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The tall candlestick plant on the left with the bright yellow blossoms combines with cannas, bananas and salvias for a fall Caribbean style garden.
September 7, 2006 - Filed Under: Lawn and Garden

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

If you have noticed beautiful yellow candelabra-type blossoms around your neighborhood, a candlestick plant probably is blooming close to your house.

It is considered a shrub in the tropics, yet growing wild there they are dwarf compared to how they look in our landscapes. Their low height in the tropics is probably due to shallow topsoil in their native islands.

Diamond Frost captures honors across the country
August 31, 2006 - Filed Under: Flower Gardens

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Diamond Frost is a little white flower that is sweeping awards all across the country. It's hard to believe that a plant related to the poinsettia with tiny airy flowers has caused such a commotion.

You might think I am exaggerating about the awards, so I have listed a few of the more notable designations for you:

This Red Abyssinian banana is one of the prettiest banana plants in the marketplace. Tidal Wave Pink petunias cascaded over the rim to the point they are touching the deck floor.
August 24, 2006 - Filed Under: Lawn and Garden

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

I feel like I should begin this week's column by shouting out “uncle” to this tortuous heat. Despite the oppressive temperatures, I still have gotten a lot of enjoyment from growing plants in containers on my deck this year. Two of the prettiest are bananas.

My faithful readers know that I am a banana plant lover. I enjoy landscapes where bananas' coarse, textured foliage really makes for a tropical look.

This hibiscus variety, Flare, is a wonderful cultivar that does great in any soil type. A hardy hibiscus variety, Flare has apple green foliage and large, high quality, fuchsia red flowers up to 10 inches wide. It stands 4 feet tall and is a profuse bloomer.
August 17, 2006 - Filed Under: Flower Gardens

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

A multitude of new plants have hit the market in recent years including one of my favorites, hibiscus. Those of you who love tropical hibiscus will find it hard to beat the Cajun series with their incredible blends of colors.

Zesty series of zinnias produce huge dahlia-shaped blossoms on a great landscape plant. They come in a multitude of colors, such as these reds and yellows, and have been very good performers in our Mississippi State University trials at Crystal Springs.
August 10, 2006 - Filed Under: Flower Gardens

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Most of us are fed up with the heat. Thank goodness I have paid better attention to watering and fertilizing this year, and it has paid dividends. My flowers for the most part are still looking doggone good, including the petunias.

If your garden, on the other hand, has that barely alive look, then you may want to start thinking about a late-summer planting of marigolds or zinnias.

This ginger, known as Emperor, will royally impress viewers with its creamy yellow variegation on the margins of dark green leaves. The blooms, or bracts, look like porcelain. The petals gradually drop on the older portion of the bloom until yellow cups remain.
August 3, 2006 - Filed Under: Lawn and Garden

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The new ginger known as Emperor has caused quite a commotion at my house. Everyone loves it.

First, let me admit I have never been a huge fan of variegated plants. There are some cannas, hostas and tropical crotons that have captured my heart, but this ginger took me by surprise.

Emperor is a variegated form of the hidden ginger and is known botanically as Curcuma petiolata. It has dark green leaves with creamy yellow variegation on the margins.

The Rustic Orange coleus produces a striking contrast when planted with the perennial Purple Heart, a vining plant sometimes called Setcresea.
July 27, 2006 - Filed Under: Lawn and Garden

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Foliage can be as effective as flowers, or more effective in some cases, in providing colorful beauty the entire season. Flowers cycle though the season, but when beautiful foliage is in the mix, the garden will always look exceptional.

This display of Lime Zinger elephant ears is perfect underneath red Tonto crape myrtles and above a bed of Joseph's Coats.
July 20, 2006 - Filed Under: Lawn and Garden

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

This plant is a real zinger -- Lime Zinger to be exact. All of you who passed it up at this year's garden and patio shows would kick yourselves if you could see those owned by Barbara Harvey in Kosciusko. The Southern Gardening TV crew filmed her wonderful landscape as part of our 10th anniversary celebration.

Glory lily, the national flower of Zimbabwe, is very much at home in Mississippi gardens. These tropical treasures grow on vigorous vines that are perfect for a trellis or small arbor.
July 13, 2006 - Filed Under: Flower Gardens

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The glory lily is one of the most exotic flowering vines we can grow in the Southern garden. Its first blooms will take your breath away by their color and intricate structure.

Most people will recognize them immediately as tropical in origin. They are from tropical Africa and Asia and are the national flower of Zimbabwe. I like the glory lily's botanical name, Gloriosa superba, because we can paraphrase by calling it gloriously superb.

Suncatcher sapphire - Suncatcher Sapphire petunia flowers pour out of this odd pot, making an eye-catching garden centerpiece. Defiance, a lime green and burgundy coleus, frames the pot on either side.
July 6, 2006 - Filed Under: Flower Gardens

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Oddly enough, a pot has given me a lot of gardening fun this season, and I highly recommend it for everyone.

