Page 155 - South Mississippi Living - June, 2025

In the month of June in the South, gardens do not have to be a lot of work. You can nurture and enjoy beautiful flowers, plants, and foliage that are low maintenance and return every year. From spring into fall in South Mississippi, you can keep your garden in order with gorgeous perennials.
BLACK-EYED SUSAN
The first flower on your list for easy gardening is the Black- Eyed Susan. As some of your annuals start to fade, replace them with this hearty flower. It is very versatile and likes full sun and well-drained soil. It is a great border for your garden or container flower. Black-Eyed Susan Flowers love phlox as a companion plant.
OBEDIENT PLANTS
You may want to add the Obedient Plant to your garden. It
is native to the south and adds beautiful spikes of snapdragon- like flowers in late summer. It grows quickly, and it adds easy- growing grace to your low-maintenance garden. It likes full sun and part shade as well as moist soil. Since Black-Eyed Susan Flowers and Obedient Plants bloom steadily into late summer and fall, they are great companion plants.
PHLOX
Phlox adds showy flowers starting in early summer and continuing through the season. Bees and butterflies flock to the low maintenance perennials. Phlox can be especially fragrant and their scent can fill your yard or home with beautiful smells if you bring cut flowers inside. Their fragrance is very charming on warm, humid evenings making it perfect for a Mississippi landscape. These flowers like full sun or part shade and moist, well-drained soil. Phlox go well with the Purple Coneflower as the two bloom at the same time.
BLANKET FLOWER
Another flower that likes full sun and well-drained soil is the Blanket Flower. These flowers will bloom in early summer
in red, yellow, and orange hues. Heat and humidity do not
faze blanket flowers. These flowers will bloom until frost with minimum care and can tolerate drought well. Great companion flowers for them include anise hyssop and salvia as their flower shapes and blooms make a gorgeous contrast.
JAPANESE SEDGE
The Japanese Sedge is known for its variegated foliage that will brighten up your garden. This low growing border plant will give you neat groups of evergreen foliage that is grass-like. These perennials like part shade and moist soil. The Japanese Sedge has a great companion plant in the Yellow Flag Iris.
IRIS
The Yellow Flag Iris adds yellow blooms in the spring and evergreen foliage in your garden all year. This plant loves wet spots. Plant them near a pond or water garden. They need full sun to shade with moist soil. Ranunculus plants grow well with the iris plants, and they are a juxtaposition of texture and shape to them.
LILIES
Crinum lilies are some of the toughest and lowest maintenance garden plants you can grow. Because they love moist soil, they are sometimes called bog lily. These lilies offer bold, fragrant clusters of pink, purple, or white flowers from spring to fall. They prefer moist soil and full sun. Their partner lilies include the hearty Daylilies that produce similar clusters of flowers and beautiful foliage as well.
CAST IRON PLANT
A Cast Iron Plant is really one of the toughest outdoor plants you can grow. Commonly grown as a houseplant in the North,
a cast iron plant is the perfect pick if you’re trying to garden
in deep shade in the south. It loves low light and moist, well- drained soil. Ferns go well with variegated types of the Cast Iron Plant and look fabulous against the etched leaves and hanging foliage of ferns.
FERNS
Lastly, Ferns prove that plants don’t need flowers to add beauty to your garden. The Southern Shield Fern is common in forests and fields across the South. While not as lush as other ferns,
it adds simple elegance and beauty to woodland plantings. These ferns like moist, well-drained soil and plenty of shade. Hostas pair well with different versions of ferns whether they are medium or large-leafed, or variegated or have deep green foliage.
I hope these ideas solve some problems for you as you plan your summer garden! Happy Summer and Happy Gardening!
Gaye Winter, Ph.D., teaches English at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College and is currently serving as President of the Biloxi Garden Club. Reach her at gaye.winter@mgccc.edu.
SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living | www.smliving.net
June 2025 | 155