The Quiet Country House

Wild Edges...

This is my 100th post. In honor of that event, and in keeping with an interesting conversation at Green Inventions Central recently about letting native species grow on property edges, I've decided to list 100 things that live and grow in the wild edges on our three and a half acres of land. These are the things that would be here whether we were here or not, not things I have purchased or brought in. Further, this is just a quick "off the top of my head" list. There are other things that should be on this list, but either a)I don't know what it they are called b) I totally forgot about them while making this list or c) I thought of them when the list was filled. The living creatures noted here have either walked over, crawled through or flown above our land in the years that we have lived here, some of them frequently, though not all actually make their home on our property. Our wild edges truly do provide habitat for a fascinating variety of living things, helping in a small way to sustain biodiversity.

50 Rooted Things:

1) red clover 2) ajuga 3) field daisies 4)blue-eyed grass 5) buttercups 6) boneset 7) wild strawberries 8) cattails 9) jewelweed 10) red-twig dogwood 11) multiflora rose 12) Russian olive 13) autumn olive 14) wild apple 15) maple trees 16) chicory 17) blueweed 18) black-eyed Susans, 19) campion 20) yellow clover 21) dandelions 22) mallow 23) St. John's wort 24) fern 25) trout-lily 26) Queen Anne's Lace (wild carrot) 27) yarrow 28) evening primrose 29) goat's beard 30) self-heal 31) horsetail 32) wild mint 33) willow 34) white pine 35) ash 36) spotted knapweed (star thistle) 37) mullein 38) golden rod 39) New England aster 40) wild mustard 41) milkweed 42) joe-pye weed 43) violets 44) bull thistle 45) shepherds purse 46) raspberries 47) wild grapes 48)birch trees 49) smoothish hawkweed 50) orange hawkweed

50 wild creatures:

51) painted turtles 52) snapping turtles 53) ring-neck pheasant 54) red fox 55) coyote 56) Bald Eagle 57) kestrel 58) hawk 59) robin 60) Eastern blue bird 61) blue heron 62) sandhill crane 63) mallards 64) frogs 65) toads 66) dragonflies 67) damselflies 68) monarch butterflies 69) yellow swallowtails 70) blue swallowtails 71) Pandoras Sphinx Moth 72) seagull 73) killdeer 74) meadowlark 75) quail 76) whitetail deer 77) opossum 78) rabbit 79) praying mantis 80) walking stick 81) lady bug 82) mosquito 83) goldenrod and other spiders 84) flies 85) honeybees 86) yellow jackets 87) wasps 88) bumblebees 89) ruby-throated hummingbird 90) red spider mites 91) ants 92) garter snakes 93) moles 94) mice 95)cardinal 96)bob-o-link 97)grouse 98)bats 99) wild geese 100) fireflies

Also, really quickly, my little nod to Poetry Thursday. Just a few lines I wrote several years ago, about June (that includes two of the plants species in my wild edges list!)

June

Courtship in the meadow has begun;
blue-eyed grass winks at the sky,
and buttercups flirt with the sun.

poetry by Aisling

photos by Aisling 1) Blue-eyed grass, 5/19/2007 2) buttercups 6/3/2007