The pot is rather unique. My wife, Jan, saw it at a garden and patio show and had to have it. It looked like work to me -- getting it to the car, getting it home, placing it, etc. Plus, I didn't have the vision at first. Jan probably would say I never did.

The African Red banana forms a big clump, and all the shoots seem to bloom in unison, making it an incredible sight. The petioles, or leaf stems, have a reddish tinge to them, and it may be the prettiest blooming banana for the entire state.
June 29, 2006 - Filed Under: Lawn and Garden

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

It seems Mississippi gardeners have gone nuts over bananas, and I can see why. I recently visited a turn-of-the-century home in downtown Jackson. Entering the backyard, I felt like I was in a tropical paradise with elephants ears, ferns, water features and tall bananas.

One garden center this year stocked bananas by the truckload and had more varieties than I have ever seen for sale in Mississippi. It is exciting to see bananas sold by variety or species.

Toffee Twist carex, commonly called copper sedge, adds an interesting color and texture to full- and part-sun gardens. It partners well with yellow and blue flowers.
June 22, 2006 - Filed Under: Flower Gardens

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

It is not unusual for a stunning display of flowers to stop people in their tracks, but grasses rarely have that effect. At the Mississippi State University Truck Crops Branch Experiment Station in Crystal Springs, a couple of grass-like plants did just that.

The melampodium produces small, brightly colored, daisy-like flowers from spring through frost. These yellow-gold blossoms allow them to partner wonderfully with pink and blue-violet to purple petunias.
June 15, 2006 - Filed Under: Flower Gardens

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

It's funny that melapodiums I used to consider ideal beginner plants are now “must haves” during summers that have a penchant to be both hot and dry.

Columns from a former home provide a ghostly Southern archaeological feel to the edge of this Delta garden.
June 8, 2006 - Filed Under: Lawn and Garden

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Recycling is popular in today's society, but the idea rarely conjures up visions of beauty. One Tallahatchie County gardener has developed a garden with old items that would make many people clean out their attics and garages in search of ornamental items to create unique displays.

The Graffiti Red Lace provides beautiful support of these black-eyed Susans, or Rudbeckias.
June 1, 2006 - Filed Under: Flower Gardens

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

These first hot summer months send people searching for some colorful flowers that can take the Mississippi heat and humidity while providing a dazzling display in the landscape. With those goals in mind, pentas are hard to beat.

These blue scaevola partner well with orange verbena in this sunny garden setting. With lovely fan-shaped flowers and summer heat tolerance, scaevola has won numerous awards for their performance across the South.
May 25, 2006 - Filed Under: Flower Gardens

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

What plant was a 1997 Mississippi Medallion award winner, a 1997 Georgia Gold Medal winner, a 1997 Louisiana Select winner, a 1999 Arkansas Select winner, a 1999 Texas Superstar winner and a 2000 Oklahoma Proven award winner, but you probably still haven't tried it? Answer: the scaevola.

Powis Castle artemisia partners well with Purple Heart. Powis Castle has feathery gray foliage and is very showy against the deep, dark purple-leafed Setcreasea.
May 18, 2006 - Filed Under: Lawn and Garden

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

One of the most beautiful plants for the spring and summer garden is the artemisia, and I am convinced it is not being used enough, especially the hybrid known as Powis Castle.

We filmed an upcoming Southern Gardening TV segment at the garden of Rhonda and Tracy Simpson in Sumner. Rhonda uses artemisias to perfection throughout her garden.

The Picante salmon salvia is part of a series that sends up multiple branches at a record pace. Salvias bloom from spring through frost, making this annual an exceptional buy. Its spiky texture is most welcome in a garden world dominated by round flowers.
May 11, 2006 - Filed Under: Flower Gardens

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Scarlet sage is an old-fashioned plant has come out this year with new colors and varieties that will ensure its popularity for years to come.

Scarlet sage is an annual salvia known botanically as Salvia splendens. One new group that has caught my attention is the Picante series. This one seems to send up multiple branches at a record pace. It also comes in some weird colors that make the term “scarlet” seem obsolete.

Fusion Glow impatiens have blossoms that are yellow with an orange and yellow bi-colored center. They look beautiful here with Aztec Violet verbena and Galleria Deep Rose geranium.
May 4, 2006 - Filed Under: Flower Gardens

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Most of us first encountered the word fusion in physics or chemistry classes, but now we see it everywhere. Fusion is a Ford car, razor blades and also one of the hottest new impatiens varieties.

The Goldilocks variety of Creeping Jenny is an excellent accent in mixed containers. With leaves that resemble small discs, Goldilocks will it serve as a colorful filler plant, then climb over and plummet down the container. The leaves have a lime green color that will turn an iridescent yellow given more sun.
April 27, 2006 - Filed Under: Flower Gardens

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

If blondes really have more fun, then Goldilocks should be the key to a fabulous time in this summer's gardens.

Goldilocks is known botanically as Lysimachia nummulari, which also has the common names of Creeping Jenny and Moneywort. This Lysimachia is native to Europe and is perennial from zones 3 through 11. It's a pretty tough plant that can survive those extremes in temperatures.

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