Hi, As you may know my Mother and I have to leave our home in oregon. We are considering Texas, New Mexico, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Is there any one from these states that could give me some info? Where is the best place for my flowers and fruit trees? That is if I can get some of my favorites to take with me. I want to make a green oasis where ever we end up. I also want to be able to have a Queen Anne Cherry tree. How do I take some of the tree here with me? I don't see any suckers. I feel silly asking these questions but I want to be able to have these plants with us when we leave. Do I just enjoy some cherries and plant the pits? I would appreciate any advice. Thank you. Melanie
Melanie, what plants do you plan on moving with you? The cherry will not grow in Texas. We do not have sufficient winter chilling to produce normal blooms, sweet cherry varieties will die in the winter because our temperatures fluctuate so much. Montmorency, a sour cherry, is the only one with a fair chance of blooming and producing fruit.
Toni, The cherry variety is queen anne and a lilac bush, lavendar, rosemary, and blueberries. Can any of these grow in texas? Thank you. Melanie
I am in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, Lavender and Rosemary do wonderfully here. There is a Lavender farm just a few miles north of us and Lavender does very well most of the southern parts of Texas also, several Lavender farms down in the Fredricksburg area way south of us. Since it does prefer hot and dry, it should do well all over the state, with the possible exception of far east Texas. I have a Tuscan blue Rosemary that is huge, about a 4'tall x 5' wide bush, it was covered with blue blooms all winter which kept the bees active too. Blueberries do grow here but they do really well in east Texas where the soil is acidic...actually that is the only place in the state where the soil is acidic. There are a few varieties of blueberries that do remarkable well around the state planted in containers where you can control the PH level, the main concern with blueberries is that they might not get enough of a winter chill to produce sufficiently. Our favorite pick it yourself blueberry farm grows three varieties, Climax, Tifblue and Premier and they are located in East Texas. Lilacs might be iffy since we don't have much winter weather. But there is a Texas Lilac Vitex* aka Chaste tree (Vitex agnus-castus) I forgot to say that no, the Queen Anne Cherries will not grow in Texas.
