Lower South
April, 2011
Regional Report
Web Finds
Growing Herbs in the Home Garden
The West Virginia Extension Service has a wonderful resource on herbs online called Growing Herbs in the Home Garden. It includes a wide variety of information on growing, drying, freezing, and using herbs, as well as helpful tips for growing over two dozen individual herbs.
Favorite or New Plant
Hardy Amaryllis
While there are certainly more spectacular amaryllis cultivars when it comes to bloom size and colors, none can match hardy amaryllis (Hippeastrum x johnsonii) when it comes to southern survivability. This bulb, which also goes by the name Johnson's amaryllis and St. Joseph's lily, naturalizes across the South even in poor soils and zone 7 winters. In April, four to six bright red, trumpet shaped flowers with a central white stripe on each petal appear on each 12 to 18 inches tall stalk.
