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.
Red buckeye (Aesculus pavia) has bright red flowers. The flowers of this native shrub are a favorite of hummingbirds and butterflies in early spring. In the southeast, it blooms in late March and early April, and you can hear the hummingbirds buzzing around the blooms. The red buckeye always catches my eye when it is blooming. These tall …
Continue Reading about Red Buckeye Flowers For Butterflies, Bees, and Hummingbirds
This beauty can be found growing in the majority of the United States. It is native to the eastern U.S. - as far east as Kansas and Illinois, down to New Mexico, and north to Wisconsin. It is also native to Ontario, Canada. It is hardy in USDA zones 5 to 9. Its vibrant pink or white flowers bloom in July through September and are about 1 inch in …
Native to the eastern United States, up to Michigan, and across to Texas and Kansas (see the distribution map), this perennial plant can be found in forest gaps, along the edges of fields and forests, in thickets, bottomlands, and grasslands. It can grow in full sun or part shade and tolerates a wide range of soil moisture conditions. Bear's …
You'll see beautiful, tall southern magnolias anywhere you go in my state. They are nearly ubiquitous in front of antebellum homes in the South, which is a testament to their popularity during that time in our history. I love the sweet, gentle lemon scent of the blooms and the large white petals. It's a bonus that the trees are evergreen, so …
Continue Reading about Southern Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora)
I love the flowers of false garlic, which bloom in large numbers, but as the blooms fade, the grass-like leaves are quite abundant. I prefer not to have them in my flower beds, but I leave them blooming in the lawn and will not cut the grass until the blooms are done. It blooms in early spring in sunny locations with well-drained soil. It can …
Native to North America, this tall flowering perennial in the Asteraceae family makes a statement in my garden. Not only is it a prolific bloomer, but it also attracts all sorts of insects – bees, butterflies, and other insects. With a height of almost 6 feet, it towers around the base of the sycamore that I have it planted around. The leaves …
Continue Reading about Cutleaf Coneflower: Rudbeckia laciniata
