Southern Gardening

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Some gardeners believe roses have lost their fragrance, but I have stuck my nose in more than a few that deliver delightful scents for season-long enjoyment.

Double Delight has been one of the most popular hybrid tea roses for almost 20 years. An outstanding rose with a creamy white color contrasting with bright strawberry red, it has a fresh fruity scent you can smell up to 10 feet away. In 1986, the American Rose Society awarded it as the most fragrant.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Yarrow is considered an herb, a perennial and a leader for cut-and-dried flower arrangements, yet it is still overlooked by many Southern gardeners.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

This coming spring has all the signs of being a good year to bring back that old-fashioned plant, the nasturtium. I considered writing about plants for cold, saturated conditions, but decided to write about a plant that is beautiful, edible, suitable in the flowerbed and perfect for tucking in containers.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Horticulturists are always looking for "60-mile-per-hour plants," which means pretty flowers in some landscapes can divert your attention while you are zipping down the highway.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

After those 100-plus degree days in August, we should feel guilty complaining about the cold winter we've had. It helps knowing that some hot new plants like the Bouquet Purple dianthus will be showing up soon to help us forget the frigid December and January.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The large, tulip-shaped, purple, pink and white flowers of the Japanese magnolia will open soon in neighborhoods all across our state, making you wish you had planted one or two. One of Napoleon's retired soldiers is credited with making the cross.

These huge-flowers produced in late winter and early spring are a sight long remembered. The past few years they have been exceptional in bloom. It won't be long until they start to show up at garden centers.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Many Mississippi gardeners are big on container gardening during the spring, summer and even fall, but once cold weather hits, the pots start to look kind of dismal. Take heart gardeners, we still can brighten up those cold dreary porches, patios and decks.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

After all of these years, I admit to still being hooked on David Austin English roses. Winter is a great time of the year for rose suppliers to try to capture your attention and dollars with pretty pictures.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

This is the time of the year when variegated plants really start-to-shine in the landscape. Some gardeners consider plants with leaf variegation gaudy or unattractive, but even the much maligned golden Euonymous, when placed against dark evergreens, is like a lantern in the forest. I believe the Euonymous may be a forgotten plant for the Southern landscape.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

A sugar high may not be ideal in children, but our trees certainly have rewarded us this fall from the extra sugar in their systems. Mississippi trees are on a high from trapped sugar and are giving the prettiest color most of us can remember.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Long ago they were called Flores de Noche Buena (Flowers of the Holy Night), but today we know poinsettias as the most popular Christmas plants. Christmas is loaded with legends and stories like the Little Drummer Boy and the origin of the poinsettia.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Lion's Tail, Forsythia Sage, Caribbean Blue otacanthus and Diva periwinkles are just a few of the plants that caught the eye of visitors to Mississippi State University plant evaluation sites this summer and fall.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Don't feel bad if you feel like you have missed Exotic Love; it happens to the best of us. Before you start thinking naughty, the Exotic Love I am referring to is a vigorous vine with almost indescribably beautiful flowers. It is also known as Spanish Flag and Star Glory and is native to Mexico.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The goal, make your garden look great in January. That was the challenge Ed Martin, renowned and retired Mississippi State University professor emeritus of landscape architecture, would issue to his students and to those of us who have been lucky enough to sit through one of his seminars.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

My favorite holiday plant is the Christmas cactus. I never cease to be amazed by its durability and beauty.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Names like Nemesia, Diascia and Otacanthus may be unfamiliar now, but it won't be long until gardeners find a place for them in the landscape. They all belong to the snapdragon family.

It was just a couple of years ago that another member of the family, the Angelonia, made its debut. Now Angelonias are becoming a staple in everyone's summer garden, and they are still blooming as fall progresses. They are even returning from the past two mild winters.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The snapdragon is one of the most beautiful plants for fall color, and it thrives right through winter until late spring heat arrives. Snapdragons love those times when night temperatures are in the low 40s and day temperatures reach the low 70s, which makes them ideally situated for fall in the South.

By Norman Winter
Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

We have needed rain, but we also need Purple Rain in landscapes this fall and winter. Purple Rain is one of the best new pansies starting to show up at area garden centers.

I gave it a casual reference last year, and voila, you gardeners bought up the available supply so fast I did not get one for my own use.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The panola is the first winner of a fall Mississippi Medallion award, and the state's gardeners can choose from seven colors and a mix of Panola Panache.

Panola is a cross between a pansy and viola, and it comes from Waller Genetics in California. They are already starting to show up in garden centers, and more are on the way.