Southern Gardening

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

If your neighborhood has any deep red-bronze Japanese maples growing, they are probably this year's Mississippi Medallion award winning tree, the Bloodgood. This maple has earned the respect of landscapers and gardeners throughout the South.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The first flower to have its own web site has garnered another honor, the 2000 Mississippi Medallion Award. This prestigious honor goes to the Wave series of petunias, whose web site can be found at www.wave-rave.com.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

There is a revival of sorts going on in the world of gardening, and it's all around us. It may be as close as the house next door. It is the revival of the cottage garden.

I know in some places cottage gardens never left. But now cottage gardens are popping up not only in rural areas, but also in new neighborhoods with the most modern homes. Included in this revival of style comes the old fashioned picket fence.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Hundreds of bright, brilliantly colored flowers are popping out all across the state. These are flowers that make other states with alkaline soil weep with jealousy. You know what I am referring to, the azalea, one of the most loved, revered and sought after shrubs anywhere.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Spring has arrived with all of its glorious colors -- purples, pinks, yellows and reds, but the color guaranteed to catch your eye every time is white. We all need to use white more often.

White reflects light to offer ideal landscape use. Notice what Mother Nature does in the forest. The dogwoods are just now starting to bloom, attracting our attention to the glistening, reflective bracts in an otherwise dull forest.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

I wanted to title this article "Loosen Up and Garden Au Naturel," but my editor wouldn't let me because the phrase implies naked and no one gardens that way. I had already cast a blight on the University with a previous article about Naked Ladies, a.k.a. spider lilies.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

2000 has been declared the year of the zinnia, but we beat the National Garden Bureau to the punch. Zinnias were the queen of the show at the Fall Flower and Garden Fest held last October at the Truck Crops Branch Experiment Station in Crystal Springs.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

One of my favorite plants that has been harder to find than a four-leaf clover has been blessed recently by other Southern horticulturists. Now that horticulturists whose words carry more weight than mine are pronouncing Persian Shield a great plant, nurseries everywhere will propagate it.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

A couple of years ago a grower in Kosciusko was very excited about a plant that I thought looked sick. Now, I am prepared to eat crow because I want that plant and I think you will, too! It is known botanically as Stenotaphrum secundatum variegatum; in short, it is variegated St. Augustine grass.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Every once in awhile a plant comes along in which I wish I could buy stock. It would be investing in a plant like you do the Blue Chip stocks. A new plant this spring that is almost guaranteed to make big bucks is called Million Bells Terra Cotta.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

2000 will prove to be a banner year for the world of verbenas with new series such as the Babylon, new colors such as the Tortuga Peach and new growth habits like those in the Temari Patio series. Each one deserves a place at your home.

Verbenas have come so far in recent years that gardeners consider them a staple in the mixed-flower garden. Specifically, I am referring to the perennial, vegetatively propagated verbenas, not their annual cousins.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Since moving to Mississippi almost five years ago, the mock orange or English dogwood (Philadephus coronarius) has really climbed the ladder in my mind of choice landscape plants. The huge, fragrant blooms last for weeks and make it one of the showiest plants of late spring.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The Mahonia is one of those plants that you don't think about growing until you see your neighbors' Mahonia blooming in January. Anything that blooms this time of the year is worthy of a closer look.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

In a recent Southern Gardening television segment, I urged gardeners to lighten up and be a little whimsical with yard art. We can do the same thing with our selections of plants. For instance, why not plant a rose garden with a theme since it is getting close to rose planting time?

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Tabloids are chock-full of predictions for the New Year, decade and next millennium -- most of which are absurd. I have a prediction of my own about some new plants that I think will be hotter than your car's hood in August. These plants are called Tidal Wave petunias.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

With Christmas finally past, you may find yourself with some new plants you received as gifts or bought as decorations. While indoor plants certainly can add beauty and enjoyment to your home, how do you make them last?

Whether grown for foliage or flower, they can only add beauty and charm to your home if they are healthy. Many gardeners begin their struggle with houseplants by choosing the wrong location with regard to light.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The winter is not normally the time to talk about palms, but I want to make a point because Mother Nature has endowed our state with a palm that can take temperatures well below zero. The palm is known botanically as sabal minor and is called shrub palmetto.

North of Jackson on the Natchez Trace around mile marker 126 you may notice low wilderness areas where these palms are native. They can be found in several Mississippi counties.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Christmas is a special time for making memories. Not all the memories come from gifts, although the slippers that look like stuffed hens from the farm certainly make a lasting impression.

Christmas trees have a way of making a lasting memory just like the special ornaments that adorn them. Other than using a camera, one way to capture and make that Christmas memory last is with a living Christmas tree.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Despite unusually dry weather, the fall leaf color has been outstanding this year and one tree that has been showy from the North to the South is the ginkgo.

Many of you are probably more familiar with the herbal extracts believed to help your ah ... um ... mental concentration and even memory. Back in the '70s and '80s, it was fashionable to have jewelry made from gold-plated gingko leaves.

By Norman Winter
Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

If the Santa Clauses dancing to the boogie woogie or some Christmas rock song has left you feeling a little artificial, then the prescription you may need is to spend a little time outdoors collecting materials to let you make a home-style holiday wreath.