Garden Experiments
For the love of gardening and wildlife habitat
Using plants, garden features, and gardening practices that create and encourage wildlife habitat in your backyard garden can make your yard a haven for wildlife. You'll see more bees and butterflies, hummingbirds, small mammals, and even frogs and turtles. I find joy in watching these creatures in my garden and I hope you will too.
When the early hummingbirds start to arrive, there isn’t much in bloom, so adding early-spring-blooming flowering plants to your garden and hanging up hummingbird feeders can help attract the birds. Here are five flowering shrubs, vines, and plants that hummingbirds feed on in early spring. Red Buckeye In my opinion, one of the best early …
Continue Reading about How to Attract Hummingbirds to Your Garden in Early Spring
Homeowners’ Associations (HOAs) have the power to closely monitor every aspect of your property, from the color of your shutters to the angle of your fence– threatening fines onto any home sticking out from your cul de sac’s uniformity. And with about 80% of newly-built homes belonging to an HOA, they’re not going anywhere. While manicured …
Continue Reading about HOA-Approved Tips for Eco-Friendly Gardens
Birds need water to survive, so keeping a bird bath full of fresh water will attract many different species. Here are some tips on how to keep your bird bath filled with water all year round. Do Birds Need Water in Winter? Winter is here, and the birds in your backyard are thirsty. Sure, they can get liquid from snow, but to process it, they …
Continue Reading about Bird Baths in Winter: How to Unfreeze Your Bird Bath
This early spring sky is filled with butterflies! I am seeing so many eastern tiger swallowtail butterflies (Papilio glaucus) feeding on colorful spring flowers that it has really brightened my days. Eastern tiger swallowtails are quite large - with a wingspan of 3 to 5.5 inches and with their bright yellow wings with blue spots, they put …
Continue Reading about Early Spring Flowers for Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies
One of the greatest joys I get out of my garden is watching the insects and wildlife that is attracted to the flowers and plants. I know that some of my plants will be consumed by these critters, but I’m willing to share. This week, I stumbled across this little black swallowtail caterpillar (Papilio polyxenes) munching in my carrot patch. These …
Continue Reading about How to Attract and Feed Eastern Black Swallowtail Butterflies
Summer is the time of the year that you’ll see the bright yellow flowers of partridge pea blooming along the side of the road or along streams and ditches. They will continue to flower from late summer to early fall. Creates Food for Pollinators & Wildlife This little plant packs a mighty punch when it comes to benefiting …
Continue Reading about Partridge Pea: Butterfly Host Plant & Pollinator Plant
