Southern Gardening

I like big grasses and it ain’t no lie. Ornamental grasses are often unassuming in the landscape waiting for their turn in the spotlight. Let’s take a look at some of my fall favorites. One of my all-time favorites is pampas grass, though I may have a love hate relationship with this perennial grass. I love the six to seven foot tall plants and then the flower stalks shoot up and can be up to ten feet tall. The flat grass blades have a rough surface, think sand paper, and have very sharp edges. This is the hate part of the equation especially when it comes to spring pruning.

Here on Southern Gardening, we talk a LOT about ornamental plants in our gardens and landscape. We hardly ever mention the most prolific plant on most properties…the lawn itself. Today on Southern Gardening, I'm talking with Dr. Jay McCurdy, the MSU Extension Turf grass specialist. Jay, fall is an important time of the year for lawn care. What are some of the lawn care activities we need to accomplish each fall? Jay: A common question I get is what type of fertilizer to use, as well as when to apply it. Typically, we want to apply less nitrogen and more potassium in the fall.

Now’s the time to start planting ornamental leafy greens in your garden. I think these must haves provide some of the best cool season color. Let’s look at some of my fall favorites. Ornamental kale varieties display ruffly and textured leaves. One of the best kale in Mississippi is Redbor, a Mississippi Medallion winner. It has really crinkly leaves that showing off incredible dark purple/maroon through the cool months. Scarlet kale is a culinary variety, which has broad, frilly ad crinkly leaves similar to the Mississippi Medallion Redbor.

Now’s the time to start planting ornamental leafy greens in your garden. I think these must haves provide some of the best cool season color. Let’s look at some of my fall favorites. Ornamental kale varieties display ruffly and textured leaves. One of the best kale in Mississippi is Redbor, a Mississippi Medallion winner. It has really crinkly leaves that showing off incredible dark purple/maroon through the cool months. Scarlet kale is a culinary variety, which has broad, frilly ad crinkly leaves similar to the Mississippi Medallion Redbor.

This time of year, many gardeners are doing double takes as the naked ladies start parading around. Now you may be thinking that I’m just a dirty old man, but that’s not the point. The nekkid ladies, which is really fun to say, are really good landscape plants. The most common variety I see is Lycoris radiata. Lycoris also has other common names like surprise lily or resurrection lily. These names refer to what may seem like an odd way of growing. In the late summer and through the fall, Lycoris produces tall flower stalks without any foliage; hence the naked reference.