Garden Experiments
For the love of gardening and wildlife habitat
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
If you like butterflies, than planting both plants that host the larvae and feed the butterflies are important. These are some of the flowering herbaceous plants (and one vine) suitable for planting in the southeast for the butterflies that we have here. Flowering plants that are host to larvae of the butterfly Flowering plants that provide …
Continue Reading about Food Plants for Butterflies and Caterpillars
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
Salvia is definitely one of my favorite garden plant genera. There are just so many colors and shapes to choose from when picking a plant for your garden. It's a great pollinator plant - butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds love the flowers. Here are some of my favorites from my garden. All salvias mentioned below are perennial in my zone …
Continue Reading about Salvia Flowers Attract Butterflies and Hummingbirds
The folks at Dorman Hall have been working hard to create a beautiful teaching garden in a small space. I visited there this October and found a variety of garden types and some really cool plants. The gardens around Dorman Hall were established in 2008. A daylily garden, fern garden, butterfly garden, and vine garden were added in 2011. View …
Continue Reading about Mississippi State University Dorman Hall Gardens
