines were vigorous, producing many clusters during the heat of late summer. The flavor was tasty, not too sweet, not too strong. Good disease resistance. I'm definitely planting again.

This bite-size yellow tomato thrived in my zone 8a north Georgia mountains garden. It was not the earliest producer, but by mid-season it produced many clusters of tomatoes, the size of cherry tomatoes. The flavor was tasty, not too sweet, not too strong. The best part of this plant is that it kept producing into October, one of the last to produce in the garden. I'm definitely planting again.

Amsonia hubrichtii has been growing for 2 summers in my zone 8a north Georgia garden, and it has NOT thrived. The first summer, the flowers turned moldy when they bloomed. The second summer, the plant was small with only a few flowers. In the autumn of the second summer, the foliage turned orange-yellow for a couple of weeks, then died back. This plant is in full sun all day, which it may not like in hot and humid Georgia.

I just planted a 7-gallon Fuyu Persimmon tree in my zone 7b north Georgia garden. I want to grow this tree for its spring flowers and fall leaf color, but mostly for the bright orange fruit which ripen in late fall after the leaves have fallen. In the process of planting, I learned that the roots of persimmon trees are naturally black. As well, Fuyu Persimmons are grafted onto American Persimmon root stock, and sometimes the black color will extend several inches up the trunk, as is the case with my tree. This is normal and not a symptom of a problem. Finally, I've learned that oriental persimmon trees will bloom after 5 years, but they will not begin bearing fruit for another 2 years.

This daylily grew moderately well in my zone 7b north Georgia garden, going from 2 fans to 6 fans in 3 years. It bloomed reliable in mid-season, but with no rebloom scapes. The flower size, color, and pattern are pretty, but mediocre, so I removed it from my garden to make room for other varieties.

In southern states (zone 7-10) where the ground doesn't freeze below four to six inches, cannas can be left in the ground all winter. Cut foliage down to the ground and if needed, cover flowerbed with six to twelve inches of grass clippings, leaves, compost, hay straw, etc. Cannas can be thinned in the spring every two to three years by digging out thick areas of bulbs to allow spacing between the plants.

This native plant gives a beautiful burst of color in my zone 7b north Georgia mountain garden in later summer and early autumn, when many perennials are fading. It emerges slowly in the spring and stays tucked in the background while the daylilies, daisies, and lilies are shining stars. Then it grows taller up to about 30" in my garden and bursts into bloom. The blooms look nice for about 3-4 weeks before fading into seed heads. It attracts pollinators of all sorts, particularly butterflies and smaller bees and wasps. It is slow to get established in the first season, but then spreads freely in following seasons (maybe too freely?). It was not at all impacted by our Christmas 2022 flash freeze with temperatures into single-digits and multiple days below freezing.