Southern Gardening from 2006
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
What plant was a 1997 Mississippi Medallion award winner, a 1997 Georgia Gold Medal winner, a 1997 Louisiana Select winner, a 1999 Arkansas Select winner, a 1999 Texas Superstar winner and a 2000 Oklahoma Proven award winner, but you probably still haven't tried it? Answer: the scaevola.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
These first hot summer months send people searching for some colorful flowers that can take the Mississippi heat and humidity while providing a dazzling display in the landscape. With those goals in mind, pentas are hard to beat.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
Recycling is popular in today's society, but the idea rarely conjures up visions of beauty. One Tallahatchie County gardener has developed a garden with old items that would make many people clean out their attics and garages in search of ornamental items to create unique displays.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
It's funny that melapodiums I used to consider ideal beginner plants are now “must haves” during summers that have a penchant to be both hot and dry.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
It is not unusual for a stunning display of flowers to stop people in their tracks, but grasses rarely have that effect. At the Mississippi State University Truck Crops Branch Experiment Station in Crystal Springs, a couple of grass-like plants did just that.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
It seems Mississippi gardeners have gone nuts over bananas, and I can see why. I recently visited a turn-of-the-century home in downtown Jackson. Entering the backyard, I felt like I was in a tropical paradise with elephants ears, ferns, water features and tall bananas.
One garden center this year stocked bananas by the truckload and had more varieties than I have ever seen for sale in Mississippi. It is exciting to see bananas sold by variety or species.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
Oddly enough, a pot has given me a lot of gardening fun this season, and I highly recommend it for everyone.
The pot is rather unique. My wife, Jan, saw it at a garden and patio show and had to have it. It looked like work to me -- getting it to the car, getting it home, placing it, etc. Plus, I didn't have the vision at first. Jan probably would say I never did.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
The glory lily is one of the most exotic flowering vines we can grow in the Southern garden. Its first blooms will take your breath away by their color and intricate structure.
Most people will recognize them immediately as tropical in origin. They are from tropical Africa and Asia and are the national flower of Zimbabwe. I like the glory lily's botanical name, Gloriosa superba, because we can paraphrase by calling it gloriously superb.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
This plant is a real zinger -- Lime Zinger to be exact. All of you who passed it up at this year's garden and patio shows would kick yourselves if you could see those owned by Barbara Harvey in Kosciusko. The Southern Gardening TV crew filmed her wonderful landscape as part of our 10th anniversary celebration.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
Foliage can be as effective as flowers, or more effective in some cases, in providing colorful beauty the entire season. Flowers cycle though the season, but when beautiful foliage is in the mix, the garden will always look exceptional.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
The new ginger known as Emperor has caused quite a commotion at my house. Everyone loves it.
First, let me admit I have never been a huge fan of variegated plants. There are some cannas, hostas and tropical crotons that have captured my heart, but this ginger took me by surprise.
Emperor is a variegated form of the hidden ginger and is known botanically as Curcuma petiolata. It has dark green leaves with creamy yellow variegation on the margins.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
Most of us are fed up with the heat. Thank goodness I have paid better attention to watering and fertilizing this year, and it has paid dividends. My flowers for the most part are still looking doggone good, including the petunias.
If your garden, on the other hand, has that barely alive look, then you may want to start thinking about a late-summer planting of marigolds or zinnias.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
A multitude of new plants have hit the market in recent years including one of my favorites, hibiscus. Those of you who love tropical hibiscus will find it hard to beat the Cajun series with their incredible blends of colors.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
I feel like I should begin this week's column by shouting out “uncle” to this tortuous heat. Despite the oppressive temperatures, I still have gotten a lot of enjoyment from growing plants in containers on my deck this year. Two of the prettiest are bananas.
My faithful readers know that I am a banana plant lover. I enjoy landscapes where bananas' coarse, textured foliage really makes for a tropical look.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
Diamond Frost is a little white flower that is sweeping awards all across the country. It's hard to believe that a plant related to the poinsettia with tiny airy flowers has caused such a commotion.
You might think I am exaggerating about the awards, so I have listed a few of the more notable designations for you:
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
If you have noticed beautiful yellow candelabra-type blossoms around your neighborhood, a candlestick plant probably is blooming close to your house.
It is considered a shrub in the tropics, yet growing wild there they are dwarf compared to how they look in our landscapes. Their low height in the tropics is probably due to shallow topsoil in their native islands.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
Every day as I drive back and forth to the office, I get jealous of a neighbor who has an incredibly beautiful goldenrain tree blooming.
This is such an exotic-looking tree that it also has names like Bougainvillea goldenrain tree and Chinese flame tree. The latter is a very descriptive name because these trees erupt into long 12- to 15-inch sprays of yellow blossoms.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
It took some time, but two of my favorite cool-season plants just got siblings: Frosty Rain pansy and Bouquet Rose Magic dianthus.
For years, everyone has adored Purple Rain pansy, the only mounding, cascading selection. Popular demand usually makes it hard for procrastinators to find them, yet for years this has been a series of one.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
The term “black and blue” usually refers to the results of someone getting in a fight and not coming out the winner. You might look black and blue after clearing some native jungle for your landscape.
But if you try the plant known as Black and Blue, you will come out the winner, as will the countless hummingbirds that will compete for its nectar.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
One of the plants I enjoyed the most on my deck this growing season has been a tropical hibiscus named Rum Runner. It's a large, 8-inch bloomer that has been very popular in Florida, and an Internet search indicates many other gardeners want it, too.