North Mississippi Gardening Tips
September 2008
FLOWERS
As we move into fall in north Mississippi, some of our summer flowering annuals and perennials are looking pretty dismal. There are many reasons for this, none I’m sure are your fault. It’s time for the fall bloomers to begin to take center stage. One great group of plants that thrive during this time is the perennial salvias. If your garden doesn’t have a few of these fall beauties you need to get to the garden center posthaste!
Mexican bush sage (Salvia leucantha) just cannot be beat for show-stopping blooms. It produces loads of purple flowers from late summer to the first frost on plants reaching 3-5 feet. Foliage is rough, lance shaped and a muted gray green with powdery white undersides. Two selections available are “Emerald” with purple spikes and white centers and the other is “All Purple” with, you guessed it, solid purple spikes. Crafters and cut and hang these spikes to dry for use in wreaths and other floral designs.
Another great salvia for fall is, aptly named, Autumn Sage (S. greggii). Even though most reference books indicate this sage is not perennial in our area of north Mississippi, it has grown in my garden on the Tennessee line for the past four years. This plant has dozens of glowing blooms in magenta, red, coral or white. It reaches a height of around 4 feet.
Others great salvias for fall are the hybrid selection, Indigo Spires which reaches a height of 5-6 feet and has deep bluish-purple flowers on long spikes. East Friesland is another popular hybrid that is much smaller in stature topping out at 18-24 inches but covered with deep purple flower spikes.
TREES AND SHRUBS
It's too early yet to start planting those trees and shrubs. Wait until later in the fall. Be a discerning shopper and know that those plants you see in the nursery or garden now probably have been sitting there all summer. These are less desirable as they have just endured a hot summer in a container or burlapped ball of earth. Wait awhile and the ones coming later will have been freshly dug and will have a better chance of surviving a planting later in the year.
Refrain from doing any pruning now other than removing dead or diseased or aggravating “poke-you-in-the-eye” branches. Pruning now will encourage tender new growth that could be damaged by early frosts. Also, many flowering trees and shrubs have set their blooms for next year and pruning now will remove next year’s blooms.
Don’t forget to continue to water those trees and shrubs you planted this spring as they are still getting acclimated and producing roots to better withstand the times you do forget to water!
VEGETABLES
Time to get that fall garden going if you haven’t already. You can still sow seeds of beets, carrots, mustard, rape, kale, radishes, leaf lettuce, spinach and turnips this month. I have several large whiskey barrel containers that I sow seeds of red lettuce, radish, spinach and carrots. These are close to the patio for easy harvesting. The red and other light green colored lettuces are ornamental as well.
Remove all non-producing or finished crops now. Old plants can harbor diseases and insects. Plant the bare ground with a cover crop is you are not going to plant fall vegetables. I prefer crimson clover as a fall cover crop instead of cowpeas as deer think cowpeas are candy and sometimes these plants do not make it through the winter.
LAWNS
This month is the best time of the year to start a new evergreen lawn, but not a good time to plant Southern summer grass lawns. Sowing grass seed this time of year entails a little different approach than sowing the summer or warm season grasses early in the spring. Fall is drier than the spring, so remember to water when needed. If you want a green lawn in the winter you can overseed your warm season grasses with one of the ryegrasses, or you can establish a permanent lawn in semi-shady areas using one of the turf-type fescues. We are fortunate in north Mississippi to be able to grow the cool-season fescue grasses for most of the year. Even in winter these can remain attractive, unless we have exceptionally harsh weather. The hardest time for these grasses, in my experience, have been late summer and early fall when the weather is so hot and dry. These tend to go dormant. Keeping on top of the watering will prevent this to some extent.
FRUITS
September is harvest time for apples, pears, and you may still find a few muscadines in the woods. Now is not the time to plant fruit trees, but rather the time to browse through the catalogs, visit some orchards, talk to some fruit-growing friends or neighbors and decide what fruits you may want to grow. To me, the easiest fruit to grow is the fig. Next to that is the blueberry. I absolutely have had to do nothing to these bountiful plants once they are well established other than occasionally fertilizing, watering during drought and maybe a little corrective pruning. Thornless blackberries are next on the list and then muscadines. Only maintenance needed on the upright, thornless type blackberries such as ‘Navaho’ is to remove old canes once a year. Muscadines can take over the place if not pruned judiciously every year. Other than that they are pretty much maintenance free. Of course, occasionally fertilizing, and watering during drought is a given.
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.