One of the easiest plants to grow is sweet potato vine. Once it is established, it really is a plant it and forget it kind of plant. My favorite! Sweet potato vines make great companion plants in containers and raised beds. Match them with either a contrasting or complementary color for a great combination. Here are a few of my favorite plant combinations for sweet potato vines. Contrasting Colors My absolute favorite color combination is … [Read more...]
Lyreleaf Sage – Mississippi Wildflower
Spring comes early in Mississippi. While my friends who live in states to the north continue to fight through snow and ice, I start to see the fresh green of new plant growth emerge from my lawn in mid to late-March. The early arrival of spring weather is one of my favorite things about living in Mississippi – the early respite from the cold, gray skies of winter. With the warming of the air, the wildflowers start to get a jump on their … [Read more...]
Two in a Canoe – Spotting the Flowers on the Water
Every third weekend in the spring and summer my local wildlife refuge holds a free canoe day. They bring the canoes and you bring the paddlers. On an overcast Saturday this weekend, my friend Megan and I decided to give it a go. We packed the sunscreen, the bug spray, hats, our cameras, and some water and headed out to the boat ramp. We were running a little late that morning but we drove up just in time to claim the next to the last canoe. … [Read more...]
Buttonbush for Wet Soils and Cool Blooms!
Nature produces some interesting shapes and this is very true for the flower of the buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis). Common buttonbush (or buttonwillow) produces these crazy looking little spiky ball-like blooms of compound florets. They’re pretty cool, actually, and both bees and butterflies agree. I caught this skipper butterfly feeding on a buttonbush flower while hiking in Choctaw Lake Recreation Area in the Tombigbee National … [Read more...]
June 2017 Flowers From My Garden
The weather this late spring and first days of summer have been hot, wet, and sometimes in between. It may be a little hard on us humans, but my garden seems to be enjoying it well enough. June is the month for Asiatic lilies, hibiscus, zinnias, and echinacea. These flowers have been blooming their little hearts out. These are some of my favorite photos I took during the month of June 2017 from my garden. I hope you like them! Click on an … [Read more...]
How to Keep Your Gladiolus Flowers From Falling Over
The gladiola flowers have been putting on quite a show this year. Pink, white, red, greenish-yellow, and purple gladiolus have graced my garden. I really like gladiolas but whenever there is a heavy rain or higher-than-usual winds, the glads dip over or break off. How to Keep Your Gladiolus From Falling Over Option 1: Plant your Gladiolus bulbs in a grouping, against a garden structure If you have a lot of gladiolus bulbs, plant them … [Read more...]
To Find a Windflower
Although I've lived in Mississippi for a long time off and on, there are many of our state's wildflowers that I still haven't seen. There are so many beautiful surprises in the woods, lawns, and roadsides of Mississippi. We just have to look for them. As I was walking through a nearby neighborhood in March, I stumbled across a patch of small white flowers in the yard of one of the houses. This was a new discovery for me and I went online to my … [Read more...]
Wildflowers in Michigan
I love traveling to different places and getting to see the wildflowers and botanical gardens there. It's especially fun when the native plants are different than the ones that grow in Mississippi. It's fun to see how many I already know and then try to identify the new ones. Loda Lake Wildflower Sanctuary On a recent trip to Michigan, we walked the Loda Lake Wildflower Sanctuary Trail. The Michigan Garden Clubs provided an excellent map that … [Read more...]
May 2017 Photos From My Garden
The early spring flowers have come and gone and now we're into warmer temperatures and lots of rain! Things in my garden have been growing quickly and starting to put on quite a show. These are some of my favorite photos I took during the month of May 2017 from my garden. Hope you enjoy them! You can click on an image below to see a larger size photo. … [Read more...]
The Flower That Thinks It’s a Balloon
Right when the balloon flower, Platycodon grandiflorus, is about to bloom, it does its best impression of a balloon. It's so good at it, I have to work really hard to keep myself from trying to squeeze it and make it pop! In addition to having a really fun bud stage, this is a hard-working perennial. I love a plant that you can put in the ground and forget about it. This one has been ignored in my garden for a few years now and each year, it … [Read more...]
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