Garden Experiments
For the love of gardening and wildlife habitat
The slender, bright red, tubular flowers blooming at the ends of the coral honeysuckle vine (Lonicera sempervirens) will add a bright spot of color to your garden. The interior of the honeysuckle flowers is often yellow, making them stand out even more against the green leaves of this vine. Although the flowers of this vine don't have a strong …
Continue Reading about Coral Honeysuckle Vine: How to Grow This Native Vine for Hummingbirds
Hummingbirds were sighted in Alabama and Louisiana in mid-February. They were spotted in Mississippi just a short while after that, so if you haven't seen some yet, they're headed your way! You can see the birds as they are sighted on the map below. 2022 Hummingbird Migration Map by Hummingbird Central Now is the time to clean your …
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
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
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
