Southern Garden & Native Habitat Consulting

11/19/2025

For the last couple weeks you can hear them falling on tin roofs all over the neighborhood here.

It has been a mast year for oaks (Quercus spp.) here in North Florida. Every few years oaks produce more acorns than normal to ensure that some will grow into trees. If the production was the same each year, then wildlife populations would expand to consume all the acorns. The acorn is a true nut with a hard shell and a cap, called the cupule, which protects the kernel. The kernel, which consists of two fatty seed leaves, called cotyledons, which surround a small embryo. This is an important food for wildlife.

Read my article for more information oaks, mast years, and a link to a Doug Tallamy video where he talks about mast years. https://greengardeningmatters.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-importance-of-oaks.html

11/19/2025

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11/19/2025

Here’s another great reason to as best you can in planting beds or wild spaces around your yard. 🍂

The Eastern Comma Butterfly (Polygonia comma) overwinters under leaf litter, loose tree bark, or within woodpiles and tree cavities. They resume activity and mate in late February to March to produce the summer brood. There are two generations per year in the eastern United States.

Now how did this butterfly get such an interesting name? The ‘comma’ refers to a silvery comma-shaped mark on the underside of each hind wing. For the scientific name, the genus ‘Polygonia’ translates to ‘many angles’ in Greek, a reference to the butterfly’s angled wing margins. The same Greek root is used in geometry for the different polygons you learned in school, such as pentagon (penta- = five, -gon = angles), hexagon (six angles), and more. Yep, there’s a connection between butterflies and geometry! 🤯

Photo by David Marvin, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

11/19/2025

Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) is well-known for its gumballs and diagnostic star-shaped leaves with a sawtooth margin. If you look closely at its leaves, though, you’ll find lots of variation on this native tree of the southeast. Sweetgum leaves often have five lobes but some leaves have up to seven lobes. There are several cultivars of Sweetgum that differ in leaf shape and fall color too.

Here’s some of the variation I found along a woodland edge. When crushed, the leaves give off a fragrance that resembles cloves or citrus.

11/19/2025

The developments could be just the tip of the iceberg in the southeastern corner of the county once known for cotton fields that are now within the city limits of Alabama’s largest city.

04/16/2025

Beautiful Bear Creek at Tishomingo State Park today here in Northeast Mississippi.

04/14/2025

Msg/call for consultation. 662 665-1166
Email: [email protected]

04/14/2025

04/14/2025

Some beautiful Azaelas here in Corinth, Northeast Mississippi. After recovering from a hard winter a couple of years ago they’ve really put on a show this spring here.

04/14/2025

Great native plant!