Articles written by us for you, Happy Planting!

If your lucky enough to live in a place where it rarely snows, gets very cold, or it never fells all that cold, you probably live in USDA planting zone 8 or 9. Much of the southern part of the country as well as the extreme west coast are all zone 8 or 9. Places like Phoenix, San Francisco, Houston, Orlando, Atlanta, and Portland, Oregon enjoy mild winters where planting shrubs and trees can happen most of the year.

We absolutely love living and growing our plants in USDA planting zone 7.  We are so lucky in that we can plant almost any time of the year, even in the dead of winter. Here in planting zone 7, our soil rarely freezes therefore we are lucky enough to have root growth throughout the fall and winter. Cool season root growth helps our new fall or winter plantings survive the following summer season.

Here at Lots of Plants we get a common question regarding how to properly plant rhododendron, azalea, mountain laurel, and camellia. These plants, particularly rhododendron and mountain laurel, can be especially challenging to grow in some areas.

A new addition to the Encore® azalea family, Autumn Bonfire™ is fast-growing dwarf azalea with red blooms in the spring and fall.

Attractive purple foliage in the winter and stunning pink-purple blooms in spring, summer, and fall make the Autumn Amethyst™ Encore® Azalea a true repeat performer. The Autumn Amethyst™ has an upright growth habit and prefers the shade over direct sunlight. This evergreen beauty is cold hardy, mildew, disease and heat resistant making it a great addition to any garden or landscape.