There you go. Camellias and Azaleas would give him structure/blooms and
go green with the shrubs.
(some evergreen, some deciduous?)

J


gregpresley wrote:
=

Hi Pam,
Atlanta is generally warmer during the day than Seattle during the=

winter. (Maybe average highs of 50 to 54) However, you are correct tha=
t
nurseries will not be offering much in the way of annuals more than pan=
sies
and perhaps primulas, because the nights will be as chilly or even chil=
lier
than Seattle's. Some will offer pots of prechilled daffodils and other =
bulbs
which could be plopped in the ground. He may even find things like
paperwhites on sale after the Christmas rush, although they will not la=
st
for many more weeks in bloom. Sometimes in the south they will sell
ranunculus in pots in winter. If the winter is mild enough for them to
survive, they will often bloom into late April. Occasionally a nursery =
in
the south will sell pots of delphiniums in mid-winter in the south, not=
yet
blooming, and if the right combination of cool nights and not too much =
rain
and humidity come too early , they will bloom very nicely in April and =
May
before turning to mush in the heat and humidity of summer.
There is a garden cable show filmed in north Florida (Jacksonville =
or
thereabouts, I think) that shows the plant materials commonly used ther=
e in
by commercial landscapers. (I think it's called home landscaping, or so=
me
other imaginative name (sic). Commonly used on it are hollies, ligustru=
ms,
euonymus, giant varieagated liriopes, camellias, boxwood, and azaleas.=
Pine
straw will be sold cheaply by the local nurseries in tightly bound bale=
s,
and is often used in the South as THE mulch, raked around nicely to be =
even
and clean looking. If this guy is hoping to sell his house in the next=

month of so, I'd spend some budget money on a fair-sized already fully
budded and blooming camellia (which might be $30-50) and an azalea in a=

complementary color to give the yard some color, and then just do the r=
est
in basic green shrubbery.

-- =

Celestial Habitats by J. Kolenovsky
2003 Honorable Mention Award, Keep Houston Beautiful
=F4=BF=F4 - http://www.celestialhabitats.com - business
=F4=BF=F4 - http://www.hal-pc.org/~garden/personal.html - personal