Southern Gardening

As the Southern Gardener, almost anything dealing with new and unique takes on horticulture grab my interest. So The Greenhouse on Porter in Ocean Springs quickly became one of my favorite hangouts. This place is interesting because it’s actually a vintage 1940’s greenhouse repurposed into a coffee and biscuit joint. The old head house has become the front lobby, where visitors order their food. The kitchen, where the delicious biscuits are baked, is also found here. Walk through the door into the greenhouse proper and you’re quickly reminded of this building’s original purpose.

Most home gardeners will cut summer flowers for indoor vases, but what can we do in the winter months? C’mon, let’s go out and collect some beautiful things from our Mississippi winter garden. I’m first going to collect some Southern Magnolia foliage. The large glossy green leaves will add coarse texture. Next I’m going to clip some crape myrtle stems having a few faded seed pods that will add interest to our winter piece. Any winter arrangement wouldn’t be complete without some seed heads from ornamental grasses. These will add delicate texture.

Many gardeners think that pruning is some kind of dark magic that only the experts can practice successfully. Today I want to share some advice to help take the mystery out of pruning. I receive a lot of calls this time of year with questions about pruning trees and shrubs. It comes down to technique and tools: bypass pruners, loppers and even a pruning saw are essential. Deciduous shrubs like these lantana will tolerate hard pruning, which is also called renewal pruning.

Home gardeners are showing more interest in planting ornamental grasses in their spring and summer landscapes. This often leads to the question, “How do I care for these plants in the winter?” Ornamental grasses are great landscape choices and can really add color and interesting texture to any garden. In fact in an earlier Southern Gardening segment we looked at some of the ornamental grass options available to the home gardener. Now a question I get this time of year is when do I cut my ornamental grass back and I always answer by saying leave it alone, for now.

Today Southern Gardening is at the South Mississippi Branch Station enjoying, due in part to the late arrival of cooler temperatures, a somewhat unusual flowering combination, azaleas and camellias. Encore azaleas are a popular landscape shrub and this year are still blooming like crazy in late fall. These shrubs are desirable because their multi season blooming provides a colorful display beyond the traditional spring bloom period. And their compact growth habit is great for smaller landscapes and easy care. There are many colors available, but I think I like the pink toned plants the best.