Sunday, October 11, 2009
In case you missed it, Teton Trek is now open! After a week of being open to zoo members only, our newest exhibit opened yesterday to the general public. The weather is wonderful, so come on out and see it! And while you're here, keep your eyes out for something special all over the zoo: the monarch butterflies' fall migration is in full swing.
Each spring, monarchs migrate from Mexico migrate...
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Friday, September 25, 2009
Is your backyard currently thick with
butterflies? Do Monarchs scatter (rather lazily) when you walk into your
backyard? Do swallowtails flap past on velvety black wings? No? Hmm... then perhaps you
need to add some butterfly-attracting plants to your garden scheme. The
most important plants in any butterfly garden are actually not the
brightly-colored flowers, but the host plants --...
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Saturday, September 12, 2009
The weather is great, making this a perfect time to visit the zoo! While you're here, be sure to visit our Once Upon a Farm exhibit, where the garden beds are overflowing with flowers. We've made a special effort to attract hummingbirds to the Farm this year, and it has paid off in a big way: we've had several ruby-throated hummingbirds making daily visits to the flowers here all summer long. The annual fall migration is going on now...
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Friday, August 28, 2009
There are plenty of plants in bloom at the Memphis Zoo right now, but one of the most unusual is a pretty little climbing vine called the Butterfly Pea, or Clitoria ternatea. This attractive, sun-loving plant from tropical Asia produces flowers in a bright, true blue shade rarely seen among garden plants. Its small green leaflets give it a delicate, airy appearance, but it has a rugged disposition, and holds up well...
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Tuesday, August 11, 2009
We recently added some tropical plants to the Aldabra Giant Tortoise exhibit (just west of the Komodo Dragons). The plants are starting to settle in and put out new growth, lending a nice tropical feel to the tortoise yard. Featured plants include an Areca palm, bottle palm, two windmill palms, several blooming hibiscus, two types of banana plants, and a variety of coleus. Most of these are strictly tropicals, so we'll dig them up in late fall and...
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Saturday, August 01, 2009
If you haven't seen the zoo's new "Birds & Bees" exhibit yet, then you're missing out! The outdoor netted area that was home to our butterfly exhibit in 2007 and 2008 is now a walk-through aviary, filled with almost 500 free-flying budgies (also known as parakeets). The brightly-colored birds flutter happily from tree to tree, and will willingly feed from handheld seed sticks. This is an interactive exhibit you won't soon forget! ...
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Friday, February 06, 2009
It's a beautiful weekend - head to the zoo! Now is a great time to catch an old-fashioned favorite just starting to bloom: flowering quince. Look for these shrubs in front of the lion yard, and at Once Upon a farm right outside the donkey lot. Their heaviest bloom will be in early March, but they've opened enough petals to provide some bright spots of color already.
Flowering quince, or Chaenomeles, is native to China, Japan, and...
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Saturday, January 17, 2009
Brrr... it's cold outside! Our recent extreme winter weather has gardeners longing for warmer temperatures and a chance to get outside and play in the dirt. Take heart -- spring is only a few months away! Right now, bundle up inside with some good gardening books, magazines, or catalogs, and start making plans and "wish lists" for your spring and summer garden.
Despite the cold, our horticulture crew here at the zoo is already...
Posted by
jmaybry@memphiszoo.org at
11:50 AM
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Saturday, January 03, 2009
Here's an easy way to make your yard more hospitable to local wildlife: leave the stems and seedheads of certain perennial plants standing over the winter. Often during a vigorous "fall clean-up", gardeners cut all of the old stems off at the ground. Leave those seedheads where they are, however, and songbirds will have a natural buffet to snack from throughout the winter. You'll be able to enjoy the antics of colorful goldfinches and other birds as they forage...
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Thursday, January 01, 2009
Happy New Year! January 1st is traditionally a time for making new resolutions: things you'd like to accomplish over the next year. For 2009, consider this: resolve to turn your yard into a "backyard habitat", a welcoming, safe haven for our local wildlife. As development continues, and more of our wild areas become housing developments and commercial districts, our local wild creatures are losing the plants that they depend on for shelter and for food....
