By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
The fall blooming azaleas have not only been showy but are really starting to gain some fans. Encore azaleas have been out for a couple of years, and everyone that I have talked to has been impressed with them. This year there are two new Encore azaleas.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
Panola is a new plant this fall that will have gardeners talking. The promotion will be called Panola Panache. I can see the wheels turning now. "What is a Panola?" Well, it is a cross between a pansy and viola, and it comes from Waller Flowerseed in California. They are already starting to show up in garden centers and more are on the way.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
Orange will continue to be a hot, trendy color next year in the world of flowers, thanks to a couple of All-America Selections Winners. One is a compact Mexican sunflower, or tithonia, called Fiesta del Sol and the other is a dwarf cosmos sulphureus called Cosmic Orange.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
Garden snakes can certainly perform valuable services around outdoor plants, but finding a 6-foot chicken or king snake when you are reaching for a weed can cause some people to have a coronary.
There is one reptile I do love having around the garden, and it is called the anole, pronounced "a-know'lee." Like many of you, I grew up calling these green lizards chameleons. They probably got that name because of their ability to change colors.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
If you are one of those gardeners with more silver and gray on your head than in your landscape, you are passing up a group of plants that lends an artist's touch.
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
One of the most drop-dead gorgeous camellia sasanquas will soon be showing up at a garden center near you. It is obvious that most gardeners haven't really learned about this awesome variety called Shishigashira.
When you consider the waxy leather leaves of these evergreens coupled with blooms as pretty as a rose, you wonder why people would plant anything else. The Shishigashira is a dwarf-to-compact form of camellia sasanqua with rose-pink blooms.
MSU Horticulturist Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
Propagating favorite plants is something every gardener wants to do at some time. This is a good time of the year to put the thought into practice.
Division equals multiplication when you talk about perennials. Dividing not only makes your perennial garden better, but gives you additional plants to create wonderful new gardens.
MSU Horticulturist Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
Not too far from where I grew up in Texas, there is a huge bicycle race this time of the year called the "Hotter Than Hell 100." While I don't know the actual temperature of that southern destination, it does seem too hot here to ride a bicycle or to garden.
Nevertheless, this is the time to consider planting for some of our best fall color. Garden mums are ready for planting, and there are some huge advantages to making those purchases now.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
It was a fight worthy of a National Geographic special, but I was the only witness. Hummingbirds swept down from adjacent oaks to the deep-blue flowers of the anise sage only to be met with fierce resistance and a screeching warning from the protecting hummer.
I have always been a fan of the Blue Anise Sage (salvia guaranitica), but until I saw this fight for its nectar, I never fully appreciated all the attributes the plant offered.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
Our long growing season lends itself to enjoying exotic flowers from tropical regions of the world. A coffee relative, Ixora, is a jungle-type plant that is ideal for porches or patios.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
Very few people know anything about abelia, but it has some outstanding qualities worthy of consideration in Mississippi landscapes.
Consider this, they bloom for months with clusters of flowers, the foliage is attractive and they have no pests. This should put this delightful shrub at the top of the list for those desiring a low maintenance garden.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
If there was a poster child for underused plants, the bottlebrush buckeye would be the spectacular winner.
The word bottlebrush should make you want to grow it, but when you consider the flowers are 4-inches wide and 12-inches long and produced in huge quantities, it really is time to go shopping.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
This really has been a year for the black-eyed Susan called Indian Summer. They are showing off brilliantly in my garden and were one of the Mississippi Medallion winners for 1999.
Goldsturm (Rudbeckia fulgida), which is the most reliable perennial black-eyed Susan, was the 1999 Perennial Plant of the Year, and the award is deserving. Next year, Goldsturm will be the Louisiana Select award winner.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
I was sitting on the shaded patio the other afternoon moaning about the heat when a darting visitor approached and changed my outlook on the day. A ruby-throated hummingbird decided my hanging basket of pink wave petunias was just the feast for which he had been searching.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
The 30-inch tall, spiky blue flowers of the angelonia continue to be the most impressive of recent plant introductions. In a world where round flowers seem to dominate, the texture from the plant is a joy to behold. The Florida Plant of the Year last year was a variety called Hilo Princess, and it performs well here too!
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
Some of my most enjoyable days as a horticulturist are those when my work is my hobby and I get to experience unusual plants. This column was borne out of those days.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
You read about all sorts of plant enthusiasts claiming certain flowers are the Queen of Flowers. To a rose lover it's the rose, to a camellia lover it is the camellia, and so the story goes with daylilies and hostas.
For the vase, for color, for butterflies and for ease of growing, there is much to be said for the old fashioned zinnia as the Queen of the Flower Garden. Many a young grower gets their gardening teeth cut on this flower.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
It is remarkable when a plant performs equally well in soils that are acidic or alkaline. It is even more wonderful when that plant has large pink flowers in soils with the higher pH and blue blossoms in the soils with the lower pH.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
Few things are prettier than a daylily garden that looks like a changing kaleidoscope of color for weeks. There are thousands of spectacular daylilies for sale, some even approaching the cost of my first car.