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Central Mississippi Garden Calendar

November - December

Mulch Flowerbeds Before You Plant

Before adding plants to any flower or shrub bed, make sure you rework the soil. Add 2-3 inches of organic matter by scattering it over the bed and working it into the existing soil. For the past eight months microorganisms, fungi, mold and earthworms have been feasting on the existing organic matter and breaking it down. This is the reason that the beds seem to shrink. Adding organic matter annually keeps the beds fluffy and workable. It is also a great source of slow release fertilizer. Pull off the existing mulch ONLY if you plan to use it again after the bed is worked up, otherwise till it in. This will help enrich the soil even more. Once all of this is accomplished then re-mulch the bed and stick in the plants. Always mulch then plant. Doing it the other way around creates a lot more work.

Annuals

Finish planting annual flowers by the end of November. Your selection starts to decline or look really picked over by mid-December. Pansy is the most popular cool season flower. If you have planted the 'Majestic Giant' pansy religiously, then you'll love the 'Colossus' pansy. Its flower is bigger and has a tendency to hold the head more upright. For planter boxes or a rock walls, plant a new cascading type pansy called 'Purple Rain.' The 'Panola Panache', which is a cross between the pansy and viola, will be available for the second year. This variety will not stretch and get leggy during the late spring, due to its heat tolerance.

Another cool season favorite with new varieties is the snapdragon. A very fall looking mix is one called "Crown Terra Cotta." As you can guess from the name, the flower colors are rust, orange and yellow. For tall, background snapdragons choose from the "Sonnet" series, which get 24-30 inches tall. A much smaller, dwarf variety is "Montego Violet" snapdragon. You don't have to worry about these falling over in a breeze or after a heavy rain.

Snails, slugs and pill bugs (rolley-polley) are always a problem this time of year. These critters feed at night. It is so frustrating to spend all weekend beautifying your yard and then find half your plants clipped off at the soil line on Monday. An organic way to discourage snails and slugs is to encircle the flowerbed with diatomaceous earth. They do not like crawling over the tiny, razor sharp particles. Another method is to bury, only to the rim, small cups of beer. They are attracted to the yeast smell and crawl right in. Pelletized poisonous baits applied every couple of days will also help save your plants.

Bulbs

Tulip and hyacinth bulbs that have been in the refrigerator should be planted by late December. They will not bloom fully, if they have not received the required chilling. Dormant amaryllis bulbs should be plentiful at stores and make great Christmas gifts. When planting, make sure not to bury the neck. The tall bloom makes the bulb top heavy, so plant it in a clay or heavy decorative pot. Place the pot in a sunny location and keep it moist. When the flower stalk appears, start turning the pot to keep it growing straight upward.

House Plants

It is not unusual for us to want to cheer up our homes with blooming plants during the early winter. Seasonal favorites include poinsettia, Thanksgiving or Christmas cactus, cyclamens, gloxinia, African violet, kalanchoe and crown-of-thorns. None of these will tolerate deep shade for long periods of time. In order to keep the plants alive, you must rotate them in and out of dark rooms every other week. Water only when the soil 2 inches down feels dry. This means sticking you finger into the soil, not just looking at it. Never leave water sitting in the plant saucer for longer than 6 hours. The plant has soaked up all it can and the roots will start to suffer.

Lawns

Warm season grasses are going dormant. By December the Zoysia, Bermuda and Centipede should be mostly a tan color. St. Augustine will be the last to harden off during the winter. This is the reason that it is so susceptible to freeze damage. Sow ryegrass seed if you want a green lawn during the winter or have just finished building a new home. You will have to mow on a regular basis to keep it looking good. Continue to mulch or rake up leaves/needles as they fall. If you are raking up piles of leaf blades and dead stolons/runners, then there's a good chances you have a turf disease (brown patch, take-all, dollar spot, etc.) Take a small sample of the grass blades and stolons/runners to your local MSU-Extension office for analysis, free of charge.

Perennial Flowers

Tidy up perennial plants by cutting back faded foliage and spent flower heads. Save only the largest, most filled out seed. Mark the location of existing plants before removing all of the foliage if you plan to add new selections. This will keep you from damaging or digging up established dormant plants. Plant debris (flower stalks, dried foliage, fallen leaves and pine straw) can be added to the compost pile. Any diseased (daylily rust) or insect (scale) infested plant material should be raked up and bagged or destroyed.

Prune the chrysanthemums after they have finished blooming. Basically, lower the plant by cutting it in half. This helps keep them from getting too spindly and breaking apart. Chrysanthemum cuttings are extremely easy to root. Simply take the healthiest pieces, remove the spent flowers and cut into 6-inch sections. Remove the large leaves from the bottom 2 - 3 inches of the stem and then stick the cutting in potting soil. Some people will dip the cutting in rooting hormone, but with mums this is not necessary. You're guaranteed success, if you stick three cutting in a shallow, 6-inch plastic pot. The only way to kill them is if you forget to water or if you keep the soil too moist. The correct amount of moisture is the key. Transplanting rooted cuttings is a great way to fill in bare spots between the mum plants and expand the evergreen planting. The most productive flowerbeds are located in well-drained soil that is exposed to full sun or light shade.

Trees and Shrubs

Camellia is the South's most prized winter flowering shrub and tree. Camellia sasanqua and japonica are the most common varieties grown in the south. The sasanqua types have a better cold hardiness track record and mainly bloom in the fall and early winter. Japonica blooms are generally larger sasanqua and start in the winter and early spring. If you mix these two types then your guaranteed to have something flowering all winter long. Camellias have a smorgasbord of flower types and colors. The flowers are classified as single, semi-double, anemone, peony, rose form double and formal double. The colors are just as varied but basically grouped into white, pink, red or variegated. I will go ahead and commit writer's suicide by listing a few varieties that are considered perfect for beginner camellia growers, such as: 'Sparkling Burgundy,' 'Donation', 'Debutante', 'Royal Velvet', 'Pink Perfection', 'Professor Charles S. Sargent' and 'Grand Slam'. You see, I've been to a few Camellia Society meetings and oh boy, can they argue about which one's grow the best.

Camellias grow best in partial shade. In sunny locations, the plants may not go dormant and suffer damage during severely cold winter. Too much sun may also cause scald or yellowing of the leaves. Camellias like well-drained, slightly acid soil with a good dose of organic matter (3-4 inches tilled deep). Removing all but one bud per branch gives bigger and better quality flowers. Blooms that are open during freezing weather will be destroyed, so pick and float them in a bowl inside. The tight unopened buds will not be affected and will bloom later. As far as insect and disease problems, the Camellia is susceptible to scale and flower blight. For scale problems, spray the entire plant with a summer weight or dormant oil and insecticide mixture, when the temperature is between 40F and 85F. For flower blight, pick off and destroy infected flowers then spray with a fungicide to break the fungus' spore release cycle.

Vegetables

Transplants of broccoli, cauliflower, onion and cabbage are still available and can be planted without fear of freezing weather damaging the heads. Vegetables such as red leaf mustard, curly leaf mustard and curly parsley are grown more for ornamental flowerbeds rather than food for the table.

Donna Hamlin Beliech is the writer of Central Mississippi Garden Calendar monthly. She's a self described "dirty-handed gardener" and avid seed saver. She lives in Brandon and is the Area Extension Horticulturist for six counties in Central Mississippi.