Garden Experiments
For the love of gardening and wildlife habitat
Trees and shrubs add shade, structure, nesting and roosting habitat, and beauty to your garden. Select your tree or shrub based on growing conditions, height, season of interest, and more. Some trees and shrubs are deciduous while others are evergreen. Selecting the perfect one for your garden depends on your overall garden design and purpose.
Nature produces some interesting shapes, which is 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 recently caught this skipper butterfly …
Continue Reading about Buttonbush for Wet Soils and Cool Blooms!
Leaving the base of the tree bare can often look unkempt or out of place since it's not easy to mow right up to the edge of a tree or to even weed-eat around it carefully. Plantings or mulching around the base of the tree trunk can not only help protect roots from the mower's blades, but also make your existing trees a part of the landscape design …
Continue Reading about Landscape Solutions for the Base of Trees
Many of our Southeastern forests are dominated by oaks and pines, which don't have much color in the fall. You can get amazing red, yellow and orange colors by planting these 5 trees that grow well in the Southeastern U.S. 1. Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) With so many cultivars to choose from, you'll be able to find the right size, …
Continue Reading about Five Trees with Amazing Fall Leaf Color in the Southeast
In late spring and early summer, scentless mock orange (Philadelphus inodorus) is covered with bright white, 4-petaled flowers with a yellow center. These deciduous shrubs make a great privacy screen and are easy to grow. They can reach a height of 12 feet, so prune them back in summer, just after the flowers are over. (The blooms are produced …
Oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) is a favorite of native plant gardeners for many reasons. If you're looking for a shrub that is hardy, produces beautiful flowers, can grow in the shade, and has lovely fall colors, look no further. Here are just a few of the reasons why I love this shrub: #1 The large white flowers (in the …
Continue Reading about 3 Top Reasons to Love the Oakleaf Hydrangea Shrub
Having a variety of trees that bloom or produce fruit at different times of the year with a mixture of both deciduous trees and evergreens can offer good habitat for wildlife and birds. Arbor Day is a reminder to all of us of the benefits of trees and this day encourages us to add some trees to our backyard landscape. A little Arbor Day …
Continue Reading about Trees for Your Southern Landscape: A Walk through the Forest in Your Backyard
