Southern Gardening

Sometimes even when the temperatures certainly feel broiling I come across a really cool garden. C’mon let’s go check out this shady hillside landscape. The first thing I’m sure you notice are the caladiums. There are caladiums everywhere. Red caladiums, white caladiums, pink caladiums, spotted caladiums, speckled caladiums, large plantings here…..small plantings there. Here, there, and everywhere, the caladiums offer an explosion of bright, vibrant color.

One of my newest favorite groups of plants for hot summer and fall, yes I said fall, are ornamental peppers. Today I’m at the North Mississippi Research and Extension Center in Verona taking a look their trial beds. Ornamental peppers begin setting fruit as the temperatures start to heat up, and will keep producing through the fall season. It seems like ornamental peppers are continually in flower, which means it’s very common to have multitudes of peppers in various stages of coloration. Let’s take a look at a few in the trials.

To borrow a phrase, “I’m all about easy” when comes to maintaining the landscape, especially in the summer season. But this time of year there is one garden chore that helps to keep many flowering plants looking good that often gets overlooked. Despite its name, deadheading is good for your flowering plants. Deadheading extends the bloom period, maintains the health of garden plants and removes the seed source of beautiful flowering plants that have the potential of becoming a weedy mess for years to come.

A lot a gardeners like the tropical look in the landscape. Growing bananas is an easy way to accomplish this goal. Today we’re at the Mississippi State Trial Gardens where bananas are being evaluated for cold tolerance. Japanese Fiber is widely considered to be the most cold tolerant banana selection. The bright green leaves can be six feet long and are arching out from the top of the thick trunk. Red Abyssinian is a personal favorite of mine. The leaves are bright green with a red midrib.

In my role with MSU Extension as the Southern Gardener I’m frequently asked to evaluate problems in the landscape. There are times when I consider myself part of the CSI: Horticulture unit. Some crimes against horticulture are very obvious, such as the highly publicized crape murder spree that occurs unabated each spring. But another more insidious crime against horticulture occurs without much media attention: burying our trees alive with mulch. This is a crime of passion, because we love our trees so much.

Hibiscus are one of those must have summer plants that we can count on to brighten up our gardens and landscapes. Today we’re at the Mississippi State Trials Gardens looking at their gorgeous hardy hibiscus. Hardy hibiscus are very different from tropical hibiscus. First these plants are winter hardy, having been bred from the native hibiscus found in the swamps and ditches of the Gulf coast. And second, hardy hibiscus doesn’t offer the shiny, glossy leaves of tropical hibiscus. But a trait the two varieties certainly share are the bright, beautiful, and almost gaudy flowers.

Gardeners in Mississippi know we need plants that can thrive in the summer heat. However, working outdoors for any length of time can take a toll on even the hardiest gardener. The dangers of overheating in shouldn’t be ignored. According to the CDC, since 1979 heat-related deaths in the United States outnumber those from hurricanes, lightening, tornadoes and earthquakes combined. Here are some of my simple tips to avoid heat-related problems. A good tip I follow is to plan gardening activities in the mornings and evenings, which are going to be the cooler times of the day.

When our gardens and landscapes heat up for hot summer season, you just can’t beat the color of annual vinca. In my opinion vinca is one of those perfect landscape plants. They produce loads of color and handle the high heat and dry conditions of our Mississippi summers. One group of vinca I always recommend are the Cora vinca. The dark green foliage has a leathery look and texture and makes the perfect background to really show off the heavy production of colorful flowers. They are available as upright growers, or my favorites, the Cascade with a trailing habit.

I have always been a fan of landscape and garden plants that have dark foliage that proudly show off colorful flowers or fruit. Let’s take a look at some of my garden must haves. I’m really impressed with these new dahlias and their dark chocolaty brown foliage. Dahlightful Sultry Scarlet produces season long semi-double scarlet red flowers that make a seductive combination with the almost black foliage. Dahlightful Georgia Peach has deep blackish-green foliage that shows off the warm apricot colored semi-double flowers.

Are you looking for an easy bright splash of color for your flower beds? Today I’m at the MSU South Mississippi Branch Station in Poplarville taking a look at the gorgeous trials of Profusion zinnia they have growing in their flower beds. For our Mississippi gardens, Profusion zinnia are always a great choice for annual color. These 2006 Mississippi Medallion winners perform well in both cool and warm temperatures, and high humidity conditions. Profusion has excellent tolerance to powdery mildew that can plague the older Zinnia elegans or pompom zinnia.