Garden Experiments
For the love of gardening and wildlife habitat
Insect life in your garden is plentiful - butterflies, bees, wasps, caterpillars, and more. Some of these insects are beneficial and some are harmful to your garden, but we have to learn to live with them all. Learn about some of the insects in your garden!
During the day, I love watching the bees and butterflies fluttering from flower to flower in my garden. These are the insect pollinators we typically think of when planting pollinator gardens - the ones we see during daylight hours. Did you know that once the sun goes down, another set of important pollinators goes to work? These are the night …
Continue Reading about Night Time Pollinators: Moths, Beetles, and Bats
There is one pollinator in your garden that might surprise you. It flies and moves just like a hummingbird, but it’s not a bird. It’s an insect – a hummingbird moth. There are four hummingbird moth species found in North America, but you are most likely to see the snowberry clearwing or the hummingbird clearwing. These are common throughout …
Continue Reading about Why Gardeners Love Hummingbird Moths (and How to Attract Them)
Butterflies and moths belong to the same scientific order Lepidoptera, which means "scale-winged" in Greek. Their wings are covered in thousands of tiny scales that overlap, creating colors and patterns. While they share some similarities, such as their winged appearance and life cycle, they also have many differences. Here's a breakdown of their …
If you like to watch butterflies, including butterfly plants in your garden that host the larvae (caterpillars) and also those plants that provide nectar for butterflies is essential. Including these types of butterfly food plants will attract butterflies to your garden and even lay eggs. You’ll be able to spot cocoons and watch …
Continue Reading about 30 Plants to Feed & Host Butterflies in Your Garden
Monarchs make a nearly 3,000-mile journey each year from Mexico to the northern U.S. and Canada. Along their travels, they rely on native milkweeds for food and host plants for their caterpillars. Growing plants in your butterfly garden than provide food and are also a host plant will attract lots of butterflies, including monarchs. And monarchs …
Continue Reading about 5 Great Plants for A Butterfly Garden in the Southeast
Have you discovered that something is eating the leaves of your tomato plants and damaging your green tomatoes? You probably have a tomato hornworm or a tobacco hornworm. If you look around, you will probably find a giant green caterpillar on your tomato plants. What Does a Tomato Hornworm or Tobacco Hornworm Look Like? These big worms can …
