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Southern Gardening from 2004

Muhly grass looks at home in any kind of garden.
September 30, 2004 - Filed Under: Lawn and Garden

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Muhly grass is already showing out with its incredible display of color. No doubt, it will be the hit again at the Annual Fall Flower and Garden Fest Oct.15-16.

This event, held at the Truck Crops Branch Experiment Station in Crystal Springs, is unsurpassed as the best free horticultural festival in the South.

The Magellan zinnia produces enormous flowers that reach a whopping 6 inches in width. These bright, colorful flowers are produced on short, stocky plants that reach 18 inches tall.
October 7, 2004 - Filed Under: Flower Gardens, Vegetable Gardens

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

If you want to see next year's hot new zinnias, be sure to attend the Fall Flower and Garden Fest Oct. 15-16 at the Truck Crops Experiment Station in Crystal Springs.

Among the new zinnias is the Magellan series, which is sure to be hot. The Magellan Coral will be an All-America Selections winner next year. As you look at the colors available, you'll think they are all winners.

The strikingly beautiful Red Giant mustard is a colorful addition to fall and winter landscapes. Here it is surrounded by pink, spring-blooming tulips.
October 14, 2004 - Filed Under: Lawn and Garden

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The 2004 Mississippi Medallion award-winning Red Giant Mustard may be just what you need to liven up your fall and winter garden.

If you haven't tried Red Giant mustard, you have missed one of the hottest new plants for the fall and winter. They are strikingly beautiful in the landscape, and partner well with pansies like the Ultima Apricot shades and Delta Fire, and are incredible interplanted with spring-blooming pink tulips.

The glass lamp to the left gives light during the night and a statuesque appearance during the day.
October 21, 2004 - Filed Under: Lawn and Garden

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The time change is one of the few times of the year I always dread. I don't mind getting up to sunshine, but I really dislike coming home to dark.

If you are like me, probably we both could use a little landscape lighting to welcome us home as we pull in the drive. After mulch, lighting is the perfect finishing touch to landscaping. Lighting can really make a dramatic impact in the landscape, especially when featuring the old oak, water pond or flower garden.

The forsythia sage is a short-day or long-night bloomer that reaches 6 to 7 feet in height and is topped by bright yellow blossoms reaching 12 to 24 inches in length.
October 28, 2004 - Filed Under: Lawn and Garden

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

I always like to go back to the Truck Crops Experiment Station after the Fall Flower and Garden Fest. It's kind of like going back on the football field after winning the game.

The hummingbirds seem happy now that the 6,000 visitors are gone, but they sure put on a show for them during the Fest. One plant they were really feasting on was the forsythia sage, known botanically as Salvia madrensis.

Satsumas like these perform well in containers and are known for their cold tolerance and great taste.
November 4, 2004 - Filed Under: Cut Flowers and Houseplants

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Last week I had the opportunity to help with a plant auction at a field day in Lucedale. One of the plants that caught everyone's fancy was a fruit-laden Improved Meyer lemon. In fact, it went for a pretty price. I wanted it, too.

This Christmas cactus is beautiful outside on a warm winter day, but most of the time these dependable holiday plants brighten up special areas inside the home.
November 4, 2004 - Filed Under: Cut Flowers and Houseplants

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Plants can make memorable gifts for the hard-to-buy-for person on anyone's list this holiday season. Unlike many other gifts, plants are easy to shop for, come in colors and sizes to please almost anyone, and can last for years with proper care.

Plants make good planned or last-minute gifts because they are so widely available. You can pick them up in nurseries, garden centers and florist shops.

The Japanese loquat assumes a rounded form and is normally under 20 feet tall, perfect for those areas needing a small tree. The furrylooking white flowers form in the early fall and are deliciously scented. Plus, if the winter is mild, the creamy white flowers will yield a real delicacy for the table.
November 11, 2004 - Filed Under: Lawn and Garden

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

One of the most picturesque small trees is blooming all over Mississippi and filling the air with a tantalizing fragrance. If the winter is mild, the creamy white flowers will yield a real delicacy for the table. The tree I am talking about is the Japanese loquat, or Japanese plum, known botanically as Eriobotrya japonica.

