Your Bulbs Can’t Take The Southern Heat

About This Episode

The Grumpy Gardener answers a reader’s question on why Persian buttercups can’t grow and flourish in the South’s heat. Plus, Grumpy chooses an iconic rose as the plant of the week.

Question Of The Week

"I live in USDA zone 7B and bought some Persian buttercup balls at Costco. Is there any chance they will bloom here?" - Meredith

Grumpy's Answer

They have blooms that come in a wide range of colors, and the flowers kind of remind you of miniature, peonies. But the plants don't like the South’s hot summers. And they're not that cold hearty here either. So I would say treat them as annuals. Plant them in a sunny spot now, and they'll give you showy flowers for 4 to 6 weeks in the spring before they poop out from the heat. So you're going to have to plant new ones every year. Gardeners who are a little bit farther south than we are here in Birmingham, in zones 9 and 10, can plant them in the fall and they will bloom throughout the entire winter.

Plant Of The Week

Lady Banks' Rose

Lady Banks' Rose, the botanical name is Rosa banksiae. It's a real true Southern icon. It produces these big, eye-catching fountains of soft yellow or fragrant white blossoms about the same time as, azaleas bloom in the spring down here. And you'll often see them gracing coastal gardens in places like Charleston, Savannah, New Orleans, Mobile, Houston. But they also grow inland very well too. It's a good plant because it's evergreen. And it has no stickers, so you don't have to worry about that part. And it also is very disease-resistant and you don't have to spray it. But there's one thing you have to do keep in mind, and that is Lady Banks' is a very vigorous grower. And it can quickly spread 20 feet tall and wide so most people plant them atop a fence, a wall, or a trellis or a gazebo or something like that. Don't plant it on your dog house if you ever want to see your dog now. It blooms in the spring. That means it blooms on the growth that it made the year before. So the best time to prune it if is growing where you don't want it is right after it finishes blooming. That'll give it plenty of time to make flower buds for next spring. And plant it in full sun, in, well drained soil, and it's hardy in USDA zones 7B through 10.

The best time to plant it is when you find it at the garden center. and I say the most likely time you're going to find it there would be the spring time, especially when it's in bloom. But you'll also, if you go into garden centers here, especially,, in the South, you'll find it in the fall as well.

About Ask Grumpy

Ask Grumpy is a podcast featuring Steve Bender, also known as Southern Living’s Grumpy Gardener. For more than 20 years, Grumpy has been sharing advice on what to grow, when to plant, and how to manage just about anything in your garden. Tune in for short episodes every Wednesday and Saturday as Grumpy answers reader questions, solves seasonal conundrums, and provides need-to-know advice for gardeners with his very Grumpy sense of humor. Be sure to follow Ask Grumpy on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen so you don't miss an episode.

Editor’s Note: Please be mindful that this transcript does not go through our standard editorial process and may contain inaccuracies and grammatical errors.