New landscaping project

My son bought a home in Hattisburg, Miss. He wants me to come do butterfly and hummer gardens. I have rooted and collected from friends tons of plants. He has never gardened before so his knowledge is limited. He tells me his soil is clay and with the rain it stays wet alot. I am not worried about freeze dates as it is zone 8 or higher.
I have done lasangue gardening before but would wait a while prior to planting. I do not have that time and plan to take plants and plant next week. He does not know where to get bulk mulch or soil amendments. Are the plants doomed if I plant, cover beds with newspaper to kill weeds and grass, then just add mulch layer on top.
Any help with any of these issue?

Hi - Good luck with your project.

Here is a very interesting and useful thread about
lasagna gardening. I think you will find the information
you need there:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/630385/

Dde- my vote is do what you said. i think its fine. watch out for voles. get him a cat!

Biggest fear is the clay, wet soil and the drainage situation.
The tropical look with cana, banana trees, ginger does not worry me as they seem to be water hogs anyway. It is the things like lantana, coriopsis, cone flowers, oak leaf hydragea that need good drainage that bother me. With no where to protect the many potted up plants over winter, I have no choice but to plant. Guess I will try to plant them higher in the ground and throw a shovel full of good soil in the bottom of the hole. If they make it they will have a good head start to spring.

Thanks to all for the ideas. Link was good for me.
DD

ok- better idea now what you mean, and your plan sounds good to me at least, not calling myself some big xpert of course.

We will see what the results bring next spring.
Any ideas on getting bulk materials to amend the soil. He said the box stores sell pine straw there. Here in east Texas, I can get more than you would ever want. Wish I could find a place to get things by the pick up load.
DD

welll, I don't know what his area is like. we are heavy suburbs. we can get bulk amendments for about $30-40 per yard from nurseries/ farm stores. I found my current source of shovel-your-own manure by asking at the farm store that sells a lot of horse supplies. oh,, our county has get-your-own shredded mulch; quality varies.

anyone else, ideas?

You might want to post your questions on the mid-south forum and see if there's some folks nearby who know the locale better, too.

Much luck!

Thanks, I'll head to the MSG.

My problem is I have never been to the area and seen this sight.

Yeah, that doesn't help either... this is where the concept of zones, etc. really falls down and goes boom, not knowing the soil, the rain patterns, when it's dry, etc. can make it all a big mystery. I lived in zone 8, with clay soil,but it was the desert in Tucson- probably a little bit different!