Garden Experiments
For the love of gardening and wildlife habitat
Try some of these fun, nature-based activities. You'll find gardens to visit, things to do outdoors, interesting facts about fungi and other unique things found in nature.
Irises, azaleas, rhododendrons, viburnums, and lilacs greeted us as we entered the first path in the Japanese Garden. Many of the plants in the garden are native to Michigan, this ensures they will thrive and continue to grow as they are well-adapted to the growing conditions. The Richard and Helen DeVos Japanese Garden opened in 2015. It was …
Continue Reading about Japanese Garden at Frederik Meijer Gardens
I love traveling to different places and getting to see the wildflowers and botanical gardens there. It's especially fun when the native plants are different than the ones that grow in Mississippi. It's fun to see how many I already know and then try to identify the new ones. Loda Lake Wildflower Sanctuary On a recent trip to Michigan, we walked …
As part of the spring tourism season, the city of Columbus holds a Spring Pilgrimage that includes tours of antebellum homes, live music events, arts, food, a 5K race, and stories from the town’s history. We selected the tour that included Colonnade Gardens. The original gardens were installed in the 1860’s and include a boxwood maze, gazing …
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The last couple of weeks the weather has been down right cold! Well, for Mississippi standards it was cold. Highs in the 20's and lots of wind - that always makes me curl up in lots of blankets and not want to go outdoors. Brrrr! But the cold front passed us by and now the temperatures are back up to a pleasant 65 degrees. My kind of winter …
Continue Reading about The Beauty of Decay in the Winter Garden
Harriet and Helena Scott - Australian Lepidoptera and Their Transformations In the mid-1800's two Australian sisters created stunning natural history illustrations for the publication of their father's book. I was fortunate to be able to see the exhibit of unpublished plates in the Australian Museum and I spent hours poring over the intricacies of …
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So you are walking around your yard one day and see a spot of bright yellow in your mulch. What in the world is that? It's a slime mold! This mold is Fuligo septica the vomit slime mold and it shows up in warm, humid conditions and spreads across the top of the material - usually wood mulch. It starts out rather beautiful (at least this one …
Continue Reading about Yellow Slime Mold – The Dog Vomit Fungus
