gallimenagerie

(Maybe Nadata gibbosa?)

This guy (and many more) were found feasting on goldenrod on a cold day in October.

Gymnosporangium spp. gall (likely Cedar-apple rust) in the Missouri/Kansas region, growing on a juniper tree.

Currently located in northwestern Missouri, but Ohio may be back in the cards in the near future. :]

The secretive and fuzzy flowers of Asarum canadense, Canadian Wild Ginger. It took me a woefully long time to realize these existed beneath all of those leaves.

After a bunch of deliberation due to terrible plant ID skills, I've deduced that the gooseberries growing behind my house are of the (surprise!) Missouri variety. There's one larger plant I've been keeping an eye on for the last few years - it survived last summers drought - and two smaller ones in other parts of the yard. The bigger plant produces fruit, but I let the birds have 'em.

…I didn’t think these smelled nearly as terrible as other witnesses say!

These have probably been around the yard for eons, but I've only just gotten around to identifying them. I'm very pleased to host these little flowers, but I have a feeling this year is a bit of a fluke- this site mentions that they thrive in moist conditions, and it's usually anything BUT moist here.

Excited about this one- painted trillium don't grow back home in Missouri! Totally enchanted by the patterns of threes in this plant- three petals, three big leaves, three small. The flower of this particular trillium seems a bit washed out; maybe the bloom was old.

This took a bit of time to identify, what with all of the popular cultivars and a similarly named invasive Asian species. I'll have to keep an eye out for these later in the year as they start to bloom- and I'm doubly curious as to if they'd fare well in the garden back in Missouri, being shade plants and all.

Found two of them hanging around waist-height on a conifer next to the trail, one slightly larger than the other. What cuties! 

I'm quite new to really identifying plants, so I was very excited to find two of these lovely little flowers out in Conckles Hollow nature preserve. Blown away by the starkness of those stripes!

Despite knowing the common name, I can only classify these guys down to the order, for now; I'm not privy with my invertebrates! Anyway, we saw loads of these crawling about on moss-lined walls near the trails in Hocking.

Entry number one, and the first time I’ve ever seen a wild salamander. Picked up and transported only because it was in the middle of heavy foot traffic!