Birds and Blooms

1 day ago | birdsandblooms.com | Kelly Aiglon

Hydrangeas have a way of keeping gardeners on their toes. One season the flowers are soft pink, the next a vivid blue — or sometimes both, on the same bush. There’s something quietly thrilling about a plant that changes its look without ever leaving the ground. No surprise, then, that gardeners have spent decades trying to decode their color shifts. If you’ve ever passed a hydrangea in a show-stopping hue and thought, Why doesn’t mine look like that? — you’re in good company.

1 week ago | birdsandblooms.com | Emily Hannemann

How to Identify Japanese HoneysuckleANGHI/Getty ImagesJapanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica)You definitely don’t want to grow this non-native, invasive plant in your yard, despite the fact that it was once grown as an ornamental. The rapidly spreading vines of Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) climb up and eventually kill trees, flowers, and beneficial native plants. To identify it, look for oval-shaped green leaves between approximately 1 1/2 and 3 inches in length.

1 week ago | birdsandblooms.com | Emily Hannemann

What Does a Northern Shrike Look Like? Courtesy Gary WyrickLook for a gray and white bird with a hooked beak. “This bird (above) knocked itself out on my window. What is it?” asks Birds & Blooms reader Gary Wyrick of Scottville, Michigan. Birding experts Kenn and Kimberly Kaufman say, “That’s an unusual find! It’s a northern shrike—a bird that spends the summer in northern Canada and Alaska, appearing in Michigan only as a scarce winter visitor, and not usually seen close to houses.

2 weeks ago | birdsandblooms.com | Emily Hannemann

How to Grow a Gardenia BushLFO62/Getty ImagesCape Jasmine gardenia (Gardenia jasminoides)Common name: GardeniaScientific name: Gardenia sppHardiness zones: 8 to 11Light needs: Full to part sunPreferred soil: AcidicSize: 2 to 15 feetAttracts: BirdsThe gardenia (Gardenia spp) family encompasses a variety of plants ranging from flowers in containers to bushes and even trees.

2 weeks ago | birdsandblooms.com | Emily Hannemann

When it comes to human foods, we tend to defer to an expiration date to tell us what’s still good and what we need to throw away. Those dates stamped on packaging tell us when what we’ve bought is likely to stop tasting its best — or, for some perishable foods, when it might not be safe to consume. With that said, what about bird food? Does birdseed expire? Here’s what you should know about whether birdseed goes bad, and how you can best store seed to keep it fresh.