Home & Garden

Salvia varieties create colorful, informal feel

Saturday, May 18th, 2013, 7:00pm

Salvia varieties create colorful, informal feel

By Gary R. Bachman
MSU Horticulturist
Coastal Research & Extension Center

Many gardeners try to give their landscape the feel of an informal cottage garden. This garden concept has a loose, flowing feel, kind of like you just let plants grow wherever they happen to pop up in the landscape.

I had a professor way back in college who had a unique cottage garden planting method: He would walk through the landscape and just toss plants over his shoulder. We planted them where they landed. And you know what? His gardens looked awfully good.

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Careful tree placement can add beauty, value

Submitted by News Staff

Tuesday, May 14th, 2013, 3:22pm

Careful tree placement can add beauty, value

By Bonnie Coblentz
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Planting the right trees in the best locations is a good investment that can also pay dividends in energy savings for home and business owners.

Bob Brzuszek, associate professor in Mississippi State University’s Department of Landscape Architecture, said planting trees that block the summer sun on the south and west sides of buildings and roofs can substantially reduce air-conditioning costs.

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Enjoy blue flowers like lobelia and delphinium

Submitted by News Staff

Saturday, April 27th, 2013, 6:00pm

Enjoy blue flowers like lobelia and delphinium

By Gary R. Bachman
MSU Horticulturist
Coastal Research & Extension Center

Has the search for blue flowers left you feeling blue?

Mississippi has a long tradition of being famous for blues music. In fact, the Mississippi Blues Trail has markers all across the state telling the story of the blues.

Mississippi gardeners also have a long tradition of wanting blue flowers for their gardens and landscapes. Blue is a coveted color in the landscape, and plant and seed catalogs try every year to meet the need for the color blue.

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Use care when dividing perennials in the spring

Submitted by News Staff

Wednesday, April 24th, 2013, 3:24pm

Use care when dividing perennials in the spring

By Gary R. Bachman
MSU Horticulturist
Coastal Research & Extension Center

With spring in the air and our landscapes waking up from their long winter’s nap, Mississippi gardeners jump into the many chores needed to get gardens off to the right start.

One of the first decisions to be made is what to plant. We flock to garden centers looking for inspiration and new plants to enjoy in the coming year. Sometimes we forget to look in our own gardens for the options we already have.

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Senorita Rosalita, Sparkler cleomes are good in gardens

Submitted by News Staff

Saturday, April 13th, 2013, 6:00pm

Senorita Rosalita, Sparkler cleomes are good in gardens

By Gary R. Bachman
MSU Horticulturist
Coastal Research & Extension Center

One of the flowering plants I remember from my youth is the cleome. I loved these tall plants with flowers I thought looked a little spidery.

Many years later, when I rediscovered cleome growing in my neighbor’s yard, I reached out for a closer look at the flowers and was suddenly reminded of the one aspect I did not like about these plants. I had forgotten about the thorns and had impaled my thumb.

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The case of the missing blue Mexican petunia

Submitted by News Staff

Saturday, April 6th, 2013, 6:00pm

The case of the missing blue Mexican petunia

By Gary R. Bachman
MSU Horticulturist
Coastal Research & Extension Center

The story you are about to read is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

It was a spring morning several years ago just like this morning when I received the call. I thought it was going to be like many others I receive. I was wrong.

The person on the other end of the phone had a neighbor’s cousin to visit the coast some years ago but wasn’t sure about the season.

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Supertunias make a super garden impact

Submitted by News Staff

Saturday, March 23rd, 2013, 7:00pm

By Gary R. Bachman
MSU Horticulturist
Coastal Research & Extension Center

Every spring the home gardener is bombarded with new and improved petunias for the garden and landscape, making it hard to decide which to bring home from the garden center. In my opinion, you simply can’t go wrong selecting any of the Supertunias.

For the past several years, I have been watching and writing about these fantastic garden performers. Whether used as spreading plants in the landscape or as container and hanging basket plants, supertunias have been good performers in Mississippi.

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