Southern Gardening

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The word chaos is about to have a new meaning in landscapes. Webster's dictionary defines “chaos” as extreme confusion or disorder. This may describe your garden. In my case, it describes my office and garage. You will think differently about chaos after seeing Pink Chaos coleus.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Orange is a color in the garden that cannot be overlooked. It just reaches out and grabs you. I recently wrote about blue, the complementary or opposite color for orange, and said this was a marriage made in gardening heaven. Whether you want a marriage or not, orange can stand and dazzle all on its own.

On a color wheel, orange is between yellow and red and is the hallmark color of the hot side of the wheel.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Magilla perilla became an instant hit a few years back probably because of its funny name that appealed to a generation who grew up watching Magilla Gorilla. It has since reached legendary status because it is a tough-as-nails plant for sun or shade that works in any style garden.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The lantana is probably the plant you're looking for if you want a flower that gives vibrant color from late spring though frost. Lantanas, which are native to tropical America, are related to verbenas and have the common name shrub verbena.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Periwinkle planting time is here, and you have got to try the 2007 Mississippi Medallion award-winning Titans. The Titan periwinkles really live up to the name in vigor and performance.

The botanical name of periwinkles is Catharanthus, which means pure and without blemish. That is how you will feel about the Titan series. You may remember them as Vinca rosea, but the official name is Catharanthus roseus.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Blue is one of the colors that catches your eye when used in the garden and is a color we all treasure.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Irises are among the most versatile plants for the North American landscape. They are prized for both flower and foliage.

Mention iris, and the first one that comes to mind is the bearded iris. The spring bloom of the bearded iris is a site to behold because of the size and shape of the bloom and its deeply saturated colors.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

It's hard to believe that a native, spring-blooming tree can be so passionately loved from the Gulf Coast all the way to Pennsylvania and New York, but that is how people feel for the Grancy Graybeard.

They are known as Old Man's Beard or white fringe tree in some areas. It is in glorious bloom now in the lower South and as spring arrives further north, it will bring joy throughout the rest of the states.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Each year, I enjoy helping announce the Mississippi Medallion award winners, but 2007 will be extra special because it includes the first angelonia to win the award: the Serena series.

Angelonias, also sold as summer snapdragons, have been in the Mississippi marketplace since about 1997. MSU began planting them in trials at different locations to see how they performed and how unique they were for the summer landscape.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Red is a color that evokes excitement and passion, so 2007 should stir a frenzy in the gardening soul of any verbena lover. Four new red verbenas are making their debut this spring, and all of them are vegetatively propagated, or not grown from seed.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

When I was in high school, kids loved to confess they had mono. Only teenagers can make an affliction trendy. Now that I'm a mature adult, and I would like to recommend mono to all my friends again. This time, it's a different kind of mono: monochromatic.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

It looks like spring has arrived early and based on the crowded parking lots at local garden centers and the area garden and patio shows, everyone is ready to get out and dig in the dirt again.

Since people keep asking for my predictions for 2007's hottest plants, I want to share the names of some that have me fired up.

Chicken Gizzards

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Mixed planters are featured prominently at shopping malls and office buildings, and consumers place glorious mixed containers and baskets on their porches, patios and decks. Other than vibrant color, a common thread tying them together is the incorporation of ornamental grass.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Spring is just around the corner, and this is a good time for gardeners to make plans to break the horizontal plane in their 2007 landscapes.

Most everyone grows round flowers like the ones we first encountered as children. A bed of round flowers offers a calming continuity to the garden, which can be comforting after a hard, stressful week.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Mention the word “hibiscus” and thoughts probably go immediately to those fancy tropical treasures visible on exotic island vacations. Most mental pictures of hibiscus do not include small shrubs with fiery red leaves like a Japanese maple. That may be about to change, thanks to Maple Sugar and Haight Ashbury.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Maracas and Veranda are a couple of great new shade plants coming to Mississippi this spring. If you don't see them at any of the spring garden shows, ask for them at the local garden center, so you can be the first to have them in your neighborhood.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

We are in the dead of winter, but that does not mean gardens, patios, porches or decks have to be void of color. Primulas can provide the visual treat you crave.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Winter's coldest days drive most of us deep into the cushions of our easy chairs, and gardening is largely in the form of dreams about spring and summer plantings.

Permit me to do a little armchair quarterbacking by encouraging gardeners to consider growing an incredible sweet bell pepper called Tequila. The Mississippi Plant Selections Committee recently introduced it as a 2007 Mississippi Medallion award winner. 

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The Sweet Caroline series of ornamental sweet potatoes have become the variety of choice for landscape color.

Producers and professionallandscapers alike call them “behaved” sweet potatoes because they are a little less kudzu-like than other sweet potatoes. The series was bred to produce short internodes, which results in a more compact plant with shorter leaves and less aggressive growth.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Imagine this: It's late winter, you love growing flowers, your child is getting married this summer and the costs from required deposits are already mounting. As financial worry awakens you during the night, those 2 a.m. feedings of long ago seem like a pleasant dream.