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City Mouse Garden

@citymousegarden.bsky.social

3.1K followers 52 following 2.6K posts

#NativePlants & #Pollinators Fan. Master Gardener. Master Urban Farmer. Cookbook Editor/Chef. Tiny #Chicago Garden Zone 6A. All photos mine unless otherwise indicated. #UrbsInHorto #GardenDogs #KitchenGarden #FantasticFoliage

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City Mouse Garden @citymousegarden.bsky.social · 6h

This Chaos Monkey FAFO’d last night & woke whole fam at 2am (again) because she was bored so she & I’ve been bedroom crate training all day to implement night jail—suddenly she’s trying lull me with her sweet lap baby nonsense. #ACDLife is 24/7 scheming. #WeAreAllZoey #GardenDogs #DogsOfBluesky

Small grey and brown Cattle Dog curled in a sweet little ball on the couch next to me with her paw gently and a floppy chocolate velvet ear on my leg.

Reposted by City Mouse Garden

JBtheExplorer🎃 | Native Plant Gardener (WI) @jbtheexplorer.bsky.social · 1d

Just a reminder: Don't cut your stems to the ground! Bees need them! I do cut stems back a bit, but I leave them standing around 1' to 2' tall. In spring, bees will lay eggs in them. I took these photos a few years back on a warm spring day.

#nativeplants #bees #nativegarden #pollinators

A small carpenter bee realizing that the hollow stem it was intending on entering is already occupied.

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City Mouse Garden @citymousegarden.bsky.social · 9h

Gorgeous! The food chain is amazing. Even in the middle of a big city, we see them more and more perched on nearby tall light poles hunting as we get more resident and migratory birds visiting as our #NoSpray garden has provided more seeds and bugs for the small guys.

City Mouse Garden @citymousegarden.bsky.social · 10h

Dill flowers are lovely but they are impossibly tiny yellow nubs that fan out in an umbrella shape called an umbel. The beautiful pink bloom in your photo is a Cosmo.

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City Mouse Garden @citymousegarden.bsky.social · 11h

It’s not Helianthus annus. Likely a young volunteer from a bird or mammal spreading seed of a different species. There are endless annual and perennial species in the same genus, most of which are native to North America. You’d need to use a key to identify it because it can be tough.

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City Mouse Garden @citymousegarden.bsky.social · 14h

Hope and seeds spring eternal!

City Mouse Garden @citymousegarden.bsky.social · 15h

Going deep in the travel archives for this #ThickTrunkTuesday. 🌱

An ancient tree with a bent trunk and wide short fully exposed root system hanging precarious above an ocean-eroded cave and a similarly horizontal flattened evergreen shape above. Framed on either side by smooth orange and red stone.

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Reposted by City Mouse Garden

Julie the ok gardener @juliejam.bsky.social · 2d

Common Checkered-Skippers on the Frost Aster today. Their caterpillars eat plants in the mallow (Malvaceae) family, probably Swamp Rose Mallow in my garden, where they aren't that common. Burnsius communis. #butterflies #lepidoptera #nativeplants #gardening 🌱🦋

A small butterfly with a white and brownish-blacķ checkered pattern fringed in white sits with wings outspread on a white aster flower. The body of the butterfly is covered in soft, feathery blue fur that extends onto the inner part of the wings.

A Common checkered-skipper sits facing the camera with wings out, tongue extended into an aster. The underside of the wings is paler than the top, mostly white with soft charcoal checkering. The face and underside of the body are white with pale blue hair. The eyes are black.

Another Common Checkered-Skipper facing down with wings outspread, showing the long feathery blue hair on the back. The Frost Aster is Symphyotrichum pilosum. Oklahoma Northern Crosstimbers ecoregion 29a.

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City Mouse Garden @citymousegarden.bsky.social · 1d

Excellent point! Love winter interest plants.

City Mouse Garden @citymousegarden.bsky.social · 1d

I bet. We don’t have deer in this part of city but I used to live by a nature preserve & they definitely cruised the block at dusk for Hosta candy. For the longest time, Hostas were only thing that would grow with neglect in our crappy front soil until I fell in love with #NativePlants.

City Mouse Garden @citymousegarden.bsky.social · 1d

Just picked up a bargain copy of this. Hopefully it will help me with ID-ing unfamiliar #NativePlants volunteers in the garden next spring while they are still small enough to transplant.

#gardening #BookSky 🌱

A book cover titled “The Tallgrass Prairie Center Guide to Seed and Seedling Identification in the Upper Midwest” by Dave Williams with a large photo of pink Geum triflorum in bloom.

