Southern Gardening

A creative way to add interest to any planting is to combine plants having different colors and textures. Let’s take a look at some really good combinations to use in your garden. I really like the contrasting colors of these plants next to each other in the landscape. The flowers of Double Cherry Improved Zahara zinnia are beautiful. The fully double flowers range from deep magenta and mature to a pale pastel cherry pink. Purple Flash ornamental pepper is one of the showiest available. The purple and white variegated leaves are easily seen from across the garden.

I’m always amazed at the ability of rock climbers to scurry up the side of a mountain. But just as amazing are some of the climbing plants that we can grow in our gardens. Evergreen wisteria, also known as Millettia reticulata, is a great climbing plant. This wisteria is well-behaved; not as aggressive and invasive as our native wisteria. But the flowers are very similar to the showy, purple wild varieties. This plant will mature gracefully, and develop interesting, yet beautiful, twisted an gnarly trunks.

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.