Posted by
jmaybry@memphiszoo.org at
11:07 AM
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Saturday, December 06, 2008
Trees aren't the only plants that can develop some great fall color. There are some brightly colored shrubs that are perfect for bringing beautiful fall foliage down to ground level. One of the best is a deciduous shrub aptly named "burning bush", or Euonymus alatus 'Compactus'. This easy-to-grow shrub has deep green leaves during the summer, then in the fall the foliage takes on a brilliant scarlet hue before dropping for the winter. Mature plants also...
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Wednesday, November 19, 2008
There are flowers in bloom bloom at the zoo, even now during the fall! One of the stars right now is Mexican bush sage, Salvia leucantha , in full bloom at Once Upon a Farm. As soon as you cross under the train trestle to enter the Farm, look to your right, and you'll see the tall purple bloom spikes of this lovely sage poking up in the perennial garden.
Mexican bush sage is one of the best choices for adding late season color to...
Posted by
jmaybry@memphiszoo.org at
11:32 AM
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Saturday, November 15, 2008
One of the most colorful trees at the zoo this time of year is the Chinese pistache, Pistacia chinensis . You can see this beautiful tree in several locations throughout the zoo, including the main courtyard at the zoo's entrance (there are trees located in a bed in front of the lion lot, and several more on the other side of the courtyard next to the Education building and just outside the Nocturnal entrance). Look for them also between the Cat House Cafe...
Posted by
jmaybry@memphiszoo.org at
11:39 AM
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Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Now that the weather has turned chilly, fall foliage color has officially arrived in Memphis, and the zoo is looking beautiful! Great fall color is never a certainty in this part of the country, but this year the weather conditions have been perfect to turn our trees vibrant shades of fall colors. In the zoo's courtyard, you can see Chinese pistaches sporting leaves in shades of yellow, orange, or fiery red. Native flowering dogwoods throughout the...
Posted by
jmaybry@memphiszoo.org at
11:38 AM
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Wednesday, November 05, 2008
There's a very
unusual plant blooming right now in The African Veldt! Salvia puberula
is a rarely seen, rarely offered Salvia species native to a small area
in Mexico. The species name "puberula" means "soft or downy", and
refers to the fuzzy hairs that cover the stems, leaves, and even the
magenta-pink blooms of this plant. Known most often just by its scientific name,
this...
Posted by
jmaybry@memphiszoo.org at
11:17 AM
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Thursday, October 16, 2008
We’re digging up our tropical plants, such as this giant elephant ear ( Xanthosoma sagittifolium ), to move them into the greenhouse for the winter.
The tropical beds and seasonal pots may look a little different the next time you visit the zoo! We’re almost finished pulling all of our tropical plants into the...
Posted by
zooinfo@memphiszoo.org at
12:38 PM
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Thursday, October 16, 2008
An ostrich on the African Veldt relaxes behind the blooms of pineapple sage.
Fall is one of the prettiest times of the year to enjoy the plants in the African Veldt area. One of the stars right now is pineapple sage, Salvia elegans. This red-flowered plant may be found in front of the bontebok antelope, and in front of the ostriches....
Posted by
zooinfo@memphiszoo.org at
12:36 PM
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Thursday, October 16, 2008
Pots of mums, pansies, and ornamental grasses are adding fall colors to the zoo’s plaza right now.
Fall is the beloved Chrysanthemum flower’s time to shine. These plants bloom in fall in a wide range of colors, from sunny yellow, to deep orange, to rusty red. We’ve used a grouping of pots planted with mums,...
Posted by
zooinfo@memphiszoo.org at
12:33 PM
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Thursday, October 16, 2008
Purple beautyberry is a favorite food source for songbirds in the fall.
All around the zoo right now, you’ll spot the eye-catching berries of beautyberry bushes ( Callicarpa americana ). This deciduous, native North American shrub bears clusters of tiny pink flowers in spring, then becomes a real show-stopper in fall when...
Posted by
zooinfo@memphiszoo.org at
12:30 PM
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Thursday, October 16, 2008
Here's our older plant logs.
“ Yes, They’re Real!” Orchids in the Herpetarium
Posted July 26, 2008 | Jill Maybry, Horticulturist
I’ve heard visitors comment that the orchids currently residing inside the Herpetarium are...
Posted by
zooinfo@memphiszoo.org at
12:21 PM
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OTHER BLOGS
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