Summer is well underway, but there is plenty of time to add new flowers and vegetables to the garden!

I spoke with Green and Growing Host Ashley Frasca, who imparts all kinds of Georgia gardening wisdom every Saturday morning on 95.5 WSB.

Q: What are some of the most popular vegetables to grow in our state?

“Here in Georgia, most people try their hand at peppers, tomatoes, and something vining like a squash or zucchini.”

Q: Personally, I have not had much luck with vegetables, because critters like chipmunks and squirrels tend to get to the fruits and ruin them before I can harvest them. So I have a flower garden. What are some of the more popular flowers grown here?

“One of the things we try to focus on here in Georgia is native plants. Pollinator gardens -- that is really a trend at the nurseries, it’s big with growers as well.”

“I would recommend coneflower -- that’s great for attracting pollinators. Roses as well, but roses don’t come without their problems.”

“And anything that is a flowering vine, perhaps -- like a Carolina Jessamine or something like that, people enjoy not only the coverage on a trellis or on a surface, but also the smell.”

“Knockout roses can be heavily pruned in February -- I try to remember to do it around Valentine’s Day, as a matter of fact. All of the canes can be pruned down to only 12 inches high, and all of that new growth is going to flower out and flourish out in the spring and summer months.”

“And they are prolific bloomers, so as long as you continue to deadhead them, just go right underneath the bloom, cut the stem -- they’ll produce flowers for you all throughout the hot months.”

“Aphids are a problem on roses, they have a lot of issues with insects. The best way to control aphids -- not only on roses, but on any flower -- is a hard blast from the garden hose. That is an organic way, and an easy way, to get the aphids off, unless there is an overwhelming number, in which case you could use a horticultural oil or neem oil -- again, going the organic route.”

Q: What is your favorite fruit or vegetable to grow in your garden?

“My favorite -- I still try my hand at tomatoes. I have not had any detrimental diseases with mine yet. I just got a wonderful Cherokee purple plant, and I am anxious to try that. It’s purple -- but it still has the same taste as a red tomato.”

Q: What is your favorite flower to grow in your garden?

“My favorite flower for the summer is the coneflower, because it attracts the hummingbirds, the bees, the pollinators. And it’s a perennial, so it’s going to keep coming back for us. Plant it once, and forget about it!”

Q: You mentioned perennials. What is the difference between an annual and a perennial?

“Right now in the nurseries, in the warm season, you really see a lot of annuals -- bedding annuals, things that we can plant, that are kind of one-and-done, once it starts to get cold, they are going to wither away.”

“Perennials are something that you can plant either as the plant itself -- it can be seeds or tubers, or rhizomes, like elephant ears and canna lilies. All of those perennials will come back year after year. They have their season, perhaps for 7 to 9 months that they are above ground, but then they are going to die back and return in the warmer weather.”

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