Garden Experiments
For the love of gardening and wildlife habitat
Native plants are well-suited to the growing conditions in your area and are often great nesting habitat, a food source, or a host plant for the wildlife around you. By adding native plants to your garden, you can create wildlife habitat that helps pollinators like bees and butterflies, attracts hummingbirds and songbirds, and provides cover for many small mammals. Learn about native plants and how to grow them in your garden.
As spring arrives, our garden has a carpet of low-growing, bright pink flowers that catch your eye. It’s a splash of bright color before the rest of our garden has awoken. It really is a sight to see. Blooming Time Creeping phlox (Phlox subulata) blooms in late March through May. Flowers come in pink, lavender, magenta, purple, white, and …
Continue Reading about Creeping Phlox: Spring-blooming Ground Cover
As soon as the weather starts to warm, we begin to scour our garden for the first sign of flowers. The daffodils and crocuses are usually the first ones to show up, but if you want a carpet of color in early spring, a low-growing phlox is the way to go. Woodland phlox (Phlox divaricata) forms dense clusters of delicate, fragrant blooms that …
Native Ironweed Feeds Butterflies in Late Summer In the mid to late summer, the deep purple flowers of ironweed start showing up. They stand out in the landscape, not just for the bright color but also because they are so tall. What caught my eye were the many butterflies that land on the flowers to feed. American ladies, monarchs, sulfur …
Continue Reading about Ironweed Grow Guide – Late-Season Butterfly Food
Large, copper or brick-red colored flowers adorn the flower spikes of the copper iris (Iris fulva). Native to wetland areas, this unique plant thrives in wetter soils, making it an excellent addition to gardens with moist conditions. We planted this iris in our backyard in a spot with wet, clay soils. It has flourished, spreading and producing …
Continue Reading about Copper Iris (Iris fulva) – A Native Plant for Wetlands and Wildlife
When I was learning to identify plants, the leaves of boxelder used to trip me up. To me, they looked so much like poison ivy. However, there are a few key features that can help you tell the difference between these two plants. Boxelder Maple Similarities with Poison Ivy The leaves and leaflets of these two plants have a similar appearance. …
Continue Reading about Is this Poison Ivy? How to Tell Boxelder from Poison Ivy
I often see sassafras growing along the trails, in the forest breaks, and in old fields. However, it’s the mitten-shaped leaves that stand out to me. If you break off a twig of a sassafras tree and smell it, you get the distinct smell of root beer. My dad used to do this for us every time we took a hike with him. It was a family tradition and …
