Southern Gardening

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

When you see some camellia japonicas blooming earlier, larger and more colorful than others, you may be seeing the results of a horticultural technique known as gibbing.

As camellia shows start to pop up in malls and other public places, it becomes apparent that some experts know something that the basic gardener may not.

By Norman Winter
MSU Extension Horticulturist

Many of us have toured someone's yard only to find they have the same flowers that are growing in our own beds, but something is dramatically different. Theirs is a special garden that makes us shoot a picture, either real or mentally. We leave either energized to do better or feeling a little depressed.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

If you are ready to try something new in the cool season flower garden, you had better start shopping because this fall looks to be the best in quite some time for new, heirloom or unusual plants.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Some of our prettiest landscape plants for fall and winter are sitting in black plastic containers at garden centers across the South. Unfortunately, flowering kale and cabbage seldom receive the same attention as pansies, violas and snapdragons.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

I always dread the first frosty morning when I look out at yesterday's glorious bed of colorful lantanas and salvias and see instead a colorless, tumbleweed-like mess. It is especially frustrating if the mess is near the main entrance.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Fiber Optic Grass and Strawberries and Cream Ribbon Grass will no doubt cause a stir when they arrive in Mississippi, so you will want to shop early.

These two new grasses are part of the impetus that Proven Winners/EuroAmerican Propagators has been giving toward using ornamental grass as a vital element in mixed containers. This rage may very well have started when they introduced their Fall Magic line of plants that included the dwarf sweet flags.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Pansy and viola planting season is one of my favorite times of the year, and it is evident that many of you feel the same way. I was at a garden center the other day and saw several landscapers loading up dozens of these plants.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Chrysanthemums have always been the premier fall plant, but this year a new group known as Belgian mums have gardeners everywhere talking.

These are no ordinary fall-flowering, winter-hardy chrysanthemums. Belgian mums produce an abundance of flower buds in a quantity much larger than any other mum.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Though far apart in geography and climate, Mississippi and Minnesota both named the same plant an award winner. Bouquet Purple dianthus is the Minnesota Select perennial plant of the year and the Mississippi Medallion winner for this fall. When something like this occurs, you realize you have an extraordinary plant.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

There are no doubt hundreds of us who see beautiful larkspurs each spring in gardens all over the South and wish we had them in our own gardens. The problem is timing.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

In recent years, requests have gone out to gardeners and commercial landscapers to plant flowers in country colors for the Palaces of St. Petersburg, Splendors of Versailles and the Majesty of Spain exhibitions in Jackson. Recent national tragedies have inspired Americans to show their colors, and flowers can be part of the waving of the red, white and blue.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

In the 18th century, the symbol of the pineapple was a welcome sign to visitors. Today, even if you don't do a lot of gardening, some well-placed colorful planters can welcome family and guests to your home. The gorgeous fall colors don't have to be limited to the yard or landscape, but can be artistically arranged as floral accents at your home's entrance.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

This has been an awesome summer from the standpoint of temperature and moisture. Landscapes are looking great, and it is pleasant to get out and dig in the dirt. I'm sure my agronomy professor just rolled his eyes because we were taught never to call it dirt, but soil.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Copper is worth as much as gold in landscapes, especially now through fall. Some of the hottest commercial landscapes are using the copper plant and looking really good.

Southern gardeners have grown the copper plant for decades, but lately it has taken a backseat to the beautiful sun coleus. Despite my affection for the coleus, I do believe the copper plant has attributes that make it worthy of having around year after year.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

If someone advertised free daylilies, would you go? Free daylilies may be waiting for you in the backyard already. Fall is just around the corner, and now is a good time to take a close look at your daylilies because they may have rewarded you with some free plants or "prolifs."

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Ornamental grasses are easy to grow, but there is a mystique that surrounds their use in the landscape. The mystery is all in the imagination of the gardener who has yet to try them.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Never underestimate the power of foliage in the landscape. Mass plantings of coleus, cascading sweet potatoes and Joseph's Coats that provided an exciting contrast in color and leaf texture inspired me during recent trip to the Southern Nurserymen Convention in Atlanta.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

While the hot muggy dog days of summer make you want to forget gardening and board an Alaskan cruise, it should signal you to get out and plant. The planting I refer to is sowing seeds of some great fall-blooming plants, namely zinnias and marigolds.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The old fashioned looks often catch the eyes of new gardeners. Such was the case at the Truck Crops Branch Experiment Station last October during the Fall Flower and Garden Fest. One of the plants that kept visitors gawking was the summer poinsettia.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

If I were to list the things I love about Mississippi such as spring, fall, the people and my church, it would take up the whole column. But if you step outside this evening and listen, you will hear one of the most wonderful songs in nature, a nighttime melody coming from the green tree frogs. This is on my list of the things I love about Mississippi.