Two to grow on: respected Mississippi gardening experts share their secrets in a pair of new books. (Home Pages).

What do Mississippi garden gurus Norman Winter and Nellie Neal seem to have most in common? It's a passion to answer our questions and educate us about gardening, and each has a new book out to further those goals.

Nellie Neal, the "GardenMama" of weekdays on the Supertalk Mississippi radio network, publishes answers to commonly asked questions from listeners in Questions and Answers for Deep South Gardeners. Organized into seasonal categories, Neal's Q&A sessions cover questions on lawn care, transplanting, dividing, pruning, composting, fertilizing, watering, pest control--and cooking?

"I cook all the time!" said Neal, who includes recipes for grilled eggplant, banana pudding, raspberry vinaigrette, rosemary barbecue, and other savory dishes throughout the book to make a point about the practicality of gardening. "We don't think about growing vegetables because we know we're going to the grocery store. People put out herbs--and then don't know how to use them. So I show people how they can use this in their life."

This is Neal's first book, although she has penned gardening columns and contributed works on a wide range of topics to various publications. "I was the one who tended to write the encyclopedia entries or chapters of other people's books--always as part of the team," Neal said.

As a child, Neal knew she wanted to be a writer and was almost at the end of her English coursework at Louisiana State University when she discovered the horticulture program. After a varied career in almost every aspect of gardening, Neal discovered that the gardening experience fed into her writing endeavors. "When I finally started to write about gardening, it was because I had something to say," Neal said.

The book has helpful tips for novice gardeners as well as solutions to questions on arcane topics such as "disappearing irises" and an alternate name for monkey ball seeds. Lists of "trees not planted enough" and "dependably interesting shrubs" help gardeners make good choices for their outdoor spaces, while "lawn-mowing tips" and "watering flowers" sections condense maintenance chores into easy-to-follow steps.

Each season merits a chapter. Neal begins each section discussing what needs to go on in the garden to prepare or tend to trees and shrubs, herbs and vegetables, annuals, perennials, bulbs, ground covers, and lawns, segueing into "Growing Notes," "Smart Gardening," and "Vocabulary," followed by a list of questions specific to the season.

The questions for the book were drawn from tapes of past shows as well as the personal logs Neal keeps while on the air. While the questions listed in the book cover a wide range of plants and topics, Neal said some common themes have developed over time, including:

* Why won't my lawn grow?

* When can I plant tomatoes so they won't freeze?

* Why won't my (fill-in-the-blank) bloom?

The variety of questions and answers is a hallmark of her radio show, and Neal is the first to admit there may be no one right answer for everyone who calls in. "Almost every time, there's more than one way to do almost anything," Neal said. A longtime advocate of responsible gardening, Neal works to promote natural solutions to gardening dilemmas, such as integrated pest management for insect invaders and common-sense approaches to keeping deer, rabbits, and armadillos out of the garden. "People around here are pretty smart--they build a fence around it," Neal said.

A common-sense approach also marks the mission of Winter's newest offering, Tough-as-Nails Flowers For the South. Winter said the book had been germinating for a while and sprang from a desire to share the award-winning plants from various Southern states with readers throughout the region.

"Not only did I want to highlight toughness and durability, but also those flowers that represented exceptional value," Winter said. "Not only to take the guesswork out of what plants are the best, but what plant combinations are the best."

As coordinator for the Mississippi Medallion Program, Winter has inside knowledge on the new varieties of plants that come out every year throughout the nation; an appendix at the back of the book also lists recent winners of equivalent programs in Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Georgia, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Florida. With the book organized by plant types--annuals, perennials, bulbs, grasses, and vines--readers can select a customized grouping of plants that fits their gardening temperament as well as their soil type, light exposure, and landscaping needs.

Winter said he believes the book will benefit people interested in gardening who need a good resource to get started: "any gardeners who are just getting started in their first home--or a new home--who may not know much about it," said Winter.

Not only does the book highlight recent additions to the Southern landscape such as bear's breeches, Japanese fiber banana, and angelonias, but new varieties of old favorites get renewed attention from Winter's text: bachelor buttons in three heights, a renewed popularity of butterfly weed, and a purple-leafed variety of elephant ears, well-known for their tolerance of sun and humidity.

"I think we're seeing a huge swing in popularity in elephant ears from the Northern United States all the way down to the coast," said Winter.

But it's important to remember that "tough-as-nails" plants still need water, fertilizer, and proper planting to flourish--topics that Winter covers at the front of the book, with customized advice also offered within each plant entry. The reputation of the aspidistra elatior offers a case in point, according to Winter.

"It's a 'cast iron' plant, and you can't kill it--but you put it out in the sun, and it'll just fold up," Winter pointed Out.

The gardening pendulum is swinging back to an emphasis on native and easy-care plants, and Winter said he believes that nostalgia and increased interest in home care are among the reasons for the resurgence of some of the older plants--or newer varieties that mimic them, such as the angelonia. "That color and texture it gives to our garden is something that would have appealed to our grandparents," Winter noted.

Family nostalgia plays a role in Neal's gardening philosophy as well; she credits her grandfather for teaching her how to respect the soil and garden responsibly--lessons she literally learned at his knee. "I learned to garden from about the time I could walk," Neal said. And her trade name GardenMama stems from an almost motherly affection for both fauna and flora: "If there's a stray cat or wayward plant, it will wind up at my house." Winter is quick to admit he doesn't discriminate much among plants either, calling himself "someone accused of having never met a plant he did not like."

But the best gardening advice may be found in the closing words of Winter's first chapter. Although talking specifically about container gardens, the philosophy can extend throughout your landscape: "Be bold, be artistic, and have fun!"