Garden Experiments
For the love of gardening and wildlife habitat
Information about how to grow, where to plant, how to propagate, soil and sun requirements, and more for garden plants and flowers. Discover new plants for your garden or learn more about plants already in your garden.
As I was working to remove some hellebores, ferns, hydrangeas, and cast iron plants from my shade garden, I made an interesting discovery at the base of the cast iron plants, hidden under the leaves - a cluster of cast iron plant flowers! When I dug up the base of the cast iron plant and saw the flower, my first thought was, 'It's the plant from …
Continue Reading about The Rarely Seen Cast Iron Plant Flower
Have you ever plucked a honeysuckle flower, turned it around, and gently sucked the nectar from the tube-shaped back of the flower? If you grew up in the southeastern U.S., I bet you did. That taste of super-sweet honey nectar always makes me think of summer nights spent chasing fireflies and summer days spent running wild and free. Imagine …
Continue Reading about Japanese Honeysuckle vs Native Honeysuckle Vine
In spring, my cypress vine (Ipomoea quamoclit) is covered by tiny, star-shaped, brilliantly red flowers. Although the flowers are tiny, they really stand out against the light green of the leaves and vine. My favorite part about the cypress vine is its dainty, feather-like leaves. The leaves look so fragile and fairy-like that, even when it …
Continue Reading about Cypress Vine: Delicate, But Aggressive
With the hot sun and high humidity of our southern summers, sprinkling many container gardens around my yard usually means I'll have to water them a lot each week. Watering my container gardens is a tedious chore. The hose gets tangled on everything, my shoes usually end up getting wet, and it gives the mosquitoes plenty of time to suck my veins …
Continue Reading about Low-Maintenance Container Gardens with Cacti or Succulents
The obedient plant is native to most of the U.S.. It produces lovely pale purple blooms in the fall when most things are shutting down. It's also easy to dig up and divide. Deer-resistant AND it can grow in clay soil - what's not to love about obedient plants? Like all native plants, it is particularly suited for the growing conditions of its …
Continue Reading about Obedient Plant – Physostegia virginiana
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
