impatient! need fast growers!

[Haesuse]

so, last year I moved from one house to another. really only about half a mile up the road, in the same neighborhood. anyway, due to a laundry list of extenuating circumstances, I had to leave ALL of my plants at my house ONE day longer than I had the lease for.

So, I went back to get my plants, the next day, and they were ALL GONE. every single one of them.

a 20+ year old dwarf schefflera. 2 pots of aloe vera taken from 30+ year old mother plants. a 15 year old, single stalk, tons of old growth, jade tree, which was taken from a very old mother plant. a slew of assorted succulents. and a few other odds and ends.

all gone. noone would fess up to it, either. I think a neighbor may have stolen them.


anyway, this spring I've been planting TONS of new plants. and I refuse to buy BIG, OLD plants, out of principal. I like growing them from seeds or seedlings... so, I have 25+ potted plants now. but they are all in their very first season of growth. and I'm a little depressed, because I have no nice, big, lush plants to just sit around and watch. (anyone else do this?)


so, there is the setup. the question is:

what plants can I buy that will just TAKE off in new growth, ASAP after repotting? I want BIG. LUSH. RAPID GROWTH. I don't mind anything else about the plant (ie, species, climate likes/dislikes, appearance). I just want something that will keep me company while I drink a beer in the garden. something big.





suggestions?

[rainbowgardener]

Very sorry to hear about your loss-- I can't believe any one would do that!

Thinking about your request, I'm confused. By your user name it says Birmingham, Alabama. I was looking at that and thinking great, down there in zone 10 or 11, you have tons of fast growing tropicals. But then in your signature line it says zone 7b. So which is it? Birmingham is definitely not zone 7.
I'm going to go with the Birmingham. If that's not right and you actually live somewhere else that really is in in zone 7, let us know. But for Alabama, just a few suggestions to start you off: florida cranberry (aka roselle, hibiscus sabdariffa) usually used as an annual, in zone 10-11 could be a short lived perennial. Will get at least 4' tall in one season, with 6" leaves. Has yellow flowers in Oct/Nov, with edible calyces. Nasturtium would be great for filling in all the edges of containers and trailing over, but it doesn't like summer heat too much. Lemon grass is evergreen perennial in zone 10-11, gets 6' tall X 4' wide, has lemony flavor and is used in cooking. Canna lilies of course-- they are actually native to SE US and are perennial there, as well as big, showy and fast growing. For a little more shade, coleus and elephant ears. Then there's ginger lily, which is a cousin to culinary ginger. And cut-leaf philodendron which is a shrub variety. All of these would be good for filling in quickly.

[Haesuse]

So which is it? Birmingham is definitely not zone 7.

I'm going to go with the Birmingham. If that's not right and you actually live somewhere else that really is in in zone 7, let us know.

[url]https://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html[/url]
[url]https://www.arborday.org/webtools/hortzones/zones.cfm?RegID=473&ZipCode=35212&x=0&y=0[/url]
[url]https://www.garden.org/zipzone/index.php?img=seusa[/url]

birmingham, alabama is most certainly a zone 7. I lie DIRECTLY on the line of 7a to 7b, but we are absolutely, undeniably a zone 7. I'm not certain where your questioning comes from, to be quite honest... matter of fact, the amount of zone 10 in the USA is next to non-existant. a TINY bit of southern florida, and a bit of the very very very southern southwest, is the only zone 10 in our entire land...


so, is the rest of your post to be disregarded, as it is meant for zone 10 or so???

[rainbowgardener]

I'm really really sorry. Yes, the suggestions I made were for zone 10 or so. I tried to look up Birmingham (before I saw your signature line) and got some really mixed up info.... If I had noticed the signature line first, I probably wouldn't have tried to look it up, but the zones are confusing sometimes. I'm up here in Ohio and I am usually regarded as 6b but some sources give it as 7a. So if I'm maybe 7a, it didn't seem wierd to me that you would be something south of 7b, but it was a dumb mistake and I'm sorry.

Of what I mentioned, the ginger lily is hardy in zone 7. All the rest would work and be fast growing, but if you wanted them not just to function as annuals, you would have to dig them up in the fall.

Other things for ZONE SEVEN that are fast growing include black-eyed Susans, coneflowers, mint (since it sounds like you are doing containers, don't let it loose in the ground, unless you want your yard full of mint), russian sage which gets very big and full very fast, hollyhocks...

Hope this makes more sense and again sorry....

[Haesuse]

I'm really really sorry. Yes, the suggestions I made were for zone 10 or so. I tried to look up Birmingham (before I saw your signature line) and got some really mixed up info.... If I had noticed the signature line first, I probably wouldn't have tried to look it up, but the zones are confusing sometimes. I'm up here in Ohio and I am usually regarded as 6b but some sources give it as 7a. So if I'm maybe 7a, it didn't seem wierd to me that you would be something south of 7b, but it was a dumb mistake and I'm sorry.

Of what I mentioned, the ginger lily is hardy in zone 7. All the rest would work and be fast growing, but if you wanted them not just to function as annuals, you would have to dig them up in the fall.

Other things for ZONE SEVEN that are fast growing include black-eyed Susans, coneflowers, mint (since it sounds like you are doing containers, don't let it loose in the ground, unless you want your yard full of mint), russian sage which gets very big and full very fast, hollyhocks...

Hope this makes more sense and again sorry....

mint!!! I've been considering mint for a while. and I saw a russian sage at the local nursery yesterday that was gorgeous...

none of this stuff is going in the ground, so I can overwinter basically anything in the house or under a mulch box...