Flower Gardens
Annuals and perennials spice the landscape with their colorful flowers and foliage. Beds of color provide brilliant accents against backgrounds of permanent plantings, soften man-made lines, and provide graceful transitions from one outdoor area to another. Flowers can be used to catch the eye, accent a view, frame a door, or just draw attention to their own blooms.
Annual plants
Annual plants are practical in that they are versatile, sturdy, and inexpensive. They quickly yield color for one long season.
Perennial plants
Perennial plants return year after year. They fit into many landscapes and can be used in borders, as accents, or as strong focal points. The foliage of many perennials is attractive during nonflowering seasons as well.
Roses
Where noted, much of the content of this area was taken from an Extension short course, Growing and Enjoying Roses in Mississippi, presented in the spring of 2007.- Control Fire Ants in Your Yard
- Crafting with Roses*
- Insect Pests of Roses
- Other Sources of Information on Roses*
- Propagating Plants For The Home Landscape
- Pruning/Deadheading*
- Pruning Diagrams*
- Recommended Roses for Mississippi Gardens (slides)
- Recommended Roses for Mississippi Gardens (text)
- Rose Propagation
- Site Selection, Bed Preparation and Planting of Roses
- Spicy Rose Potpourri*
- Suggested Roses for Landscape Uses*
- Techniques and Tips for Growing Good Roses
- Using Roses in the Landscape*
- Watering and Plant Disease
Content for parts of this section comes from Extension Publication #P1826 - Annual & Perennial Flowers For Mississippi Gardens and *where noted, from a rose short course, Growing and Enjoying Roses in Mississippi, presented in the spring of 2007 by the MSU Extension Service.
Publications
News
Lately I've been singing the praises of having hardy hibiscuses in your landscape. Who can resist the colorful flowers that are literally the size of a dinner plate?
But the tropical hibiscus deserves at least equal praise. Today, I want to tell you about the Cajun hibiscus series, because these plants produce some of the most beautiful, complex and mesmerizing color combinations. These flowers also can be huge, with some exceeding 9 inches in diameter.
VERONA, Miss. -- Mississippi State University experts are hosting a Mississippi Medallion Program Aug. 24 in Verona to demonstrate how these top-performing ornamental plants can be used in home gardens.
The event runs from 9:30 to 11 a.m. at the North Mississippi Research and Extension Center. The presenter will be Geoff Denny, horticulture specialist with the MSU Extension Service.
Although we’re in the middle of a blazing hot summer, I find my gardening thoughts wandering to the coming fall season. You may think you know why I'm looking forward to the cooler weather, but the main reason is that the citrus in my home grove will start to ripen.
While August is too early to think about harvesting fruit, it is time to start thinking about planting your own citrus. You can plant citrus in the ground or, my preferred method, in containers.
I think hardy hibiscus is one of those must-have summer plants that we can count on to brighten our gardens and landscapes after a long, hot summer. But these plants are a well-kept secret to many gardeners.
Hardy hibiscus is very different from tropical hibiscus.
Hardy hibiscus is winter-hardy, and the foliage is not as glossy as the tropical varieties. But a trait the two varieties share is their bright, beautiful, gaudy flowers. These enormous flowers add value to our late-summer landscapes.
Purslane has long been regarded as a garden weed, and it's no wonder: A single plant can produce more than 50,000 seeds. I've seen purslane growing in coarse gravel and cracks in concrete. If the area is moist, you can find purslane, and I have removed many as weeds.
But I’m having a change of heart. Purslane is one of the older plants I'm interested in adding back to my coastal Mississippi landscape and garden. It's a succulent that thrives in high summer temperatures, and that makes it a perfect flowering annual for our hot and humid summers.
