Garden Experiments
For the love of gardening and wildlife habitat
When I reach my limit with the bleakness of winter and cold temperatures, the tiniest pink striped flowers start to poke their heads out of lawns and ditches. To me, the Virginia spring beauty (Claytonia virginica) is a harbinger of spring and warmer weather. These wildflowers bloom just before the false garlic – so they fill up the lawns and …
Continue Reading about Virginia Spring Beauty – Claytonia virginica
Fall in the southeast still tends toward the warmer temps, which means that bees and butterflies are still hanging around. The scorching heat and sun of the late summer has often killed off many of the most prolific flowering plants, meaning there are less flowers for the pollinators to feed on. Adding a few fall-flowering plants can provide a …
Continue Reading about Fall Asters: Purple Blooms for Bees, Butterflies, & Beauty
I'm not cheap, I'm frugal. When it comes to my garden, that means I often repurpose plants from one planting or flower bed into another one. There's nothing wrong with that, right? In this case, I repurposed a croton from a container garden that had long outgrown its original pot and mixed it in with some heliconias that I purchased on sale with …
I took this photo on a hot, steamy late August day on the banks of the Mississippi River near Vicksburg, Mississippi. The name of this plant just makes me smile. Fog fruit - I can just picture the fog rolling in from the river and resting around this little plant. Some people also call this plant frog fruit - just to be confusing, I …
Cacti are traditionally favorites of many gardeners because they are so low maintenance and perfect for high heat/low water locations. Because we get a lot of rain during certain times of the year here in north Mississippi, my cacti are in a container that I can bring in and put under my grow light when the cold, rainy season arrives. I …
I love the multiple, bright orange flowers that this annual plant produces, but it's not just me! Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) is by far the most popular plant for pollinators in my butterfly garden. Mexican Sunflower is a Great Pollinator Plant The hummingbirds, finches, bees, and butterflies constantly fly in and around the flowers of …
Continue Reading about Mexican Sunflower: How to Grow and Care for Tithonia rotundifolia
