Southern Gardening

Last week I highlighted the benefits of making and using compost in the garden and landscape. This week I’m explaining how and why you should use vermicompost. That’s right; I’m talking about worms.

Vermicomposting is a common activity at many of our elementary schools, and the kids generally enjoy participating. Students do it to learn the science of the process. As adults, we use vermicompost to enhance our garden soils and plant growth.

One of the final gifts a productive garden can give us is raw materials to compost for use in the next year’s garden.

As we move into autumn, many of us will be cleaning up the garden, pruning and getting rid of leaves. A lot of this yard trash will end up at the curb for the city to pick up. Some of this will be chipped and composted for municipal use. The rest probably will end up in the landfill, which is not ideal.

Summer’s heat can be pretty hard on flowering annual and perennial plants, but colorful foliage plants can fill in those gaps in the landscape and containers.

Foliage plants provide color without relying on flowers, so you don’t have to wait for the show to begin. Plants with colorful foliage are attractive the moment they are transplanted into your landscape.

Foliage standbys in the landscape are caladium, ginger and cannas, but there are lots of other choices. One colorful foliage plant that is underused in our Mississippi landscapes is the copperleaf plant.

By the time August arrives, everyone wants to find a durable, colorful plant, and one of my favorites is the annual flowering vinca.

Annual flowering vinca has dark green, glossy foliage with a prominent rib in the middle. The foliage color makes a great background for the outstanding flower colors. These colors range from white to dark red, some with dark or white eyes. Botanically speaking, annual flowering vinca is Catharanthus rosea, but some garden centers may label it Madagascar periwinkle.

The summer months certainly take a toll on most gardeners. The heat and humidity can make even the most dedicated gardener decide to stay inside for the duration. As I considered going out in the 100-degree-plus heat index the other day, I was reminded of the difference between a gardener and a “yardener.”

Daylilies are extremely easy-to-grow flowering perennials, and their variety gives gardeners plenty of ways to create unique, colorful landscape designs.

If you’re looking for a vigorous and unique ground cover for your landscape, consider a popular ornamental that I really enjoy, the colorful sweet potato vine.

Longtime favorites include Margarita, which is lime green with large leaves; Blackie, a cut-leaf variety with dark purple to black foliage; and Tricolor, which has leaves of green, pink and white.

New selections have introduced amazing color selections and leaf shapes.

Shade is an asset during summer’s triple-digit temperatures, but you may find a shady spot in the landscape that needs some color.

If you have shade that is more dark than inviting, consider growing caladium. Caladium should be at the top of your list of shade-loving plants.

Caladiums are tropical foliage plants, native to the Amazon basin of Brazil. These plants are also right at home in our Mississippi gardens and landscapes. They are perfect for planting in front of the green background of foundation shrubs.

The black-eyed Susan is one of the most popular flowers in Mississippi and a favorite with almost every gardener. Even people who don’t know their flowers can often identify the black-eyed Susan.

The flowers are bright yellows to gold, each with a dark button cone in the center. In some selections, the centers of the petals are red, orange or maroon.

A native of the tropical regions of the Caribbean and Central and South America, the Duranta is sure to generate interest in your landscape.

Duranta is commonly called pigeon berry, and it has an arching growth habit with bluish flowers. It produces golden fruit that can feed our feathered friends.

The native plant can reach small-tree status, growing up to 25 feet tall. That’s too large for many of our Mississippi gardens and landscapes.

When the Mississippi summer really heats up, lantana is one of my go-to plants. Lantana is a brilliant plant that provides consistently bright colors and nonstop blooming through the summer into fall.

While many of the older lantana selections are large landscape plants, I really like the newer selections that have a smaller growth potential. These smaller plants open up entirely new growing options.

Yellow is a cheerful color that mixes and matches well in summer gardens. If your garden needs this versatile color, try Coreopsis, a tough group of plants that provides beautiful yellow and golden flowers from early summer to well into fall.

Mint is one of those plants that gardeners both love and hate at the same time.

Many gardeners love the sweet fragrance they smell when they brush against the mint foliage. They also find mint iced tea to be delicious or a mint julep to be a sure-fire summer time refreshment.

But in the landscape, mint grows aggressively and can quickly take over an area. I’ve heard people say -- hopefully in jest -- that the only way to control mint in the landscape is to move.

If you’re one of the many gardeners who consider Angelonia an ideal plant for the hot summer garden, I would have to agree with you.

Angelonia is a member of the snapdragon family, and it is actually called summer snapdragon. Few, if any, insects or diseases bother the Angelonia in the garden or landscape. Because it thrives in the full sun during the heat and humidity of summer, it makes a wonderful addition to our Mississippi gardens and landscapes.

If you’re looking for a little tropical flair for your home garden or landscape, consider bringing in some bougainvillea. This plant is especially gorgeous when displayed in a hanging basket that shows off its many flowers with almost iridescent colors.

Million Bells is one of my favorite flowering plants in the early summer. I think you’ll find this plant to be a good choice for the summer landscape in your Mississippi garden.

Million Bells are known botanically as Calibrachoa, and you may see them called by either name in garden centers. Regardless of what name they go by, you need to have some of these garden performers in your landscape.

Coral bells are perpetual favorites, and their colorful foliage can add interest and texture to any garden.

The first coral bells had green foliage, but these days, green foliage selections can be hard to find. New selections have purple, red, and white marbling and different colored venation. You will often see foliage colors of bright gold, orange and brown. Still others have different colors on top and bottom, so the colors flash when the wind blows.

One spring-blooming shrub that garners almost as much attention as the azalea is the gardenia. The fragrance of the gardenia flower is beyond description, as it is both heady and strong.

The gardenias for our landscapes are known botanically as Gardenia jasminoides. They were brought to the Southeastern United States in the late 1700s from their native range in Japan and China. Some home gardeners refer to these plants as Cape jasmine.

A lot of new gardeners who enjoy roses want to jump right into growing hybrid tea or floribunda roses, but these can be tricky for beginning gardeners. I think the easiest way for the gardening novice -- or the master gardener -- to enjoy roses is to plant Knockout roses.

Knockout roses are very disease-resistant, shrub-type roses. They produce flower clusters nonstop and in huge numbers. Colors range from red to pink and yellow, and flowers can be 3 1/2 inches in diameter.

But that doesn’t mean it has to be hard. Putting together beautiful flowers and colorful foliage and enjoying combination containers is as easy as gathering pots and planting. You can use everything from heirloom vegetables to flowers to any other type of plant you would like.

Container gardening is an uncomplicated way to scratch that gardening itch without making any major landscape alterations.