Southern Gardening

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.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Shishi Gashira is without a doubt the finest landscape camellia on the market, and it has been chosen as a 2002 Mississippi Medallion award winner for the fall. These drop-dead gorgeous camellia sasanquas are waiting for you now at your local garden center.

Their waxy, leather leaves coupled with blooms that are as pretty as roses reveal that these camellias are not only good as shrubs but also for use as foundation plantings.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

As you shop for daffodils and pansies, pick up a flat or two of dianthus. The new hybrid pink dianthus offers months of cool-season color for the landscape. They would be a worthy purchase even if they are annuals, but many gardeners find these newer varieties will give three, four or more seasons of bloom.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Fall and winter gardens need color to liven up landscapes, and local garden centers are loaded with great new selections that will do just that.

If you haven't tried Redbor kale or Red Giant mustard, then you have missed some of the best. Look also for new pansies like Ultima Apricot Shades or Delta Fire.

Redbor kale is a large selection producing wavy, deep burgundy leaves. Red Giant mustard produces foliage in burgundy and green that is beautiful and edible.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Shop quickly if you expect to get any Belgian mums this fall because they are disappearing like snow cones in July.

Chrysanthemums have always been the premier fall plant, but this year the Belgian mums have added an even greater furor for these boldly colored flowers. They are popping up on porches and patios everywhere bringing a festive look to the landscape.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The fountain grasses are among the prettiest plants in the landscape at this time of the year. They transition well from working with summer flowers to fall mums and ornamental kale and cabbage.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The fall planting season is one of my favorite times of the year, and it is evident that many Mississippians feel the same way. The first cool snap makes people want to get ready for pansies and violas. Garden centers are already bringing in supplies of the rugged winter annuals.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Three recent experiences provide evidence that tells me Mississippi growers and garden centers are hitting the mark when it comes to the newest plants.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

As you drive around neighborhoods and see gardens, the old-fashioned cosmos stands out like a beacon. I am not talking about the pastel pink and burgundy ones but the brilliant orange and yellow Cosmos sulphureus. This drought-tolerant member of the aster family hails from Mexico and Central America and loves Mississippi, too.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The gardening world truly is coming of age when a millet or grain is named an All American Selections Gold Medal Winner. Even before the public learned that Purple Majesty was a winner, they were craving it and buying up the limited quantities.

Thousands of shoppers have seen it growing this year at Northpark Mall in Jackson and wondered what it was. In the Northpark garden, it was used with cannas and elephant ears for a really unique, if not exotic, look.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

My choice as the poster child for tough and beautiful plants is the small tropical plant Joseph's Coat, which livens up landscapes with its richly colored foliage.

From late spring until frost, Joseph's Coat performs admirably in the garden, making it a favorite of home horticulturists and commercial landscapers. In fertile well-drained soil, it is a problem-free plant.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Chrysanthemum shopping time is close at hand, and while I would like you to buy the Belgian mums and others, you must have the old-fashioned Clara Curtis, also known as Country Girl.

This heirloom plant from Russia has a new name: Dendranthema zawadskii. It is still in production because it is an heirloom, but mainly because of its glorious fall display of large, rose-pink flowers with orange disks.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Many people are looking at tired gardens in the late summer and fall, but Miss Ann is a friend near Terry, Miss., who will tell you it's time for Mississippians to enjoy four o'clocks for their beauty and their fragrance.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

When I say you need some fiber, I'm not talking about bran flakes for breakfast. If you love tropical plants as much as I do, you have got to try the Japanese fiber banana in your landscape.

Even though it is a tropical, gardeners on the Tennessee border can grow this cold-hardy banana species. The plant is known botanically as Musa basjoo. The banana gets about 10 feet tall and adds great interest to the landscape.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

They say, "seeing is believing," but in the case of Salvia van houttei, seeing is wanting, whether you are a hungry hummingbird or a gardener with an eye for color.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Fountain, maiden and muhly grasses are among the most popular ornamental grasses, but watch for the new kid on the block, Mexican feather grass. The Mexican feather grass, known botanically as Stipa tenuissima, will bring an entirely new look to the garden.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The Outback Sunset lysimachia has surpassed my greatest expectations. Although several people predicted problems from Mississippi's afternoon summer sun, I had the perfect location that afforded shade after 2 in the afternoon.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The castor bean, one of the South's best old-fashioned plants, really starts to attract attention this time of the year. The castor bean is undergoing a revival of sorts -- not only showing up in the rural cottage gardens but also in places like Northpark Mall in Jackson.

The castor bean has been grown in the United States for a long time but comes from northeast Africa. It is in the Euphorbia family, making it related to poinsettias and copper plants.