It's already mid-September and I realized I had not posted my favorite photos from this month. August is always incredibly hot and my garden starts to wane, but there are always a few plants that continue to shine in spite of the heat. This month, its the time for the native plants really to really shine. They can take the heat, because they are made for it. Also, the zinnias continued to produce lots of colorful blooms even as their leaves … [Read more...]
A Spot of Yellow: Native Partridge Pea Butterfly Host Plant
Yesterday morning, I was driving to an appointment and I happened to glance at the side of the road, only to see a flash of bright yellow color. It made me look twice – it was a patch of partridge pea! This 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. Food for Wildlife and Plants … [Read more...]
July 2017 – Favorite Photos From My Garden
July has been busy! It seemed to go by in the blink of an eye. Well, maybe that's just what happens as I'm getting older. Now that July is over, the start of the school season is just around the corner. It also marks the end of the growing season as the heat of August starts to take over. While I'm still collecting lots of sungold tomatoes, it won't be too long before the deer come to feed on my plants and finish them off. I've collected my … [Read more...]
June 2017 Flowers From My Garden
The weather this late spring and first days of summer have been hot, wet, and sometimes in between. It may be a little hard on us humans, but my garden seems to be enjoying it well enough. June is the month for Asiatic lilies, hibiscus, zinnias, and echinacea. These flowers have been blooming their little hearts out. These are some of my favorite photos I took during the month of June 2017 from my garden. I hope you like them! Click on an … [Read more...]
How to Keep Your Gladiolus Flowers From Falling Over
The gladiola flowers have been putting on quite a show this year. Pink, white, red, greenish-yellow, and purple gladiolus have graced my garden. I really like gladiolas but whenever there is a heavy rain or higher-than-usual winds, the glads dip over or break off. How to Keep Your Gladiolus From Falling Over Option 1: Plant your Gladiolus bulbs in a grouping, against a garden structure If you have a lot of gladiolus bulbs, plant them … [Read more...]
Tropical Plants Container Garden for Summer Color
I decided to go for something a little more unique for a couple of my container gardens this spring. It took me a while to find the right container, but I finally found these lovely, lightweight ashen colored large containers to use. I decided I wanted bright, colorful plants to greet me at the sides of my carport -- I went tropical! The neutral color of the containers I found makes the tropical plants stand out even more. The Tropical Color … [Read more...]
The Flower That Thinks It’s a Balloon
Right when the balloon flower, Platycodon grandiflorus, is about to bloom, it does its best impression of a balloon. It's so good at it, I have to work really hard to keep myself from trying to squeeze it and make it pop! In addition to having a really fun bud stage, this is a hard-working perennial. I love a plant that you can put in the ground and forget about it. This one has been ignored in my garden for a few years now and each year, it … [Read more...]
Fog Fruit – Mississippi Wildflower
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. Plant Names The scientific name of this plant is Phyla lanceolata. Common names include fog fruit and lance leaf fog fruit. Appearance of Fog Fruit The tiny little rings of pale … [Read more...]
What’s Eating My Jalapeños?
You'll never believe what I found eating my jalapeños. It's a hot pepper so you would think that it would be protected from hungry critters. But, that is not always the case. I planted my jalapeño peppers in containers this year. They were grown in part shade just along the edge of my driveway. I have four plants and they are growing 10-15 peppers each thus far. I picked my first batch of peppers this weekend to give to a friend. As I was … [Read more...]
The Butterflies are Back!
This summer, the butterflies have been noticeably absent. While I have seen some smaller butterflies, like these pearl crescents that were mating among the four o'clocks in my front garden, the larger beauties were just missing. It's been a strange summer. The temperatures got high very early in spring and they really haven't gone down. As I sit here and type this, the forecast for the next three days range from 97 to 99 with heat indices … [Read more...]
