Southern Gardening

By Norman Winter
Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

This spring you have got to look for the hot, new verbenas called Temari. Temari, which means "a handful of flowers," is being brought to us by Suntory, the same firm who gave us Surfinias and Tapien verbenas.

Temari verbenas are available in bright red coming from the orange and yellow hues, violet and bright pink. These flowers' colors are very bold and bright. They are trailing type verbenas that actually live up to their claim of having baseball-sized flower clusters.

By Norman Winter
Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Many people seem determined to associate herbs with a 1970's hippie adventure in the garden. But the truth is, herb gardening is a new tide rising on a wave of popularity, and I hope you consider planting an herb garden this year.

By Norman Winter
Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Redbuds are not the only flowering trees that herald the arrival of spring. One different looking, but gorgeous tree you may have noticed is the Taiwan cherry.

By Norman Winter
Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Sweet potato vines are becoming all the rage as landscape plants. It is not too hard to believe when you realize that many of us grow their close relatives, the morning glories or moon flowers.

By Norman Winter
Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

MillionBells is the name for an exciting new group of petunias making their debut this year. They may be the most beautiful of all the new petunia family from the past five years.

By Norman Winter
Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Remember the love that went with those flowers -- roots and all -- you as a child gave your mother. That same spirit can be captured this Valentine's Day with gifts of rose bushes.

By Norman Winter
Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

If your landscape looks a little desolate, barren or Siberia- like, it probably needs some evergreens. Of all landscape plants in the South, conifers are some of our most beautiful.

Conifers are important to our timber industry, but their usefulness doesn't stop there. A conifer is a cone-bearing tree or shrub. Familiar ones are the loblolly, slash pine, long and shortleaf pine, and others.

By Norman Winter
Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The winter weather has not been so cold, but it certainly has been dreary. The bulbs are starting to show their first green signs letting us know spring is coming. But if we simply cannot wait, which I can't, then primulas are the easy solution to the winter doldrums.

Europeans adore primulas, or primrose, but most Mississippi gardeners overlook them as a source of late winter and early spring color.

By Norman Winter
Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Many new exciting plants are coming our way in 1998, but one new impatient really has growers chomping at the bit to start planting.

Victorian Rose isn't an antique or heirloom rose, but it is the new All-American winning impatient. Hopefully, we will find Victorian Rose is the best semi-double flowering impatient.

By Norman Winter
Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Growing flowers outdoors is a common practice most gardeners enjoy, but growing plants to bloom indoors is a pleasure many are reluctant to try except for African violets.

The pineapple, our symbol of hospitality in the South, comes from a plant group that we not only overlook but view with trepidation. This group is the bromeliads.

By Norman Winter
Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Low light conditions make it hard to grow some plants indoors. A bright sunny day may register as much as 10,000 foot candles of light while indoors may be 500 or less.

When we want to have plants in those low light areas, it makes sense to select wisely. We can choose plants that will perform well under such conditions.

By Norman Winter
Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Not only is it kind of depressing, it is also a chore to take down the Christmas tree. To make matters worse, the room then looks bare.

My favorite Mississippi restaurant fights this dilemma by leaving the Christmas tree up all year. In February, it is a Valentine tree, followed by an Easter egg tree and on through various celebrations. It is also obvious to you now, that it is an artificial tree.

By Norman Winter
Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

There is a new pot in town. Chimenea, which is Spanish for fireplace or stove, have been for sale at nurseries and garden centers for more than a year and their popularity has risen dramatically.

For those of you who have wished for an outdoor fireplace to sit around with a cup of hot chocolate or coffee, then the chimenea may be just what you need. They are made out of clay and come in a wide range of sizes, colors and designs.

By Norman Winter
Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Dare to be different in your Christmas tree selection. Select a living Christmas tree that can be planted in your landscape when Christmas is over. This tree will serve as a special memory of holidays from years past.

By Norman Winter
Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Bright Lights is the new Swiss chard honored as an All-America Selection for 1998, and it really looks as though you will want to try it.

You may be asking yourself what in the world is Swiss chard. One horticulturist has described it appropriately as a beet without a bottom. They are a source of wonderfully edible stems and leaves that are like spinach. Another horticulturist describes it as perpetual spinach, which also happens to be a variety name.

By Norman Winter
Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The United States has not been the same during the holidays since Ambassador Joel Poinset brought a plant back from Mexico in 1825. Poinsettias have become a tradition, and some new gorgeous varieties will be showing up this year.

Pepride is a new variety that has caught my eye. Its dark green leaves and deep red bracts are shaped like oak leaves. Freedom is a dark red variety with dark green leaves. It is awfully hard to find a prettier poinsettia than this one.

By Norman Winter
Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The one thing most people hate about this time of the year is that it's dark when they get home from work. However, lights in the flower beds can be a welcome sight as they pull into their driveways every evening.

After mulch, lighting is the perfect finishing touch to landscaping. Lighting can really make a dramatic impact in the landscape, especially when featuring the old oak, water pond or flower garden.

By Norman Winter
Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Muhly grass stole the show at the annual Fall Field Day at the Truck Crops Experiment Station in Crystal Springs. Honestly, I think I could have sold several hundred containers of this beautiful ornamental grass.

Since the field day, I have continued to receive calls about the beautiful ornamental grass with the cotton candy-like blooms that were a deep rose color.

Muhly grass impressed my horticultural counterparts as well. The name comes from Muhlenbergia.

By Norman Winter
Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Hernando Desoto discovered pecans' wonderful taste in 1541 in what became Mississippi, and Jean Penicaut wrote about them in Natchez in 1704.

The most widely planted variety, the Stuart, originated here, as did Desirable, Success and Schley. Despite criticism over irregular crops and insect problems, the pecan is a survivor and worthy of a place in the landscape as a shade tree.

By Norman Winter
Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Recent dinner guests drooled over my container-grown lemon tree that was holding about 50 fruit of differing stages of ripeness. The friends looked at the Mexican limes and satsuma oranges with the same enthusiasm.

These trees range in age from 12 to 15 years, which means I have had them in Bryan, Texas; Shreveport, La.; Arlington, Texas; and Mount Olive, Miss. Doesn't exactly sound like the Citrus Belt, does it?