Fall is a great time to plant Japanese maple trees. Bloodgood, like the one pictured here, is a popular selection and also a Mississippi Medallion award winner.
November 18, 2004 - Filed Under: Trees

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

This past weekend I was giving a program in Tuscaloosa and noticed the Japanese maples were starting to show their first hints of fall color. The trees were really healthy and exquisite in form.

Another great town for Japanese maples is Brookhaven, which may be the garden spot of our state. They not only have many lace-leaf or dissected types, but also some of the oldest non-dissected Japanese maples.

Known botanically as Brugmansia, Angel's Trumpets come from Ecuador, but they couldn't look more at home in Mississippi. The most beautiful of Angel's Trumpets reach 12 to 18 inches in length and make a statement in the landscape. Combine them with large bananas for a tropical appeal, or try them with Purple Hearts or red coleus like Burgundy Sun, New Orleans Red or Plum Parfait.
November 23, 2004 - Filed Under: Flower Gardens

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The prolonged fall with no frosts has made this a banner year for Angel's Trumpets. It seemed those at the Truck Crops Experiment Station were a little behind others at first, but now I see these pre-holiday treasures everywhere.

The giant, trumpet-shaped flowers in apricot yellow, pink or white gracefully hang along branches in Mississippi landscapes as if waiting for Gabriel to choose one for an upcoming announcement.

Get into the holiday spirit by heading to the outdoors and collecting things for an old-fashioned wreath. Harvest sprigs of greenery from an eastern red cedar or leyland cypress. Look for tallow tree seed clusters, magnolia leaves with fruit pods, pine cones, and holly and nandina berries.
December 2, 2004 - Filed Under: Lawn and Garden

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

To be perfectly honest, decorating for Christmas has never been high on my list. I know my family would like me to have a session with Dr. Laura, but then all of you would recognize my voice, which the TV crew already says is an embarrassment.

DayDream is a low-growing, compact landscape shrub rose reaching just 2 feet in height. A unique color in the shrub category, the massive clusters of lightly scented, fuchsia-pink blooms will flower all summer long. Foliage is glossy, deep green and highly disease resistant. DayDream's moderate size and neat, round habit make it an appropriate choice for a variety of garden situations.
December 9, 2004 - Filed Under: Flower Gardens

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Any mention of champions at this time of the year and everyone thinks about the Orange Bowl or some other football game. But the All-America Rose Selections Committee names champions every year, and they are not determined on a football field in Miami or even Pasadena.

The nonprofit All-America Rose Selections Committee looks for roses with traits like striking color, a profuse bloom, unparalleled disease resistance or an unbelievably sweet fragrance.

The Crippsii can grow to around 20 feet tall, but most are in the 10-foot range. The golden-yellow foliage really looks incredible during cold, dreary winter weather.
December 16, 2004 - Filed Under: Trees

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

I recently attended a meeting in Lucedale at one of the nurseries that produce woody ornamentals. As I was walking across the field, I noticed some beautiful conifers with glowing golden foliage.

These gold, Christmas tree-shaped plants are known botanically as Chamaecyparis obtusa, or false cypress. The variety that is becoming more popular in the southeast is Crippsii.

In a gardening world dominated by a sea of green, well-placed pockets of plants with silver and gray leaves is ever so striking, like in this planting of Sweet Alyssum and Dusty Miller.
December 23, 2004 - Filed Under: Lawn and Garden

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

When choosing plants for borders this spring, strive to vary heights and leaf textures, and don't overlook plants with gray foliage.

In a gardening world dominated by a sea of green, well-placed pockets of plants with silver and gray leaves is ever so striking. We have choices here from perennials, herbs and even shrubs.

Knock Out's fluorescent, cherry-red blooms begin in spring and continue to provide color until the first frost. During the winter months, orange-red rose hips provide added winter interest.
December 30, 2004 - Filed Under: Flower Gardens

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

At the Midsouth Greenhouse Growers Conference, a speaker told of a recent rose introduction that was surprising everyone with its non-stop blooming and apparent tolerance, if not resistance, to the cursed black spot. What was this knock-out rose? It was Knock Out, a 2000 All-America Rose Selections winner.

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