Mississippi State University’s South Mississippi Branch Experiment Station is the horticultural research centerpiece of the Coastal Research and Extension Center. The garden is centered around two key features: a small bridge over a dry creek bed surrounded by a 1000 sq ft garden and a gazebo used both as a shelter for guests and also to showcase AAS Winners in hanging planters and traditional garden plantings.
After brainstorming, the garden staff agreed that a wacky, silly, odd, and overall fun approach would be the way to go to interpret this year’s theme. Going back to the 16th-century origin of the word ‘whimsical’, they learned that it started with ‘whim-wham’; a noun meant to describe an ornamental object or trinket. This ‘whim-wham’ approach is what led to the integration of many ornamental hardscape features in the display garden; many of which were chosen simply because of their funky, silly nature.
AAS Winners create a flow of color through the garden, starting with reds and pinks at the entryway and giving way to red-yellow combos, oranges, and yellows. The opposite side of the garden starts with yellows and gives way to blues, purple/lavenders, and whites.
Altogether, the garden incorporates 24 ornamental and 10 vegetable AAS Winners. Visitors enjoy the whimsical theme and all the fun “stuff” to find in the garden, as one visitor put it: “Touring the 2023 AAS Display Garden is a non-stop, visually eye-catching array of whimsical features that transport you to a place where worries are carried away on the backs of fairies, gnomes, and porcelain frogs!”
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