The Front Yard with Vanessa

Here's a look at our front yard responding to some of the recent rain. As usual, my daughter Vanessa was exploring with me so she made it into a few photos.

We removed most of our grass last year to make room for the wildflower meadow. There is a non-native pygmy date palm in there and I'm just waiting until I get the motivation to dig it out and move it somewhere else.

A nice black-eyed susan starts popping out multiple blossoms.

Vanessa stands on the front walkway in front of the firebush and behind the dwarf simpson's stoppers and elliott's lovegrass.

The simpson's stoppers looked a bit sparse through the winter, but benefited from being cut back. The new growth this spring is very green and robust.

The seaside goldenrod flowers in the spring and again in the fall.

Vanessa walks out into the meadow.

Vanessa investigates some greeneyes. Elliott's lovegrass and starry rosinweed can be seen in the foreground.

My little flower shoots up above the other plants in the meadow. She sure grows like a weed!

Worried about Woodpeckers

We keep a Laurel Oak snag (dead tree) in the yard because they offer valuable habitat for a number of species. Last year, we had a red-bellied woodpecker work on a hole in the snag. For whatever reason (I think the lower part of the tree was still alive and too hard to dig out) the woodpecker abandoned the effort. This year, I was very happy to see another one, or maybe the same one, working on a nest in the same snag only a little higher up. Red-bellied pairs are known to use the same tree each year. Eventually, we had two birds coming and going from the nest. Recently, we noticed the parents bringing food back to the nest and could hear the chirping of several baby birds.

A parent leaves the nest to forage for more food.

Food is brought back for the babies.

Looking down at the human neigbors.

Yesterday, my wife called and explained what happened. I guess the woodpeckers hollowed out a pretty large nest and the recent heavy rains must have soaked the dead wood above the nest. The snag snapped in half right at the point of the nest. We were worried that the babies were gone.

One parent stayed perched on the broken snag, chirping up a storm.

It was a relief to see that the parents were still bringing food back to the nest and you could hear the nestlings chirping again.

More food.

I guess enough of the nest is left for the babies, but now they are completely exposed. I'm usually a fan of letting nature take its course, but these woodpeckers suffer from a lack of suitable habitat in urban areas. I'd entertain the idea of building a nest box, but I don't even have a ladder tall enough to reach them. The nestling baby birds need about one month to develop enough to leave the nest. I'm afraid it's only been about a week or two since they hatched. Good luck little woodpeckers!

Lizard Battle

While out back checking on the woodpeckers (more on that soon) I heard these two fellas causing a ruckus. It was pretty dark and these aren't the best photos, but it was pretty cool.

The standoff.

They took turns chomping down on each other.

These cuban anoles aren't native, but they're still fun to watch. I would prefer the native green anoles, but I barely ever see them around here.

Pineywood Dropseed

The pineywoods dropseed was catching the setting sun nicely this evening.

Happy Mother's Day, Florida Native Style

Florida wildflowers look great in the meadow but it's always nice to enjoy them inside. Here's an arrangement I pulled from the front yard for Mother's Day. Blanket flower, some firebush blooms, a black-eyed susan and a few seaside goldenrods make for a colorful display.

Finally Buzzing

After a fairly quiet winter, it's nice to see the insects return with Spring. I headed back out today to document some of the visitors. I know nothing about species identification for insects. Part of the reason for photographing them is to force myself to learn. If anyone can ever ID something that I'm not sure of, please share your wisdom in the comments.

A dragonfly rests on a budding blanket flower.

Visiting a different flower.

A bee fruitlessly searches a greeneyes deadhead.

The scarlet milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) is not native and some Florida gardeners prefer not to propagate it. But with the lack of availability of the native butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa), and my apparent inability to grow it from seed, I'm happy to plant this variety to provide plenty of food for our migrating Monarchs. It's doing a pretty good job at reseeding itself this year.

This guy is built perfectly for extracting the nectar out of these firebush (Hamelia patens) flowers. Thanks to the tear in the flower tube, you can see the proboscis sticking out.

The garberia (Garberia heterophylla or fruiticosa) provides some unique texture and is proving to be quite drought tolerant.

A pollinator visits this unique blanket flower phenotype. Notice the pollen-coated legs.

Another insect displays a large accumulation of pollen.

Welcome to My Florida Yard

Welcome to my yard! This is basically a photo record of my yard throughout the year kept for personal use. I will concentrate on native plants and the pollinators/wildlife they support.

Spring is in full swing. Here are some selected photos from the meadow yesterday.

The starry rosinweed (Silphium asteriscus) seemed to reseed itself this year and is popping up in new spots.

I'm excited the black-eyed susans (Rudbeckia hirta) are starting to bloom. The hybrid privet/bahama cassia on the left gets a little too tall but is more vigorous than the pure bahamas.

A nice blanket flower (Gaillardia pulchella) specimen.

Natural symmetry.

Three black-eyed susans at various stages of blooming.

The main purpose of shooting yesterday was to get some bug shots.

A dragonfly rests on some crispy tropical sage (Salvia coccinea)

Blanket flower blooms at the base of a muhly grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris).

The seaside goldenrod (Solidago sempervirens) thrives during this extended drought.