Garden Experiments
For the love of gardening and wildlife habitat
Give a living plant this year for long-term beauty It's almost Valentine's Day, and you might be thinking of sending your loved one cut flowers like roses - but wouldn't it be nice if you got the beauty of a flowering plant that lasts so much longer? There are several potted plants available at this time of year that would make a great …
Continue Reading about The 5 Best Valentine’s Day Flowering Plants For Your Gardener
If you're looking for a plant-it-and-forget-it type of plant that still produces lots of flowers AND attracts pollinators, then look no further than the black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta). This easy-to-grow wildflower is found throughout North America where you can find it alongside roads, in grassy openings and prairies, and even along the edge …
Continue Reading about My Favorite Plant-It-And-Forget-It Flower: Black-eyed Susan
I adore plants. So when I had the opportunity to salvage some from the flower beds at my old home, I spent hours of my weekends digging and sweating in the Mississippi humidity in spite of the fact that I didn't keep these plants. I just don't have any more room at my current house for more plants right now and with the winter weather quickly …
Continue Reading about The Unique (and Rare) Flowers of the Cast Iron Plant
Have you ever plucked a honeysuckle flower, turned it around, and gently sucked the nectar from the tube-shaped back of the flower? If you grew up in the southeastern U.S., I bet you did. That taste of super-sweet honey nectar always makes me think of summer nights spent chasing fireflies and summer days spent running wild and free. Imagine …
Continue Reading about Japanese Honeysuckle vs Native Honeysuckle Vine
Tiny, star-shaped, brilliantly red flowers cover my cypress vine (Ipomoea quamoclit) in spring. Although the flowers are tiny, they really stand out against the light green of the leaves and vine. My favorite part about the cypress vine is its dainty, feather-like leaves. The leaves look so fragile and fairy-like that, even when it isn’t …
Continue Reading about Cypress Vine: Delicate, But Aggressive
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!
