Southern Gardening

In the late summer we’re all looking to strike it rich with landscape gold. Today Southern Gardening is at the South Mississippi Branch Station in Poplarville where we have struck the mother lode. Our first look at landscape gold is Twisted Yellow celosia. It has a unique yellow color that is boldly tinged with gold. This is a cristata type of celosia that attracts attention because of its unique form and texture. It’s perfect for the sunny garden and will tolerate our heat and humidity. Having Goldsturm rudbeckia in the landscape is like hitting that main vein of gold.

I really like silver and burgundy colors in the landscape. It’s just something about when they’re planted together, they make a winning landscape combo. Let’s take a look at some great ground cover choices in these colors. A great Alternanthera selection is Purple Prince with its compact mounded habit. When grown in masses, it creates a tight and full ground cover. I think the foliage is beautiful with burgundy purple tops and on the underside a reddish ruby rose. Purple Heart is a trialing perennial in Mississippi with purple stems, violet purple leaves, and little pink flowers.