Garden Experiments
For the love of gardening and wildlife habitat
Find solutions to some of the everyday problems you have in your garden. From planting in shady areas to preventing pests from eating your plants, we have tips and ideas to help solve your garden problem.
When I reach my limit with the bleakness of winter and cold temperatures, the tiniest pink striped flowers start to poke their heads out of lawns and ditches. To me, the Virginia spring beauty (Claytonia virginica) is a harbinger of spring and warmer weather. These wildflowers bloom just before the false garlic – so they fill up the lawns and …
Continue Reading about Virginia Spring Beauty – Claytonia virginica
Fall in the southeast still tends toward the warmer temps, which means that bees and butterflies are still hanging around. The scorching heat and sun of the late summer has often killed off many of the most prolific flowering plants, meaning there are less flowers for the pollinators to feed on. Adding a few fall-flowering plants can provide a …
Continue Reading about Fall Asters: Purple Blooms for Bees, Butterflies, & Beauty
It's nearly the fall season and that means mums (better known as chrysanthemums) will be available for your fall decor very soon. I used to avoid planting mums. I thought they were boring and too ubiquitous in fall. However, I have discovered a couple of mums with a unique appearance and some new colors and now I appreciate the simple mum. …
I took this photo on a hot, steamy late August day on the banks of the Mississippi River near Vicksburg, Mississippi. The name of this plant just makes me smile. Fog fruit - I can just picture the fog rolling in from the river and resting around this little plant. Some people also call this plant frog fruit - just to be confusing, I …
I love the multiple, bright orange flowers that this annual plant produces, but it's not just me! Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) is by far the most popular plant for pollinators in my butterfly garden. Mexican Sunflower is a Great Pollinator Plant The hummingbirds, finches, bees, and butterflies constantly fly in and around the flowers of …
Continue Reading about Mexican Sunflower: How to Grow and Care for Tithonia rotundifolia
The white-tailed deer population in Mississippi is pretty high at around 1.75 million. I think about a third of those are in my neighborhood. It certainly seems like there are that many when they start munching on my garden plants. They leave nothing but the roots. Hostas are like deer candy. I had several hosta plants that I was quite fond …
Continue Reading about Of Ferns and Fiddles – No Hostas Here
