10 Things in My Yard

Following TGAW’s Thread responding to the No Child Left Inside Coalition’s claim that “young people could identify 1000 corporate logos but fewer than 10 plants or animals native to their backyards,” I decided to take a shot at naming ten things in my yard.

FAIL.

If I counted the fruit trees, the mimosa tree, and wisteria vine I’d planted since taking over the property, then yeah, no problem, but finding 10 species that I could name that were just there to begin with was just barely out of my reach. Here’s what I came up with.

Bagworm Psyche carpini

Easy. One of my chores was pulling these little buggers off all the bushes in our yard as a kid, piling them up in one spot, and torching them. Fun!

Bald cypress Taxodium distichum

Moderate. The tree to the right of this photo is what those wood-humps (called “knees”) sticking up out of the swamp are connected to. Said knees are sticking up around and under my house. Oh the joys of living in a swamp.

American Crows Corvus brachyrhynchos

FAIL. I thought these were blackbirds. I’m not even certain they’re crows, but they sure aren’t ravens, too small.

White Clover and Bumblebee Trifolium repens and Bombus lucorum

Easy and Easy. Everybody knows clovers, and most of us have stepped on a bumblebee walking barefoot through a clover patch (if you haven’t, I highly recommend it). Negative reinforcement makes for good learning.

Japanese honeysuckle Lonicera japonica

Moderate. I thought this was just honeysuckle, but apparently it’s an invasive species, but one that’s very popular and smells nice, so nobody minds.

Eastern Mistletoe Phoradendron serotinum

Moderate. Mistletoe is the green bushy stuff in trees that remains when winter cold has stripped all else away. I learned this a few years back when a friend about near killed himself trying to acquire some for his wife.

Annual Blue-eyed Grass Sisyrinchium rosulatum

FAIL. I had no idea what this stuff was, and it took an hour of searching the Webbernets to find out. It’s very pretty and it smells nice too. Elizabeth City is the first place I’ve seen it, and it’s all over everybody’s yards in Spring.

American Robin Turdus migratorius

Easy. If the Robins hadn’t scared off the Blue Jay, I might’ve succeeded in my quest. Robins are very nice, but Blue Jays are so wonderfully confrontational, conversational, and they’ve got a cool head crest to boot!

Rose Bush Rosa ??????

Easy. My neighbor told me what it was when he saw I was about to chainsaw it down.

House Cat Felis catus

I’m not counting my old three-legged, snotty, patchwork mess of a cat, Mollie, in my 10 things, but she did follow me around the yard wondering what I was up to.

Larger images available at the complete flickr set.