Written by SGG Volunteer Birder Pat Pepper I have written many blogs about the wonderful birds you can see in Georgia only during migrations, such as Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks, Baltimore Orioles, and beautiful neo-tropical warblers. This blog, however, is not about a few eye-catching migrants, but about the wonderment of seeing even very common birds migrating in large numbers. Several weeks…

  Written by SGG Garden Manager Lisa Bartlett If you have let your houseplants ‘holiday’ outside under a tree or on your deck for the summer, by early fall, it’s time to get them ready to bring inside. We started doing just that this week at the gardens. Many of our orchids, begonia and other tropicals suffer damage if temperatures…

Written by SGG Volunteer and Master Gardener Rita Buehner   Orange daylilies growing in masses of wild clumps by country roads and gardens are a joy to behold in June.  They provide many days of blooms and a cloud of color.  My grandma’s generation counted these hardy beauties among their favorite plants.  And so do I! But, oh, how these plants…

  Written by SGG Volunteer John A. Dolan, Ph.D Recently this Smith Gilbert Botanical Gardens volunteer was investigating some plants near the Hiram Butler house, and some of the surrounding flowers were covered with what looked like 2 species or “types” of honey bees – both were foraging for pollen that the bees bring back to their respective hives to…

July 26, 2017 Empty nest. Yes, the house wrens have fledged. We’ve had two nestings of house wrens in our Smith-Gilbert Gardens bluebird box. No bluebirds this year. Because of the hot temperatures, there will probably not be any more nestings this year. It’s hot outside and hotter in that box. I will still check for the next couple of…

July 19, 2017 Our house wrens are growing quickly. I can see 4 nestlings. We started with six eggs, so if you can spot more nestlings in the photo let us know. The parents were nearby and did not like me checking in on their home and they were not shy in letting me know. By next week they will…

July 5 Nest two of the summer of 2017 nesting season brings us six more house wren eggs. (One egg in this photo is hard to see.)

June 17, 2017 The house wrens must really love our bird box and its location because they are building again. We don’t know if it’s the same pair or not. One article suggested that usually the wrens will nest in a different site for their second brood. Once the young have fledged, they are fully independent in about 2 weeks…

  Let’s Make Weeds Fashionable Again! By: Lisa Bartlett – Garden Manager That is going to be my new motto. Why? National Pollinator Week got me thinking. Every year Americans spend countless hours, at least $30 billion dollars, and millions of gallons of gasoline just to maintain the dream of a well-kept lawn. In addition, an estimated 70 million pounds…