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Stay up to date on all the latest happening at Extension!

Latest News

  • Dr. Eddie Smith

    Eddie Smith named new Southern Gardening host

    Eddie Smith is the new face and driving force of the Southern Gardening family of resources that includes weekly videos, newspaper columns, guest appearances and social media posts focused on gardening in Mississippi.

  • A cluster of red blooms is surrounded by green leaves.

    Calliope geraniums produce summer color

    I believe the geranium is one of the most popular landscape plants in the South. I see them at almost every garden center or nursery I visit. I also remember as a kid seeing my grandmother’s potted geranium in a container on her front porch. It had bright-red flowers.

  • Alt Text: Close-up of freeze-damaged blueberries

    Late freeze causes severe damage to MS blueberries

    POPLARVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippi blueberry producers expect to see substantial yield losses in the state’s largest commercial fruit crop after the hard freeze that hit the state on the weekend of March 18. Eric Stafne, fruit and nut specialist with the MSU Extension Service, said growers will see significant losses. The condition of the crop is poor based on what commercial growers are reporting to him and his observation of damage to blueberry plants at the South Mississippi Branch Experiment Station in Poplarville, where he is based.

  • Numerous red, trumpet-shaped flowers bloom on a vine.

    Find honeysuckle options for landscape additions

    Weeds are often defined as being any plant out of place, but that definition never sat well with me. This simplistic definition seems to emphasize the aggressiveness of plants that don’t behave in the garden. For example, I’ve never heard anyone having problems with hydrangeas popping up in the landscape unexpectedly.

  • A woman works in a laboratory.

    Sweet potato growers given free nematode soil testing

    Sweet potato growers in Mississippi can get free nematode testing of soil samples they send to Mississippi State University from now until Dec. 31, 2024. The samples can be submitted in nematode bags available at local county MSU Extension Service offices; samples are also accepted in quart-sized, sealed plastic bags.

  • Two green insects rest inside a plant bloom.

    Plant bug battle lasts all season in cotton

    The tarnished plant bug is Mississippi’s No. 1 most economically damaging insect in cotton, costing an estimated $42 million in yield losses plus millions more spent to control the pest.

  • A large, yellow bloom.

    How to sow sunflowers in successful succession

    I’m a fan of whatever plants happens to be in bloom at any given time, but sunflowers are definitely one of my top five favorites, especially for use in arrangements. Last summer, I decided I wanted to have sunflowers every week until frost.

  • MSU floral specialist to give demo at Merrehope

    MERIDIAN, Miss. -- Gardening and floral design enthusiasts and professionals can enjoy a floral design demonstration and reception at Merrehope in Meridian. Petals & Prosecco will feature Jim DelPrince, a horticulture specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service. He will show attendees how to make 19th century-style mantel garlands.

  • Distant cows graze in a fenced pasture.

    MSU Brown Loam station reopening at Raymond

    The E.G. (Gene) Morrison Brown Loam Branch Experiment Station in Hinds County, which has sat largely vacant for two years, now has a new purpose, updated facilities and a new life after reopening this spring. The research station, part of the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station at Mississippi State University, is a 1,700-acre facility dedicated to cattle, forage and agronomic crop research. It is part of the Central Mississippi Research and Extension Center in Raymond.

Mississippi State University Extension 130 Bost Drive Mississippi State MS 39762