Southern Gardening

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The winter already seems long, and if you are like me, we're ready to dig in the dirt. These next weeks before Spring offer great opportunities to plan for our beds to be the showiest ever. One plant you should consider is a new Rudbeckia hirta, or black-eyed susan, known as Prairie Sun.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Farmers want to get rid of them and landscapers want to plant them, but two native hollies are at the top of my list of best shrubs or small trees we can grow in Mississippi.

Yaupon hollies are native throughout the Southeast. They are great shrubs for sunny beds and yet look good in shade. They tolerate clays, sand and everything in between.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Most of us can hardly wait until the first blooms announce that spring is just around the corner. Over the holidays, I saw a flowering quince with several coral-colored blossoms already open, but you need a Taiwan flowering cherry if you really want to herald the approaching spring.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The Becky variety of shasta daisies has been chosen as the Perennial Plant of the Year for 2003. Every Mississippi landscape needs this showy flower, which is probably the best shasta daisy for the South. While all others tend to melt a bit in the torrid heat and humidity, this lady keeps her composure.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

2003 garden catalogues are arriving every day, and Norman Winter is constantly telling you about new plants for the spring. As you sit by the fire on these cold blustery days making plans for the garden, reflect back and ask yourself how your flowers performed last year.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

If you had told garden center managers in the early 1990s that they would be selling hundreds of sweet potatoes for the landscape each year, they probably would have laughed hysterically. Now they are laughing all the way to the bank as the ornamental sweet potato has become a huge success story in just a few short years.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The humble daffodil gives cheer as hearty messengers of spring's return and is among Mississippi's finest plants. But you'd better be planting these flowers of the genus Narcissus now if you want gorgeous blooms this spring.

October and November are the main bulb planting season, but we can find success by planting them later as well. Many garden centers are even offering specials on these bulbs, so take advantage.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

At this time of the year, many of us want to do more in the landscape than just rake leaves or pine straw. Why not take a survey around your home and see if you can use some rocks?

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

If you want a Christmas or holiday plant that will easily re-bloom every year, then the Christmas cactus is unbeatable.

The cacti in my office are living and blooming proof. Although I have had them for several years, they are abandoned for weeks on end during the spring and fall garden season. If they get water or any other light sitting in a north window, they are lucky.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

As we get closer to the holiday season, we hear words like fir, Scotch pine and spruce mentioned in association with Christmas trees. But I want you also to think about spruce as one of the most beautiful native pines for the landscape.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The snapdragon is one of the most beautiful plants for cool season color, and it thrives through winter until late spring or early summer heat arrives. Snapdragons love temperatures in the low 40s at night and low 70s by day, which make them ideally situated for fall in the South.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Shishi Gashira is without a doubt the finest landscape camellia on the market, and it has been chosen as a 2002 Mississippi Medallion award winner for the fall. These drop-dead gorgeous camellia sasanquas are waiting for you now at your local garden center.

Their waxy, leather leaves coupled with blooms that are as pretty as roses reveal that these camellias are not only good as shrubs but also for use as foundation plantings.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

As you shop for daffodils and pansies, pick up a flat or two of dianthus. The new hybrid pink dianthus offers months of cool-season color for the landscape. They would be a worthy purchase even if they are annuals, but many gardeners find these newer varieties will give three, four or more seasons of bloom.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Fall and winter gardens need color to liven up landscapes, and local garden centers are loaded with great new selections that will do just that.

If you haven't tried Redbor kale or Red Giant mustard, then you have missed some of the best. Look also for new pansies like Ultima Apricot Shades or Delta Fire.

Redbor kale is a large selection producing wavy, deep burgundy leaves. Red Giant mustard produces foliage in burgundy and green that is beautiful and edible.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Shop quickly if you expect to get any Belgian mums this fall because they are disappearing like snow cones in July.

Chrysanthemums have always been the premier fall plant, but this year the Belgian mums have added an even greater furor for these boldly colored flowers. They are popping up on porches and patios everywhere bringing a festive look to the landscape.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The fountain grasses are among the prettiest plants in the landscape at this time of the year. They transition well from working with summer flowers to fall mums and ornamental kale and cabbage.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The fall planting season is one of my favorite times of the year, and it is evident that many Mississippians feel the same way. The first cool snap makes people want to get ready for pansies and violas. Garden centers are already bringing in supplies of the rugged winter annuals.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Three recent experiences provide evidence that tells me Mississippi growers and garden centers are hitting the mark when it comes to the newest plants.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

As you drive around neighborhoods and see gardens, the old-fashioned cosmos stands out like a beacon. I am not talking about the pastel pink and burgundy ones but the brilliant orange and yellow Cosmos sulphureus. This drought-tolerant member of the aster family hails from Mexico and Central America and loves Mississippi, too.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The gardening world truly is coming of age when a millet or grain is named an All American Selections Gold Medal Winner. Even before the public learned that Purple Majesty was a winner, they were craving it and buying up the limited quantities.

Thousands of shoppers have seen it growing this year at Northpark Mall in Jackson and wondered what it was. In the Northpark garden, it was used with cannas and elephant ears for a really unique, if not exotic, look.