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City Mouse Garden @citymousegarden.bsky.social · 1d

Another beautiful capture by Mr. CMG. Sulphurs have such good camouflage this time of year!

#gardening #bloomscrolling #FlowerReport #NativePlants #butterflies #inverts #pollinators #UrbsInHorto #Chicago 🌱

A yellow-green butterflies pauses to feed on a bright purple aster surrounded by yellowing leaves and browning grasses. Taken by Mr. CMG and edited by me.

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City Mouse Garden @citymousegarden.bsky.social · 2d

Superstars of #February2Frost still blooming today on our dry urban Parkway: Eupatorium hyssopifolium, Liatris aspera, Symphyotrichum oblongifolium, & Ageratina altissima.

#gardening #NativePlants #FlowerReport #UrbsInHorto #Chicago 🌱

Fine white blooms of Eupatorium hyssopifolium.

Fluffy purple flowers of Liatris aspera.

Clusters of purple blooms on arching stems of Symphyotrichum oblongifolium.

Fluffy larger white blooms in clusters of Ageratina altissima.

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City Mouse Garden @citymousegarden.bsky.social · 3d

Mesmerizing the birds with these tasty hips!

#gardening #bloomscrolling #ecosystem #FantasticFoliage 🌱

Bright orange shiny hips on a groundcover rose float above #FantasticFoliage of spotted Pulmonaria.

City Mouse Garden @citymousegarden.bsky.social · 4d

Hostas were foolproof at beginning of my garden journey but I’ve removed most of less showy ones as I’ve trained my green thumb & made more room for #NativePlants. Still their blooms are always a lovely surprise that #pollinators love.

#gardening #bloomscrolling #FlowerReport #FlowersOnFriday 🌱

Purple pendant buds make way to creamy white bell-shaped flowers inviting bees to hide inside. #FantasticFoliage of ferns glow in sunlight in the background.

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City Mouse Garden @citymousegarden.bsky.social · 4d

Strawflowers holding out hope for a long fall season.

#gardening #bloomscrolling #FlowerReport #FlowersOnFriday 🌱

A beautiful white strawflower showing off its thin papery layers crowned in gold with another star-shaped bud unfurling next to it.

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City Mouse Garden @citymousegarden.bsky.social · 4d

Mr. CMG could not stop giggling when he brought in this particularly rude fruit last night. 🤣

#gardening #KitchenGarden #GrowFood #NoSpray 🌱

A smoky red-brown tomato with a particularly entertaining protuberance—a bit of a gonzo nose for the family friendly audience.

City Mouse Garden @citymousegarden.bsky.social · 4d

Rudbeckia ‘Henry Eilers’ is just magical in sun or shade. 🥰

#gardening #bloomscrolling #FlowerReport #FlowersOnFriday #February2Frost 🌱

Three quilled yellow blooms float in dappled shade above dark green matte foliage with other flowers opening behind them in the distance.

Three quilled yellow blooms shine in the sunlight against a background of deep green matte leaves and ferns.

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City Mouse Garden @citymousegarden.bsky.social · 4d

Is it the weekend yet? Because I also feel like this.

#WeAreAllZoey #GardenDogs #DogsOfBlueSky #ACDLife

A small grey and brown Cattle Dog lies on a rug with her paws folded up across her chest and her eyes rolled back in her head.

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City Mouse Garden @citymousegarden.bsky.social · 5d

Still harvesting from #KitchenGarden to turn some frozen Crab & Lobster Ravioli into a special supper topped with a rainbow of chopped #homegrown tomatoes, chiffonaded basil & shredded Parmesan.

#gardening #GrowFood #NoSpray 🌱

Gold, green/red, smoky red, and bright red tomatoes piled together and topped with the most perfect tiny fluted red tomato and a big bunch of fresh green basil on the stem in the background.

City Mouse Garden @citymousegarden.bsky.social · 5d

Yep. Gorgeous, hardy, surprisingly drought tolerant.

City Mouse Garden @citymousegarden.bsky.social · 5d

Hard without knowing location but I would start by comparing to Lonicera Sempervirens if you’re in the Eastern or Southeastern US.

City Mouse Garden @citymousegarden.bsky.social · 5d

Not sure which I love more—the delicate tropical-looking blooms or the gilt-edge #FantasticFoliage?

#gardening #bloomscrolling #FlowerReport #FeelsLikeFall 🌱

A white and bright purple bloom speckled and accented with dramatic chandelier-like stamen, glimmering deep purple hairy buds, and a background of healthy bright green foliage edged in pale yellow.

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City Mouse Garden @citymousegarden.bsky.social · 5d

Truly epic bloom! 👏

City Mouse Garden @citymousegarden.bsky.social · 5d

Exciting!

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