Garden Experiments
For the love of gardening and wildlife habitat
Spring comes early in Mississippi. While my friends who live in states to the north continue to fight through snow and ice, I start to see the fresh green of new plant growth emerge from my lawn in mid to late-March. The early arrival of spring weather is one of my favorite things about living in Mississippi – the early respite from the cold, …
Continue Reading about Lyreleaf Sage – Mississippi Wildflower
The first hummingbirds start showing up in southern Texas, Louisiana, and northern Florida in late February and the first week of March. Hummingbirds will arrive in my garden around mid to late March - at the same time as the red buckeyes are in full bloom. This is when I’ll hang my hummingbird feeders in my garden. How to Know When to Hang …
Continue Reading about When Do You Put Out Your Hummingbird Feeders in Spring
You know the struggle. You find the perfect place for your hummingbird feeder, you know the one, right outside the kitchen window, and the next time you look, there are ants on, in, and around your hummingbird feeder. Once they are inside the feeder, they will die and cause mold and fungus to grow in the food. It's not healthy for the birds and …
Continue Reading about How to Keep Ants Out of Your Hummingbird Feeder
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
Despite the name, you’ll find this ‘weed’ in more and more gardens. Joe Pye Weed is a good garden staple for attracting pollinators from bees to butterflies. I planted it last fall and this summer the blooms have been prolific and I have seen all sorts of bees, wasps, and flies feeding on the nectar. Joe Pye weed flowers are gorgeous. The stem …
Continue Reading about Joe Pye Weed: Native Plant that Attracts Bees & Butterflies
If you've got soil that stays wet most of the time, then spotted jewelweed is the plant for you. It's native to most of the lower 48 states and prefers shade to part-shade - even better! In its native habitat, you'll find it alongside roads in ditches that stay wet most of the time, alongside a river or stream, in wetlands or boggy places, and …
Continue Reading about Spotted Jewelweed: Touch-me-not plant
