Southern Gardening

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist

Geraniums were among the showiest plants at the recent Jackson Garden and Patio Show. Exhibits had just about every color and kind you could want, including scented ones. Judging from the carts going out the door, they were a hit with the shoppers, too.

Large containers of geraniums welcomed visitors to front doors in landscapes all over the state last year. Whether a container is all geraniums or mixed with other spring-bloomers, these are showy flowers that can be admired from a great distance.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Designing mixed containers has become a frenzied passion nationwide, and I have to admit I'm hooked, too. Nothing can liven up a porch, patio or deck like a large container filled with several species of blooming flowers.

Part of the appeal of mixed containers is that they allow those of us with cement-like soil to grow beautiful bouquets with ease. There are hardly any rules to container gardening, but good drainage is of paramount importance.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Red-leafed bananas and citrus of all sorts were among the hottest plants at the Gulf Coast Garden and Patio Show in Biloxi.The Jackson Garden and Patio Show has expanded to three days, March 11-13, and looks to have jaw-dropping displays as well as highly sought-after plants.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Look around and you will quickly spot the old and still wonderful heirlooms we prize in today's garden. Mississippi and much of the South provide some outstanding old homesteads with long-standing plants announcing spring's arrival.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

It's rose-planting time all over the South, and garden centers are loaded with just about every type under the sun -- hybrid teas, floribundas, grandifloras, shrub roses, climbers, antiques, English roses and many others.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

I was at an office complex last week when I noticed the Mahonias right outside the door were just beginning to open up their sprays of yellow blossoms. It's like a signal, groundhog or no, that spring is around the corner.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Last year I was giving a program in Oxford and just outside the building on campus was the most beautiful Kousa dogwood in full bloom. I muttered to myself that if everyone could see it, they would know why I put it high on my list.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Despite recent weather ups and downs -- by the time you read this, the temperature may be 75 or 17 degrees -- be assured that planting time is not too far away. Consider planting in containers this season for a fun, new gardening experience.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Blame it on last fall's warm weather, but I procrastinated and simply did not plant cool season flowers. My pentas, Joseph's coats and Mexican heather looked good almost until Christmas.

Perhaps you, too, had salvias, lantanas, verbenas or some other perennials that will return next spring but now look a little like tumbleweeds in the soil. We can correct this color deficiency fairly quickly.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

There is so much to enjoy and see in the winter garden once trees and shrubs have been stripped bare of foliage. The dormant season reveals whether or not we planned for form and structure in our gardens.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The All-American Daylily Selection Council recently announced the 2005 additions to its growing family of winners. Red Volunteer, a striking crimson, is the 2005 winner in the exhibition category. Miss Mary Mary, a petite gold, won in the landscape category.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.