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North Mississippi Gardening Tips
October, 2005

FLOWERS

September through November is the time to sow most wildflowers, especially spring and early summer bloomers. There are many premixed packets of wildflower seeds on the market.  Be sure you select those mixes that are labeled for the South or Southeast.  Or better yet, mix your own blend of wildflower seeds. Cornflowers, poppies, black-eyed-Susan, blanket flower, and larkspur are a few of the reseeding annuals that can be sown this fall.  Perennials include coreopsis, goldenrod, moss verbena, oxeye daisy, liatris, purple coneflower and mistflower.

Prepare the planting bed by killing or removing all existing vegetation. Lightly work the soil, broadcast the seed (mix with sand to make the process easier), rake in and tamp down.  Mulch lightly with pine needles, weed-free hay or straw and water well.  You may need to continue to keep seed bed moist, if there is a lack of rainfall, to get good germination.  As seedlings germinate and grow, keep bed weeded and thin out those wildflowers that are too crowded.  Contrary to what some people think, a wildflower meadow or planting does require maintenance if it is to continue to prosper and look attractive. The effort is worthwhile, however, when in the years to come your properly established and maintained wildflower meadow will reseed itself and reward you with years of beauty.

TREES AND SHRUBS

Do not prune this month.  Continue to watch for pests on your trees and shrubs. Continue to water regularly any newly planted trees or shrubs. We sometimes forgot during the fall and early winter that the weather can turn dry and stress these young plants. Mulching will help retain moisture, keep down weeds; but please do not pile the mulch around the trunks! This is a common mistake of homeowners as well as landscape professionals. Piling four inches of mulch around the base of trees and shrubs is the same as planting them four inches too deep. Not a good thing!

CONTAINER PLANTS

north Mississippi usually gets the first freeze around Halloween.  It’s always a mad rush to move those tender pot plants in right before the freezing weather. We’re usually sitting around the television watching the news when the weatherman says something like, “Temperatures tonight are going to dip into the mid twenties.” At that point, we jump up, run outside in the dark and drag in large pots filled with tender geraniums, ferns, etc. Because of this lack of foresight, I always seem to wind up with a nasty house and an irritable husband. You should not act like this, but have more sense and plan ahead.  Methodically clean the pots, treat any pest problems, take cuttings of those you do not want to drag in, and then move the pots into their indoor locations for the winter—all well before the end of October. Then pat yourself on the back and rest easy. On the rare occasions when I think ahead, I usually trim my overgrown tropical plants before bringing them indoors.  I then root these cuttings and give them away as Christmas presents, to friends and family.  Some tender plants that root easily are pothos, Swedish ivy, spider plant, and wandering Jew.

ROSES

Wait until next month to begin planting new container-grown and bare-root roses when they are dormant and fresh new stocks are in nurseries. Keep roses well mulched, but do not pile mulch against the crown or lower stems. Many problems like cankers and botrytis occur when mulch covers the lower stems.  Replacing the old mulch in the fall with new mulch is a great way to dispose of any over wintering insects and diseases.  Spray roses one more time before cold weather with a fungicide/insecticide formulation to reduce the over wintering population of insects and disease organisms. It’s all right to fertilize one last time with a complete rose fertilizer early this month.  Don’t do this, if you fertilized at the end of September.

VEGETABLES

Have you ever planted seed saved from a pumpkin only to get something that looked suspiciously like a gourd?  If you have, then the seed you saved was the result of a process called cross-pollination. This process, which is the acceptance by a flower of pollen from a plant of the same species that has a different genetic makeup, is of little concern to gardeners who do not save seed. For those of us who do, this process can be a real problem. Generally speaking, squash, pumpkins, watermelons, cantaloupes and cucumbers can cross-pollinate within their own species. The vegetables produced by such crosses are edible, but they may not always be as tender or delicious as the originals. To keep strains of cross-pollinating vegetables pure, you will need to isolate flowering seed crops from any other flowering plants of the same species. You can do this by planting different varieties at different times so they will be flowering at different times.   Then again, it is fun to play the “mad scientist”, let them mix it all up and see what little “Frankenstein” plant will result!

Lelia Scott Kelly, Ph.D., writes North Mississippi Gardening Tips monthly and is a Horticulture Specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service. Her office is in the North Mississippi Research & Extension Center, Verona.