Southern Gardening

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Costa Rica Blue salvia and Sonset lantana are two outstanding performers chosen as 2003 Mississippi Medallion winners by the state Plant Selections Committee. They may be classified as hummingbird champions.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Autumn Blaze maple and Edward Goucher abelia are two outstanding performers chosen as 2003 Mississippi Medallion winners by the state Plant Selections Committee.

If you want a large, fast-growing tree with spectacular fall color, choose the Autumn Blaze maple. A hybrid of the native red maple and the silver maple, Autumn Blaze combines the best features of both. It has the vigor of the silver maple and the beauty, strength and heat tolerance of the red maple.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

At one of the entrances to Northpark Mall in Jackson, a recently planted flower bed reveals wonders about a plant most people take for granted. The bed contains a fairly new variety of ajuga called Mahogany, which is known for its dark purple leaves and bright blue flowers.

Ajuga is quite versatile: In this bed, it was planted in combination with Butterfly Blue scabiosa, a recent perennial plant of the year, making for a very showy display.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The past few years have given me a new appreciation for the various iris species available to Southern gardeners. With careful selection, we can enjoy a long season of iris blooms.

Everyone ought to consider the Japanese iris, known botanically as Iris ensata. It complements the Louisiana and Siberian irises with toughness, beauty and blooms that are born in glorious summer displays after the other irises have finished. They flourish from zones 4 to 9.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Since gardening season is almost here, I feel compelled to remind you of a wonderful and honored plant that you might not have tried: the perennial phlox known as David.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Superbena is sure to be hot this year, so get ready to look for this new verbena at a local garden center while supplies last.

Superbena certainly does look to be super and even monolithic in size by verbena standards, but gee, how about a better name? Obviously Proven Winners knows how to produce good plants and make a fortune without me, so I'll stop whining.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

I predict Amber Waves, a new heuchera, will be one of the most sought-after plants this spring.

When I saw Amber Waves in trials last year, I figured it would take a couple of years to get to our state, but I just saw it at a Mississippi greenhouse complex. Our gardeners are fortunate to have such progressive growers as those in the Mississippi Nursery and Landscape Association.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Late winter cold snaps are enough to make a gardener want to have a groundhog killing, but it would be better to channel our frustrations toward planning this year's landscapes. Therefore, I want to call your attention to a new, must-have plant for 2003.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

In today's container, basket or window-box plantings, cascading plants have become the ideal finishing touch for the overall design scheme.

In recent years, I have urged gardeners to choose plants that gently cascade over the rim. While that is still important, the new look includes those that reach the container's edge, then plummet toward the ground.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The winter already seems long, and if you are like me, we're ready to dig in the dirt. These next weeks before Spring offer great opportunities to plan for our beds to be the showiest ever. One plant you should consider is a new Rudbeckia hirta, or black-eyed susan, known as Prairie Sun.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Farmers want to get rid of them and landscapers want to plant them, but two native hollies are at the top of my list of best shrubs or small trees we can grow in Mississippi.

Yaupon hollies are native throughout the Southeast. They are great shrubs for sunny beds and yet look good in shade. They tolerate clays, sand and everything in between.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Most of us can hardly wait until the first blooms announce that spring is just around the corner. Over the holidays, I saw a flowering quince with several coral-colored blossoms already open, but you need a Taiwan flowering cherry if you really want to herald the approaching spring.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The Becky variety of shasta daisies has been chosen as the Perennial Plant of the Year for 2003. Every Mississippi landscape needs this showy flower, which is probably the best shasta daisy for the South. While all others tend to melt a bit in the torrid heat and humidity, this lady keeps her composure.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

2003 garden catalogues are arriving every day, and Norman Winter is constantly telling you about new plants for the spring. As you sit by the fire on these cold blustery days making plans for the garden, reflect back and ask yourself how your flowers performed last year.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

If you had told garden center managers in the early 1990s that they would be selling hundreds of sweet potatoes for the landscape each year, they probably would have laughed hysterically. Now they are laughing all the way to the bank as the ornamental sweet potato has become a huge success story in just a few short years.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The humble daffodil gives cheer as hearty messengers of spring's return and is among Mississippi's finest plants. But you'd better be planting these flowers of the genus Narcissus now if you want gorgeous blooms this spring.

October and November are the main bulb planting season, but we can find success by planting them later as well. Many garden centers are even offering specials on these bulbs, so take advantage.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

At this time of the year, many of us want to do more in the landscape than just rake leaves or pine straw. Why not take a survey around your home and see if you can use some rocks?

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

If you want a Christmas or holiday plant that will easily re-bloom every year, then the Christmas cactus is unbeatable.

The cacti in my office are living and blooming proof. Although I have had them for several years, they are abandoned for weeks on end during the spring and fall garden season. If they get water or any other light sitting in a north window, they are lucky.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

As we get closer to the holiday season, we hear words like fir, Scotch pine and spruce mentioned in association with Christmas trees. But I want you also to think about spruce as one of the most beautiful native pines for the landscape.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The snapdragon is one of the most beautiful plants for cool season color, and it thrives through winter until late spring or early summer heat arrives. Snapdragons love temperatures in the low 40s at night and low 70s by day, which make them ideally situated for fall in the South.