Garden Experiments
For the love of gardening and wildlife habitat
National Pollinator Week occurs in mid- to late-June each year. The goal of this Week is to celebrate the beneficial insects, birds, and mammals that pollinate the flowers of plants that produce much of our food, maintain our ecosystems, stabilize soils, and provide wildlife habitat. It also serves to educate people about what they can do to help …
Continue Reading about Celebrating Pollinators – Bees, Butterflies, Birds and More
Sundays after church, my dad would pile the family into the car and take us for a drive through the countryside just outside the boundaries of the big city. We would see miles of delicate pink flowers lining the edges of the roads, growing the cracks in the sidewalk, and on the banks of the hills. Pink evening primrose is one of the wildflowers …
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
Deer-resistant AND it can grow in clay soil - what's not to love about obedient plants? Native plants are favorites of mine because they are particularly suited for the local conditions (soil, heat, drought or rain, clay soil) of my area. When I find those native plants with particularly pretty flowers, I add them to my hodgepodge of a …
Continue Reading about Obedient Plant – Physostegia virginiana
Summer 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. Creates Food for Pollinators & Wildlife This little plant packs a mighty punch when it comes to benefiting …
Continue Reading about Partridge Pea: Butterfly Host Plant & Pollinator Plant
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
