Tiny Urban Wilderness

A barred owl was also hooting and a wolf spider scurried by while I was pulling Japanese brome grass.

I miss my child so much. They had so much curiosity about the world.

Late April to mid May

My composter is decomposing

Sometimes things I dug up and moved to a different location in my yard pop back up many years later in the original spot 🧐. This particular Ohio spiderwort is from a patch found on the road next to mine. That colony succumbed to invasive plants 6 or 7 years later but I’ll bet it’s still there under the surface…

I’ll never be able to stop pulling dozens of invasive honeysuckles every year because of my neighbors shrub. It’s hard to talk to him because he’s very private and reclusive. Dear neighbor, please let me cut it down and replace it with a viburnum.

Please enjoy the sounds of a Northern cardinal and Carolina wren.

Golden Alexander and bird song in the morning.

I wasn’t able to pull the invasive weeds go for only two years and now there are literally thousands of garlic mustard plants. That’s my neighbor’s yard over there in the background, full of them. Once I pulled all of mine up, I found native plants underneath.

This Meleagris gallopavo (wild turkey) has fulfilled a goal of mine for Tiny Urban Wilderness! I saw a flock of them in the yard many years ago before I began my habit restoration. Of course I’ve been creating this habitat for all types of local native plants, animals, and insects but one of my hopes was to lure wild turkeys back again. After touring the yard for quite a while and sampling some sweetgrass seeds, I hope it gives me a five star rating and tells its friends. #wildturkey #nativeplants #northamerica #midwest #homegrownnationalpark

Maybe we’ll get paw paws this year?

I’ve never seen a leaf this big on Asarum canadense (Canadian wild ginger).

I’ve seen this behavior before. She’s shopping for a nesting site. While having birds nesting right outside my front door is fun and educational, I don’t want her to make it in my mouse ear hosta. My dog will probably bark at her and disturb her every day. Also, we won’t be able to use the front door for a couple months.