Suburban Ecosystem

A fig tree and various wildflowers grow near an empty street

The photo really doesn't capture it, but I am not happy that this hazy, wildfire-tainted air is becoming an expected part of summer. Virginia is not wildfire country, dang it!

Black beans drying on the vine

Jalapenos ripening on the patio

Several pots of basil in the foreground, with tomatoes growing in the background

More food for humans! #growyourownfood #permaculture

Watermelon growing near the patio

Onions in a grow bag on the patio

Pomegranate blooms past their peak, with one beginning to round out into fruit.

Green tomatoes on the vine

I know I mostly post photos of the native plants in my yard, but we do grow plenty of food for the humans on our little .2 acres as well! #growyourownfood #permaculture

A skink, likely five-lined, lounging on a concrete porch

You should *hear* the dog going off (through the window) at this little skink. Pretty sure it's one of the crew that live under our porch. Kiddo loves the babies with their electric blue tails! #naturesky #reptiles #backyardwildlife

A firefly sits on an aster frond.

Two fireflies flash in a garden at twilight.

A bat darts between trees at twilight

The garden at night means bats and fireflies! #gardensky #nativeplants #fireflies #bats

A mourning dove sits on a nest in the rafters of a patio overhang.

Mama's back on her nest again. #birds #mourningdove #patio

Too slow to get good photos of the garden visitors lately, but there's plenty for them to eat, and for the neighbors to enjoy looking at! #WildflowerWednesday #gardensky

common grackle foraging at the edge of the porch

robin eyeing the trail cam from a bed of Virginia creeper

It's been extremely rainy here, so the HOA is probably not thrilled about the lack of lawn mowing. The birds are loving it though, especially around our (covered) porch! #birds

A young red fox trotting across a lawn

This year's fox kits are getting so big! This one's almost as big as Mama now. Almost time for them to be finding their own territories... #redfox #mammals #backyardwildlife

A small wildflower meadow bordered by a stone path and a stretch of lawn.

Chelsea chop time for the front bed so the fall-blooming asters and goldenrod don't completely hide the currently-blooming Black-Eyed Susan and Wild Bergamot! #nativeplants #frontyard #gardening #wildflowers

A fledgling bird, possibly mockingbird, in a very green garden bed

This little fledgling is super cute with its lingering bit of baby fluff. Man is it ever a loud little neighbor though! #birds

An open pomegranate blossom

Contractors killed one of my apple trees and 80% of my tomatoes and peppers this week. But the pomegranate is blooming, so I've got that going for me... #permaculture #growyourownfood

Bloodroot rhizome with leaves still attached, sitting on the surface of natural soil.

Bloodroot leaves growing out of the soil

New bloodroot for the shade garden today! Not the ideal transplanting time, but necessary for HOA reasons. Bloodroot is beautiful, deer/rabbit resistant, a bit of a specialist plant for native mining bees, AND a natural source of red dye! #nativeplants

Fleabane

Blue false indigo

Virginia spiderwort

Blooms in my front yard today! #nativeplants #flowerFriday

A mother mallard and her ducklings relax in the grass.

A mother mallard and her ducklings splash in a sidewalk puddle.

This is at work, not home, but: ducklings! Possibly the cutest suburban wildlife. #birds #ducks

Squirrel! Bouncy squirrel is for once not stealing food I grew for the humans... #mammals

North American asters of some persuasion

Eastern red cedar

Common milkweed

Evening primrose

The start of the City Nature Challenge seemed like a good reason to explore some of the mystery "green things" springing up in my yard and see what I want to keep vs swap at the native plant swap tomorrow. I've got some good options! #nativeplants #gardensky #inaturalist

I hope most people are aware that residential pest control is 90% scam, and the ones that do subscription treatment services are 100% a scam.

They have no incentive to actually solve whatever pest problem you think you have. They'd rather show up biweekly, spray blindly, and collect your money.

Mayapples in bloom

Spring Beauty in bloom

Blackhaw Viburnum in bloom

More spring flowers from my run today! #seenonmyrun #flowersky #nativeplants

A clump of violets growing in leaf litter.

A tree trunk and a carpet of violets growing along a privacy fence.

In love with my little field of violets under the black cherry tree. So much better than the English ivy that was there when we moved in! #nativeplants #gardensky

This blue jay appears to be planting a new maple tree in the yard. Also love that you can see a very clear change where my "lawn" ends and the neighbors' begins. #birds

Wet red fox pausing on the lawn to drink rain water

Coon hound barking through a closed window at a nonchalant fox

Mama fox is rain-soaked and clearly in need of a break from the babies. Our hound does NOT approve. #mammals #redfox

Moss phlox blooming blue-purple

Violets blooming near a path

A blooming blueberry branch

Apple blossoms on a sapling

My yard is blooming! #gardensky #springinvirginia

Several of our neighbors have gotten backyard chickens since grocery prices went so crazy. Looks like one neighbor's inadequate planning is our fox family's gain! 😯😳

Moss phlox buds opening

My moss phlox is starting to bloom! #nativeplants #nativelandscaping #gardensky

She definitely bringing something back to the den on the regular! #mammals #redfox

The violets are blooming! I'm trying to encourage them to take over my backyard. These little natives make a decent ground cover in places too shady for grass, and are the main host plant for many fritillary butterflies! #plants #nativeplants

Our resident vixen has been triggering the trail cam an average of 6-8 times a day lately. Feeding kits? Here she is posing for the camera. #mammals

A mourning dove sitting on a nest built into a man-made structure

This mama mourning dove has made use of the overhang on our patio for 3 seasons in a row now! She's watching my kid grow as much as I'm watching hers! 😂😂

Wonder what she found in the herb garden there! I guess that serves as a reminder that we aren't the only ones eating our herbs...