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Today’s photo shows our oxeye/false sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides) starting to bloom.

This plant struggled last year, its first year in the ground. Then in the building of our berm, it got half buried, with just parts of its leaves sticking up above the soil.

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#2026photos #nativeplants
June 21, 2026 at 1:55 AM
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For today’s photo… moss. 😍 I don’t know much of anything about moss, but my photo app and Seek both identified this as common bladder-moss (Physcomitrium pyriforme). I’m awaiting confirmation on iNaturalist, but its appearance fits the name!

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#2026photos #backyardforest
A patch of moss is shown in close-up, with short, medium-dark, sort of olive-colored leaves and above them vivid round neon green bladders atop slender yellowy stalks. The moss is growing on wet ground amid bits of mulch and dried plant matter.
March 29, 2026 at 3:11 AM
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On Wednesday, Bleachers came to Red Rocks - QRO photo gallery: qromag.com/bleachers-mo...
Bleachers - Morrison, CO
Bleachers live @ Red Rocks in Morrison, CO on September 23rd, 2026Photos by Jason Ryan
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September 26, 2026 at 7:46 PM
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Today’s photo is the first butterfly-weed (Asclepias tuberosa) I’ve had survive from one year to the next, now blooming for the first time, too!

What a wonderful color it is.

#2026photos #nativeplants #virginianativeplants
Bright orange blooms of butterfly-weed are clustered together, among buds that have not yet opened and are a slightly darker and more muted reddish pink. Around the plant and its own narrow leaves, the triple leaves of strawberry plants can be seen.
June 1, 2026 at 2:15 AM
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I was rushing to get things done before dark, & by the time I paused to take a picture I thought the light was too far gone to get much. But that meant it was finally late enough to catch the common evening-primrose (Oenothera biennis) opening for the night!

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#2026photos #nativeplants
The four-petalled, lemon-yellow blooms of an evening-primrose have opened for the night near the top of its stalk. Below them are the blooms of previous days, shriveled and pinkish. In the background the evening sky shows soft shades of lavender and pink.
June 4, 2026 at 3:11 AM
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OK today’s photo is not at all well-composed, and it’s zoomed in so the focus isn’t great, but you do not KNOW how many raspberry canes I had to reach through to get it.

THIS is ebony spleenwort (Asplenium platyneuron)!

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#2026photos #nativeplants #virginianativeplants #ferns
Narrow-leaved green ferns with black stems grow mostly upright from under a mossy and lichen-covered landscaping timber, with scattered dry leaves and the stems of last year’s plants all around.
January 18, 2026 at 1:09 AM
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Today’s photo is one of the bloom clusters on our staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina), with a visiting pollinator wandering through it. That’s the margined leatherwing beetle (Chauliognathus marginatus).

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#2026photos #nativeplants #insects #invertebrates
A small, slender beetle with tan wings and a dark brown or black oval toward the back of each wing wanders through the tiny, clustered, pale green flowers of a staghorn sumac. Around the flower cluster darker green leaves with serrated edges spread out from purplish-red, fuzzy stems.
June 7, 2026 at 2:47 AM
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While we’re on milkweeds… here is our one remaining whorled milkweed (Asclepias verticillata) starting to bloom!

The picture doesn’t really convey quite how tiny these are.

& speaking of tiny, every time I zoom in on a milkweed photo lately there are tiny ants in it!

#2026photos #nativeplants
A single slender stem with equally slender leaves almost resembling curved pine needles radiating from it rises from a grassy area, with small clusters of flower buds near its top, a couple of which have opened into white flowers that are being visited by tiny black ants.
July 8, 2026 at 2:46 AM
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Remember that butterfly a week or so ago, the American/common snout (Libytheana carinenta)? Today’s photo is one of the caterpillars that has hatched from the eggs it laid on the hackberry (Celtis occidentalis).

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#2026photos #gardeningforwildlife #backyardforest
A tiny caterpillar sits with its head end raised on the underside of a bright green leaf, and is the same color as the leaf.
May 23, 2026 at 2:49 AM
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In today’s photo… they’ve arrived! The dogbane beetles (Chrysochus auratus) are officially here.

I thought I saw them, just dark spots on the plants then, from a few feet away on the berm last night, but I wasn’t sure & needed to keep working, so I didn’t check.

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#2026photos
A small iridescent beetle showing primarily magenta and green metallic colors is on a leaf of a pale green, stiff-leaved dogbane plant. Behind it is a grassy hillside.
June 27, 2026 at 2:46 AM
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In today’s photo, a clump of heart-leaved foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia) in the bed I worked on the other day is still wearing its winter red, but some new green leaves are starting to show through!

This is just a great plant.

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#2026photos #nativeplants #virginianativeplants
A clump of leaves roughly the shape of hearts or of English ivy leaves are tangled together and colored a dark but muted red, with small bright green leaves showing underneath. Around it are bits of dry grass, soft green moss, and dark bare soil.
February 26, 2026 at 2:09 AM
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Today’s photo is… seed pods?? On my blue wild indigo (Baptisia Australia)!

(Does this mean I might have more of them next year??)

Sorry, I’ve been so focused on getting this one plant to survive & bloom, it never occurred to me it might make more!

#2026photos #nativeplants #virginianativeplants
Seed pods like very fat light-green pea pods with a dark seam up the middle are clustered on the stem of a plant, with darker green leaves fanned out around them.
June 2, 2026 at 3:29 AM
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In today’s picture, someone stopped by for a visit and went away without their coat…

(Quite small and keeled scales, so a garter snake, I think.)

