Southern Gardening from 2004
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
The Perennial Plant Association has been one of the hardest working and innovative promotional organizations in the country. They keep you on your toes because you never know whether the winner will be a flower, grass, or in this year's case, a fern.
The Perennial Plant Association has named Athyrium niponicum Pictum the 2004 Perennial Plant of the Year. This perennial low-maintenance Japanese painted fern is one of the showiest ferns for shade gardens.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
The key to happiness with flowers in 2004 may depend on raised beds.
Twenty years ago the phrase "raised bed gardening" conjured up visions of railroad or landscape timbers encompassing the vegetable garden. The reasons were simple: the soil was yucky, and these walls of wood could hold in the perfect organic and topsoil blends brought in by a truck.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
To be perfectly honest, I like the 70-degree days we had around New Year's Day, and I loathe the low-20s that followed. A two- or three-week winter would suit me fine because I am ready to dig in the dirt.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
The Rajun Cajun ruellia really impressed me last summer and makes it high on my list for the landscape in 2004. I have grown this fiery red flower before but as usual, it is other gardeners' applications or companions that really cause my excitement.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
If silver foliage is the first thing you think of at the mention to the word artemisia, you haven't seen Oriental Limelight. This introduction by Proven Winners has really captured the imagination of landscape designers everywhere. It is also an incredible plant for mixed baskets and containers.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
If you are ready for some new garden appeal, look no further than two of this year's All-America Selections winners: Fresh Look Red and Fresh Look Yellow celosia.
Fresh Look Red celosia performs like a fresh floral arrangement all summer and for that reason is an All-America Selections Gold Medal Winner.
Thriving in the summer heat and humidity with drought or rainy conditions, Fresh Look Red decorates a garden or patio container with rosy red plumes.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
Victoria Blue, a 1998 Mississippi Medallion award winner, has always been one of my favorite varieties of Salvia farinacea, or mealy-cup sage, but there are certainly some other selections worthy of a prime spot in the landscape.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
This year it looks like the snow bush will again be one of the hottest plants at the garden and patio shows, but you had shop early if you want one or more.
Some may ask, "What in the world is a snow bush? Isn't the winter long, cold and wet enough without mentioning snow?"
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
My imagination runs wild when I think about a white coneflower I saw last summer. I can picture a man saying, "Honey, I got a new white coneflower and I am going to name it after you -- Kim's Mophead."
I suppose it didn't happen that way, but it sure would be fun to think so. If so, that was probably the last flower he named -- right after Kim's Knee High, a more traditional but shorter purple coneflower.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
There is a new, bold gardener out there stirring up excitement. What I like about the bold gardener's style is that it uses plant selections or combinations in atypical ways. The result is that we're pushed outside our comfort zone -- we are challenged.
One instance of this bold style involves plants thought of as only for the arid west or perhaps Mexico. These plants typically have sword-like leaves and even prickles.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
Incredible things are happening in the world of the tropical hibiscus when it comes to new colors. There are many new varieties, so remember to check your garden center this spring.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
Yubi portulacas will stop traffic with their eye-popping, jaw-dropping displays. These moss roses have been out a few years, but most Mississippi gardeners still are timid with them.
In Texas, the Yubi has garnered awards and caught on very quickly with gardeners. The single-petaled blossoms of the Yubi are as big as their rose-formed cousins in the Sundial series. The centers of the flowers expose the stamens and give a two-tone effect.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
A tomato variety has charmed the Mississippi Plant Selections Committee to become the first vegetable chosen as a Mississippi Medallion award winner. This standout performer is the Mini Charm Tomato.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
One of the most beautiful cities in the South is Port Gibson, Miss. Labeled "too beautiful to burn" by Civil War Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, this town indeed has persevered and entices travelers to wander the streets in awe.
The Mississippi Plant Selections Committee is proud to announce the Port Gibson Pink verbena as a 2004 Mississippi Medallion award winner.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
Purple Majesty is an ornamental millet that is one of the most eye-catching plants of the 21st century. As an All-America Selections Gold Medal winner last year, many gardeners were still too timid to let this plant really impress the neighbors.
Thousands of shoppers have seen it growing in past years at Northpark Mall in Jackson and wondered what it was. In the Northpark garden, it was used with cannas and elephant ears for a really unique, if not exotic, look.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
You may have thought you heard it all when the Mississippi Plant Selections Committee chose the Mini Charm tomato as the first vegetable to win the award. Now the committee has chosen Purple Ruffles basil as the first herb to win the Mississippi Medallion Award.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
Sometimes when a plant gets labeled a noxious weed my first thought is that the most negligent gardeners, even someone like me, can grow it. Since I am on the road constantly, I need tough plants and one of the hardiest varieties that I adore is the Ox Eye daisy.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
Magilla Perilla had everyone paying homage last year, but by the end of this summer or next year depending on supplies, Kong coleus will likely be the new reigning king.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
Keep your eyes open when shopping at local garden centers and you just may find Honey Bee Blue agastache. Herb lovers have been growing this plant, also known as anise hyssop, for years and relishing in not only its beauty but also its tough nature.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
Garden centers all over the state are offering some incredible baskets of plants, often with several species of plants rather than just a few petunias. The baskets might hang and gently swing in the breeze or attach firmly to a fence, wall or balcony.
This look started years ago in the Pacific Northwest and has now exploded all across the South. You see them in cities like Branson, Mo., New Orleans and Birmingham.