Snow? In South Carolina?!?

OK. We knew it could happen. Before we moved here from our last home in sunny south Florida we did our research and knew that there was that ever-so-slight possibility of snow. A very slight dusting, perhaps, every few years. We wanted to believe that. Needed to believe that. And so far, after four years that held true.

But, alas, yesterday our delusions were busted. It snowed. Not that “slight dusting” in the morning that is gone in around five minutes, but the real deal: SNOW. Big white, wet mounds of snow. It started yesterday afternoon and continued all night long.

Looking out the windows made me feel like I was back in Michigan. A place I vowed never to return to during the winter months and in the two decades since I’ve moved from there, I’ve keep that promise. Now it seems that my midwest roots have come looking for me. And I’m not a happy camper…

First of all, I hate the cold. Period. I love hot weather. Doesn’t matter if it’s hot and humid or hot and arid, I love it hot. And I love gardening in tropical and sub-tropical areas. Love having things blooming all year round. Love that riot of colors visually stimulating me everywhere I look. It gives me energy and makes me happy. I can’t explain it. It just does.

With my new home in SC, zone 8b, I realized it would be a bit different. Some of my favorite grasses and flowering shrubs won’t make it. Then there is the the three or four month of rest during the winter months. But I could deal with that. Kind of gave me time to plan my next season’s projects.

But frigid, killer snow? Nope, didn’t really count on that. Now I will have to wait and see how my new garden holds up. Will the Pindo Palm tree, planted three years ago, survive? I really hope so; it’s a focal part of the sun garden next to the beach area.  How about all the cannas I put in over the last two years?  I have a bad feeling that these are goners.  Good thing they can be easily replanted and grow so quickly.   

And my grasses;  my biggest love of all.  How many of those will make it.  Most of them are hardy enough, but I have a few that are more suited to zones 8 – 11 that I’m worried about.  These are the darker ornamentals (purple fountain grass, japenese blood grass, etc.) that I’ve coveted and planted in all four states that I’ve lived: Michigan, Colorado, Florida and South Carolina.  In MI and CO, they were seasonal and had to be replanted every year.  In Florida they were show stoppers: full size with  brilliant color.  Here in South Carolina it’s been hit and miss.  Some have come back, some have had to be replanted. 

Last summer I decided to experiment with some new varities after I received my new Santa Rosa Gardens catalog in the mail.   yum.  So many grasses, so little time.  
Two of the newest additions:

•  Ornamental Napier Grass (Pennisetum purpureum princess): a grass with purple foliage that becomes even more purple as the summer gets hotter.
• New Zealand Hair Sedge (Carex tenuiculmis Cappuccino), a sedge with foliage that vaires from deep-cappuccino to reddish-bronze.

It will be interesting to see what happens as spring rolls around.  Very interesting, indeed.  But that’s half of the fun in gardening, isn’t it?  So for now, I’ll stay tucked inside where it’s warm and toasty, reading my garden magazines and start to plan out my new projects.  Yep, maybe this winter-down-time isn’t so bad after all…