#2026photos #snakes
A small, partial snake skin lies on wet, bare ground, surrounded by bright green violet leaves and a dead leaf or two.
May 13, 2026 at 2:14 AM
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Today’s photo shows some of the yarrow (Achillea borealis) starting to bloom!

I have some yarrow I planted in one of the front beds, but a big patch had sprung up in the back that I was perpetually trying to pull grass around to make a new bed (& never finishing).

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#2026photos #nativeplants
May 17, 2026 at 3:33 AM
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In today’s photo is the current reason I am even less inclined than usual toward mowing the grass.

Suddenly this year the Carolina cranesbill (Geranium carolinianum) has spread enthusiastically into the lawn.

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#2026photos #nativeplants #virginianativeplants
Small, bright green, deeply incised leaves are scattered throughout an area of grass, some of which is a darker green and some of which is still pale and dry from the winter.
April 9, 2026 at 2:50 AM
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Today’s photo marks day 3 in The Quest for Green Things and also marks SUCCESS!

Since it was so nice out & the ground is so soft, I decided to pull Bermuda grass from the neglected bed by the front door, & uncovered these *green* Nodding Onions (Allium cernuum).

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#2026photos #nativeplants
Several onion plants rise a few inches out of wet, clumpy soil, their leaves like flat green blades wrapped in a skin of old growth at their base. They have sprouted in a loose circle and are surrounded by various dried leaves and grasses.
February 18, 2026 at 3:18 AM
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I hoped to find maybe some dead man’s fingers or a nice patch of mushrooms for today’s photo, but I didn’t find any. Instead, I found this pretty lichen growing on a decaying branch from our silver maple (Acer saccharinum). A ruffle lichen, I think?

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#2026photos
A pale greenish-gray lichen with slightly ruffled edges grows on a wet and decaying branch lying in the grass, with areas of reddish brown, light tan, darker brown, and gray showing on the wood. Just under the lichen, a few small spots of brighter green moss have grown. To the right, the cut and broken end of the branch is somewhat jagged.
February 27, 2026 at 1:45 AM
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For today’s photo, my second attempt to find something green happening in my yard.

Result: moss!

(I am even less able to identify this moss than I was yesterday’s lichen.)

If anyone knows a good sort of hard copy field guide for mosses & lichens & such, please let me know!

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#2026photos
Bright almost lime-green moss is pictured in close-up, looking surprisingly hairy. Around it are various dried stems, twigs, and brown leaves all scattered on otherwise bare wet ground. Bright afternoon sun slants across all of it.
February 17, 2026 at 2:31 AM
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Today’s photo shows the moment when I asked the beebalm/wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) if it was about ready to bloom and it went 🤷‍♀️

#2026photos #nativeplants #virginianativeplants
Stems of a perennial extend upward with further stems branching off in an opposite arrangement, the leaves also being opposite and each pair being at right angles to the previous pair. At the top, sets of leaves fold around what may be a flower bud, and one set of leaves bends in a way that suggests shrugging shoulders and arms. In the background are a tree in sunlight and a vivid blue sky.
June 20, 2026 at 2:41 AM
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Our annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum), planted on the berm to hold the soil until we can plant natives, has sprouted! Yesterday the seeds hadn’t even cracked open, & today it’s more than an inch high. So that’s today’s photo!

#2026photos #wildlifepond
May 7, 2026 at 3:10 AM
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Today’s photo shows our northern rattlesnake-master (Eryngium yuccifolium) getting ready to bloom.

It’s a cool-looking plant, attracts lots of little pollinators, is generally easy-care, & is pretty readily available as far as native plants go. I really like it.

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#2026photos #nativeplants
Rattlesnake-master prepares to bloom, its flower head looking a bit like a small white artichoke and bristling with many points. Below it, pale green blade-like leaves with small hooks along their edges unwrap from around the stem.
June 6, 2026 at 3:15 AM
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Today’s picture is of the Allegheny blackberry (Rubus allegheniensis) growing conveniently & not at all problematically right next to the neighbor’s yard, which I currently deal with by pretending it will stay its present smallish size.

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#2026photos #nativeplants #virginianativeplants
Several wide-open white five-petaled flowers stand out from a slightly reddish bramble stem, with several sharp thorns showing and somewhat crinkled leaves in groups of three. Strong sunlight hits them at a low angle, and they are surrounded by grass.
April 24, 2026 at 2:33 AM
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In today’s photo… strawberry season is here! (Fragaria virginiana)

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#2026photos #nativeplants #virginianativeplants
A small flower with six rounded white petals and a bright yellow-green center appears beneath bright green leaves with toothed edges, and nestled among dry leaves. To the right a sidewalk runs, and edging of flat stones placed upright holds the plant into its bed. Some of the picture is in bright sunlight and some in shadow.
March 24, 2026 at 3:13 AM
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Today’s photo is one of our black cherry trees (Prunus serotina), gearing up to bloom!

Black cherry is an early successional species that pops up in disturbed areas & new clearings, & lots of people think of it as a trash tree.

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#2026photos #nativeplants #virginianativeplants
A slender tree branch crosses the photo from upper right to mid left, with young leaves still coming out and spears of what will be flowers still pale green as they emerge. The colors are muted as the branch is silhouetted against a mainly clear evening sky, with a long building, a vehicle, and a church steeple out of focus in the background.
April 12, 2026 at 3:07 AM
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Last Thursday, Modest Mouse played St. Augustine Amphitheatre - QRO photo gallery: qromag.com/modest-mouse...
Modest Mouse - St. Augustine, FL
Modest Mouse live @ St. Augustine Amphitheatre in St. Augustine, FL on September 17th, 2026Photos by Brett Missick
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September 20, 2026 at 10:30 PM