Garden Experiments
For the love of gardening and wildlife habitat
For an easy, enjoyable garden, select low-maintenance plants for your garden.
Butterflies and bees love coneflowers in the genus Echinacea. You are probably familiar with purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), but many cultivars are now available in various colors: red, pink, white, orange, yellow, cream, green, and gold. There are even Echinacea flowers with double blooms. Natives vs Cultivars Echinacea is native …
Continue Reading about Echinacea species – Flowering plants for bees, butterflies, and birds
If you’re looking for a native, perennial plant to add to your garden that will be easy to care for, add great color to your garden, and attract hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies, bee balm (Monarda sp.) is a good choice. Bee balm is in the mint family; its leaves are aromatic and both leaves and flowers can be made into a tea. There are …
Continue Reading about Bee Balm Attracts Hummingbirds and Butterflies
Every spring, a patch of butterweed, a common Mississippi wildflower, shows up in my lawn. They come up in the same spot every year, and I mow around them until they are done blooming. Combined with Philadelphia fleabane, which also blooms at this time, they make a pretty landscape. Plant Description Butterweed is in the Aster family, so the …
The Dianthus in my garden are one of the first flowers to bloom in early spring, just after the daffodils are done. These are the low-growing variety with pink, red, or white flowers. The plants are covered in blooms and come back every year. Many Dianthus are perennial and range in height from a low ground cover (4-5 inches) to tall …
Continue Reading about Dianthus: Pinks, Carnations, and Sweet Williams
Purple passionflower, also known as maypop, is a relatively quick-growing, perennial, herbaceous vine in the Passifloraceae family. You can find this native vine growing throughout the Southeast from Texas to Kansas up to Pennsylvania and down to Florida. In Mississippi, I’ve often seen it in pastures or open fields. It’s a great addition to an …
Continue Reading about Purple Passionflower: Passiflora incarnata
If you want to add some color to your winter garden and provide food and shelter for songbirds and other wildlife simultaneously, American Holly (Ilex opaca) is a good choice. The berries form in October and persist throughout the winter when many other food sources are gone. Its leaves are evergreen and form a dense canopy. The bright red …
Continue Reading about Plant American Holly for Winter Color and Wildlife Food
