Southern Gardening

As much as I like decorating with colorful poinsettias during the Christmas season, I’m always on the lookout for nontraditional plants that can add interest and be just as effective in spreading holiday cheer.

One of the most unusual plants I’ve seen is miniature cherry tomato, in full fruit, displayed for holiday sales. While I didn’t run out and buy one of those, a plant I have admired for many years for the shady summer garden is Rex begonia.

I hope everyone has Christmas traditions that their family looks forward to each year. One of the traditions I enjoyed growing up in the Great White North was going to get the Christmas tree.

Sometimes we went to one of tree lots that sprang up on corners like cold-weather weeds. Other times we drove out to the country and picked a tree to cut. It was like going hunting and bringing back the bounty. I grew up bringing home Fraser fir, balsam fir or Colorado blue spruce.

In their native Mexico, the bright red flowers of poinsettia are known as Flores de la Noche Buena – or Flowers of the Holy Night – as they bloom each year during the Christmas season.

If you’re a fan of poinsettias but like variety, you’ll find the range of poinsettia colors available is truly remarkable. Poinsettia is no longer simply “that red Christmas plant.” Colors range from red and white to even maroon for Bulldog fans, making it hard to choose. In addition to solid colors, there are bicolor, speckled and marbled poinsettias. There are even rose-flowered selections.

Fall weather is always a treat because some of the plants that provide summer backgrounds step up and show off their stuff.

I’m not talking about flowers, although there are several plants that bloom in late fall and early winter. I’m talking about the landscape shrubs and small trees that put on dazzling displays of red berries. What can be more appropriate heading into the holiday season?

It’s not too late to plant your winter color, but when you go to the garden center, resist the temptation to head straight for the pansies and violas. Consider putting some colorful ornamental kale and cabbage in your landscape this winter.

These ornamentals bring so many different colors and leaf textures to add landscape interest. Don’t plant a single type. Mix and match your favorites to create a display all your own.

Last year, I wrote about the wonderful citrus we can grow in Mississippi and how I was inspired by my friend Terry, who actually picked 1,800 Satsuma oranges from his two trees. You have to realize his trees are huge, and since they haven’t been pruned at all, he has to prop up the heavily laden branches with boards to keep them from snapping off.

What you are about to read is my experience as a first-time citrus grower.

All gardeners know this is going to happen every year, and yet many are still surprised when it does. I’m talking about the arrival of freezing temperatures.

Despite the pleasant fall temperatures we are enjoying, there will come a time when we need to protect some of our landscape plants from freezing temperatures. And since no one reliably predicts the weather, now is a good time to get ready.

Many calls I receive are from gardeners who confuse frosts and freezes. While both are cold weather events, they are completely different.

Gardeners don’t always think of native grasses as a landscape highlight, but fall is the time when one really puts on a show. Gulf muhly grass is at its best in the fall and winter months.

Gulf muhly grass has a unique texture with spiky, upright leaves that offer summer interest. But it’s the plant’s last grand flourish that creates true landscape excitement. Muhly grass flowers in billowy masses that resemble pink clouds in the landscape. As long as there isn’t a hard freeze, the color will hold. Even after a freeze, the flower heads keep their airy shape.

As much as I’ve tried the last few weeks to encourage you to give summer annuals a chance to put on one last show, it’s time to start thinking about cool-season color. Probably the most recognizable cool-weather bedding plant is the pansy, a tough and reliable garden performer.

I really like the Cool Wave series of trailing pansies. If you think the name “Wave” sounds familiar, you’re right. Cool Wave pansies were bred by the same folks who brought the popular Wave petunias to many Mississippi gardens.

You probably have figured out by now that I have a lot of favorite plants. Since it’s autumn, I get to talk about one of my favorite native plants that is in its full glory right now.

The American beautyberry is really putting on quite a show in Mississippi with clusters of bright purple berries.

American beautyberry is commonly found on the edges of woodlands all across the state. It is widely found east of the Mississippi in the mid-Atlantic and Gulf Coast region of North America.

I have to admit that I’m ready for this hot and really humid Mississippi summer to be over. Even though we are officially in the fall season, those high temps have been lingering into October.

But it seems we may have turned the corner towards lower temperatures. I even slept with the window open recently for the first time since I don’t know when. This means cool-season annuals will soon be showing up.

One of the best horticulture field days in the Southeast has three extra benefits: It’s free, it’s in Mississippi and it’s scheduled just around the corner.

Clear your calendars now for the Fall Flower and Garden Fest at Mississippi State University’s Truck Crops Branch Experiment Station in Crystal Springs. The two-day festival on Oct. 18-19 will be fun for the entire family and will be an interesting and educational experience, whether you’re a garden novice or Master Gardener.

With fall officially here, many gardeners hooked on cooking with herbs may start to worry about how they’re going to cook once it’s too cold to grow herbs outside.

Although many gardeners still have herbs growing strong, others may dread reaching for the little red and white cans in the cupboard once it’s too late to go outside and snip something fresh from the garden. If that’s your worry, you can make some preparations now to keep you enjoying those fresh summer herbs during Mississippi’s winter months.

Sept. 22 may be the first day of fall, but the best way to know summer is ending is to look at all the colorful pumpkin and gourd displays at local garden centers around the state.

You may be familiar with the saying, “What was old is new again,” as related to clothing and decorating styles, but it’s also true of the landscape.

While fall-flowering mums seem to attract the most attention for fall color, there is a “brand new” plant called the mari-mum being promoted for the fall garden and landscape across the Southeast. Have the plant breeders been working overtime? Actually, a mari-mum is simply a fall-planted marigold.

I am a firm believer that many of our flowering landscape plants are only one or two steps out of the ditch. The goldenrod is no exception.

I sometimes find it hard to believe that some gardeners actually grow it in their gardens on purpose.

Most folks can recognize goldenrods growing wild. In a couple of weeks, we will start seeing their annual explosion of golden color. Flowering goldenrods are a sign that cooler fall weather is not far away.

Even though we’re still in a very warm August, now is the time to start thinking about fall color.

Planting fall-flowering annuals can enhance your landscape’s ability to offer color right through spring. Garden centers will soon be offering some good choices of fall bedding plants, so make plans now for what you want your landscape to look like.

Even though we are still in the grip of summer’s heat and humidity, garden centers soon will start stocking gorgeous, flowering fall mums. Start planning now where to use these plants most effectively in the landscape.

Incorporating fall garden mums into your landscape is easy.

One of the most popular ways to display these beautiful plants is to simply place them in a big container on the front porch. The many warm colors available can fit into almost any home color scheme. The plants seem to have hundreds of flowers, so the impact is immediate.

Daily heat indexes routinely above the century mark make indoor air conditioning feel really fantastic and outdoor activities a challenge, but I’ve recently joined the ranks of gardeners who face a challenge unrelated to the weather.

Currently, I’m a frustrated gardener who wants to get out into the heat and tinker in the garden. I had a total knee replacement in July, and I need assistance with normal daily activities, let alone the landscape.

If you’re the kind of gardener who likes to plan now for what to plant next year, here’s another plant to add to your list: Golden Thryallis.

This plant starts flowering in early June and continues through fall if higher temperatures linger. It has stand-out yellow flowers that really draw attention in the landscape. The bright and cheery flowers appear in clusters that are up to 6 inches long.

If you’re like me, you’ll enjoy Golden Thryallis for more than its flowers. Even the branches are attractive.