Hello all! I just signed up here at the site and found this forum while wandering around, so thought I'd say hello and introduce myself.

I live in the Sharps Chapel, Tennessee, which is in the eastern part of the state, north of Knoxville. I moved here about six years ago from the nice, flat, sandy-loamy Eastern Shore of Virginia. It's taken me a while to get used to slopes, rocks, and clay, but I think I'm getting the hang of it! My property is mainly wooded but I have a few nice big sunny spots. My first projects involved thinning out some of the understory in the woods and getting some woodland planting areas going. Lots of rhododendrons and ferns and such planted - their success is yet to be determined. This year I started focusing on those sunny spots, including a large area on a south facing slope suddenely made clear by the power company spaying a bunch of herbicide (ugh). I've converted the flattest part if that to lawn, have a couple good-sized areas in reseeding annuals, and used the rocks that are everywhere to create a series of terraced beds in the steepest areas - I'm looking for mainly perennials in those.

I tired some vegetables in a raised bed and some pots without much luck. The areas near the house, where water is readily available are either too shady or too steep. Plus, there are critter issues. Last year a deer ate all the jalapeños off my pepper plant! And chipmunks shimmy up my cherry tomato vines and run off with the fruits, lol. I have a friend who grows lots of wonderful veggies and likes to share, so I'll stick to flowers from now on.

Also, I've become an avid bird watcher since I moved here and I try hard to make my property inviting to as many species as possible. I've managed to spot and photograph over 80 species here, but since there is so little cleared area, I rarely see things like robins or mockingbirds. The new sunny lawn is an effort to create a spot they might enjoy. I'm trying to add plants with berries too. The only time I see robins is in late summer when they visit a big cherry tree near the house.

I'm looking foreword to getting to know people here and learning and all the things I'm sure I'll learn from you all. Going to go look at the seeds I saved this summer and see if there's enough to participate in a seed swap ...

and hope you have a nice experience here!

Have you ever grown daylilies?

Welcome, Sandy. Tennessee is a beautiful state.

Karen

Welcome Sandy! I spend lots of time in the forums just reading them and learning tons of new stuff about all kinds of plants and gardening. Best thing since sliced bread!

Hi Lakeside Sandy, from me too!

You live in one of my favorite parts of the country, I love East Tennessee! I know you will enjoy this site where we learn so much from each other! Look forward to seeing photos of your pretty gardens, sounds like my kind of property with woodlands, rocks, birds, etc. ... not so much the clay though!

Thanks for all the warm welcomes!

I have tried daylilies, TsFlowers. They've done okay here but not great. I'm going to prepare a spot with better soil and more sun for them next year. We have a daylily Farm here, Oakes daylilies. I visit every year, and every year it makes want to do better with day lilies.

And, actually, Plantladylin, the clay isn't as bad as I thought it would be. There are some plants, like hostas and painted ferns, that seem to really thrive in it.

Hi Lakeside- you sound like a great addition to this group!
I can't wait to see photos of your yard and birds once you figure out how to upload them.
Not too late to sign up for the "Not From The Seed Rack Seed Swap", which starts next Saturday. However it's a bit of a chore, learning how to do it so if you don't have time we'll see you in some other swap later! Don't worry if you don't have many seeds, in fact it may make the first try much easier if you just list a few packets of one or two things. It's a very welcoming group for "Newbies", and you do not have to feel pressured to list lots of kind of seeds.

Thanks, Pistil I've already signed up for the swap and entered some trades! It's been a rainy couple days here, so working on the swap seemed like a good way to stay dry and still get some gardening done.

I don't have a whole lot to offer, but I do have some extra seed packets, and I had saved some seeds from the garden this year, so I included some of those too. Nothing too unusual, although I do have some nice white rose campion seeds. I like the white better than the bright pink, and these are from seeds given to me from a friend many years ago, so it feels good to keep passing them on.

We have members who are very happy customers of Oakes Daylilies and have written reviews for them here: Oakes Daylilies

If you ever find yourself in eastern TN around the end of June, beginning of July, Oakes has an annual ope house festival at their display gardens. So may pretty flowers!

Oh my ... what a beautiful setting there at Oakes!