Author: Sue Watts

Unsung Pollinator Heroes: Beetles

May 13, 2024 | In the Garden

Beetles were already pollinating the first flowers before bees evolved. Many of the flowers with an ancient lineage, including magnolia and spicebush, are beetle-pollinated, but so are many other...

Do You Love Hummingbirds?

Apr 15, 2024 | In the Garden

Ruby-throated hummingbirds: “Glittering fragments of a rainbow” John J. Audubon Do you love hummingbirds? In the spring, ruby-throated hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris) return from their winter...

Sharing Nature with Children: Native Bees

Mar 14, 2024 | In the Garden

Many children in my programs at the South Carolina Botanical Garden know an enormous amount about non-native honeybees. However, they are astonished to discover the vast diversity of native bees and...

Fire! 

Feb 15, 2024 | In the Garden

Fire destroys, but it also purifies and enriches. For thousands of years, indigenous people used fire to manipulate the landscape. Burning was used to clear land for farming and settlement, maintain...

Eastern Red Cedar

Jan 11, 2024 | In the Garden

Although Christmas is past, I wanted to focus my blog on this most beautiful and versatile tree: the eastern red cedar (𝘑𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘶𝘴 𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘢). The eastern red cedar was the Christmas tree of choice...

Native Bee Diversity: Leafcutter Bees

Dec 11, 2023 | In the Garden

Early in the fall, I was delighted to find this fallen redbud leaf with this unusual, sculpted edge. This leaf is evidence of bee activity much earlier in the year. This is the work of female...

Beechdrops

Nov 13, 2023 | In the Garden

Have you ever been walking through the woods and noticed small, brown stems sticking through the leaf litter (somewhat reminiscent of the handles of tiny witch’s brooms)? These are beechdrops...

Glorious Goldenrod

Oct 16, 2023 | In the Garden

I love this time of year when the roadsides and gardens become full of gold. Goldenrod is everywhere! It brightens the landscape and lifts my mood. Goldenrod comes in all different shapes, sizes,...

Gardening For Warblers

Sep 21, 2023 | In the Garden

Fall bird migration is in full swing in South Carolina. As our temperatures cool and the days get shorter, many birds start preparing to move south. Many warblers pass through the South Carolina...

Prairie dock, prairie rosinweed

Aug 28, 2023 | In the Garden

Prairie dock (Silphium terebinthinaceum) lines the roadside edge of our Piedmont Prairie Exhibit at the South Carolina Botanical Garden. This plant is towering over the grasses and other prairie...

Native Hydrangeas

Jul 6, 2023 | In the Garden

Hydrangea season is upon us. The South Carolina Botanical Garden has a designated Hydrangea Garden across from the Hanover House. Hydrangeas are a multi-stem, woody shrub native to Asia and the...

Southeast Bumble Bee Atlas Project

Jun 19, 2023 | In the Garden

Did you know North America has over 4,000 native bees? They are a hugely diverse bunch, ranging from the large carpenter bee to the tiny fairy bee, and all are critical to pollination. Recently, I...