These orange, black, and silver-spotted beauties have been in my garden a lot this summer. I've seen Gulf fritillary butterflies (Agraulis vanillae) feeding at the black and blue salvia, the pineapple sage, and some of the other flowers in my garden. Caterpillar Host Plants The hatching of their eggs was announced by the complete de-leafing of my two purple passionflower vines. Now I love the unique flowers purple passionflower vine, but … [Read more...]
The Dangers of Halloween Spider Web Decorations
I love Halloween! Half the fun is decorating outdoors and the other half is scaring the trick-or-treaters. One of my favorite outside decorations is a scary face on the door that is motion-activated. Once or twice it has caused a trick-or-treater to turn around and run. Too funny! My outside decorations include happy ghost lights, orange string lights, floating ghosts, a scary skeleton, and caution tape. Indoors there are some bloody hands … [Read more...]
The Hummingbirds are Coming! Fall Migration of Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds
The fall migration of hummingbirds is underway, so you might be seeing more of the tiny birds in your garden this month if you live in the Southeast. Male hummingbirds are the first to migrate, followed by immature males and females. So keep an eye out for that flash of a ruby throat and keep your ears open for the buzz of their wings. This lovely little bird was visiting me this week during lunch time. He landed just about a foot and a half … [Read more...]
Butterflies from my garden
Many of the flowering plants I grow in my yard attract butterflies by providing food for them or their larvae. It always makes me smile to see a butterfly flitting by or resting on a bloom. My neighbors probably think I'm crazy when they hear me say "hello, beautiful" to the butterflies, but they always seem like fancy ladies visiting my garden. I enjoy seeing them and I hope to attract more each year. These are photos of some of the … [Read more...]
Top 5 benefits of gardening with native plants
Native plants are adapted to the soil, temperature, rainfall, and fauna in the area in which they grow. As a result, they provide some benefits to the gardener and local wildlife that non-native plants bought from your local garden store may not. I like the look of native plants in my garden. I tend to mix them in with exotic plants and I end up with a pleasing hodgepodge of plants in my garden. Some native plants may look a little to “weedy” … [Read more...]
If It Were a Snake, It Would Have Bit Me
How many times have you said this, "if it were a snake, it would have bit me?" I've heard people around here say it a lot, but I think it has a new meaning for me now. There are lot of snakes in the South. It's just a fact of life that if you spend enough time outdoors, you'll come across one. If you're lucky, it's a nonvenomous one, but you always have to remember that the venomous ones are out there. I take a "live and let live" approach … [Read more...]
Red Buckeye Flowers For Butterflies, Bees, and Hummingbirds
Red buckeye (Aesculus pavia) The bright red 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 shrubs are usually covered in red blooms. This weekend there was a good hatching of eastern black swallowtails in my area … [Read more...]
Rosepink (Sabatia angularis)
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 and down to New Mexico and north to Wisconsin. It is also native to Ontario, Canada. Its vibrant pink or white flowers bloom in July through September and are about 1 inch in diameter with 5 petals. The unique star-shaped center of the flower is yellow-green and outlined with a red border. Anthers on the … [Read more...]
Bear’s Foot or Hairy Leafcup
Native to the eastern United States, up to Michigan, and across to Texas and Kansas, 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 in a wide range of soil moisture conditions. Plant Description Bear’s foot (Smallanthus uvedalius (L.) Mack. Ex Small (synonym: Polymnia uvedalia)) can grow to be eight to ten feet tall. It … [Read more...]
Choosing Binoculars for Backyard Bird Watching
If you like to watch the birds and other critters that visit your backyard habitat, you need a decent pair of binoculars to do so. There are a lot of low cost binoculars out there, but they will frustrate you with poor visibility, difficulty with adjusting them, or even poor durability. Expensive binoculars tend to have too high a magnification level and/or lens size for the purpose of looking at wildlife in your backyard. Ideally, a nice … [Read more...]
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