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citymousegarden.bsky.social
City Mouse Garden
@citymousegarden.bsky.social
3.2K followers 52 following 2.8K 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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citymousegarden.bsky.social
Charlie the yard bunny is a ninja in the snow. Mr. CMG took this from the upstairs window and it took me a hot minute to spot him. I sure hope my roses are feeling resilient come spring. 🫣

#gardening #nature #wildlife #ecosystem #UrbsInHorto #Chicago 🌱
A very well camouflaged chunky floof of grey-brown bunny hides among the shrubs and stems and trellises in the snow at dusk snack hour.
December 6, 2025 at 12:03 AM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
More new seeds arrived. Also spent morning cleaning saved #seeds of 2 types of marigolds, Dill ‘Ambrosia’, Ammi ‘Green Mist’—plus making packets of few #NativePlants that share range & favorite veggies I saved to send to my uncle in VA.

#gardening #SmallJoys #BrighterFuture #SharingIsCaring 🌱
Colorful seed packets from Hudson Valley Seed for Tomato ‘Blush’, Snow Pea ‘Swiss Giant’, Amaranth ‘Coral Fountain’ & ‘Emerald Tassels’, Phacelia tanacetifolia, Papaver ‘Black Beauty’, Callistephus chinensis ‘Tower Chamois’, Parsley ‘Gigante d’Italia’, Bronze Fennel, & Trachymene coerulea (Didiscus Lace Flower).
December 4, 2025 at 7:08 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
Forgot to share how nice the bulk packaging on seeds is from a new-to-me #NativePlants #seeds supplier (Roundstone Native Seeds in KY) I am trying this year. Very clean seeds too. We’ll see what germination is like next year.

#gardening #SmallJoys #BrighterFuture 🌱
Generous packets of Andropogon virgincus & glomeratus, Rhexia mariana, & Silphium astericus. Plus breathable muslin bags for Gaillardia aristata, Monarda citriodora, Ludwigia alternifolia, & Rudbeckia amplexicaulis.
December 3, 2025 at 3:39 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
A beautiful #ThickTrunkTuesday specimen before the snow with amazing fence shadows mirroring the multiple trunks.

#Gardening #nature #TakeAWalk🌱
Multiple tall thick trunks nearly bare of leaves at the end of a path covered in fallen leaves and lined either side by plank fences casting the most interesting shadows mixed with that of the trees.
December 2, 2025 at 4:24 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
Apparently Charlie the yard bunny doesn’t mind the snow. Surprised Mr. CMG coming out of the garage on the way back from taking trash out the yesterday.

#gardening #Winter #ecosystem #wildlife #UrbsInHorto #Chicago 🌱
A very well camouflaged brown-gray bunny blending in with the warm garage slab melting back the snow. A brown-gray bunny bouncing through the snow looking for snack, including maybe that green rose stem blurry at the front center of the picture.
December 2, 2025 at 4:10 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
Outside #gardening is on hold due to snow although my neighbors probably think I’m bonkers because we still had a full bowl of coffee grounds that needed spreading so the snow looks contagious now. #GardenDogs #WeAreAllZoey watching for #birds, squirrels & bunnies from a cozy spot. 🌱
A small grey and brown Cattle Dog in a black and white houndstooth fleece curls up on a rug in front of large glass patio doors staring out past the piled up snow on the deck and chair covers outside.
December 1, 2025 at 6:41 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
Collected #seeds for 2+ less common IL #NativePlants #MilkweedForMonarchs sourced from tiny Etsy shop (Asclepias amplexicaulis & variegata). Plus Silphium albiflorum (TX native) just because it sounds lovely. Gonna be a busy winter sowing jug season here!

#gardening #SmallJoys #BrighterFuture 🌱
Healthy clean seeds in three clear plastic baggies labeled with their scientific names.
December 1, 2025 at 5:37 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
Red-Tailed Hawk, we think, having a festive holiday-themed snack (you can see a little bird foot sticking up) with wind blowing through its feathers in an old snag a few houses down. Circle of life right in middle of big city!

#gardening #birds #nature #ecosystem #wildlife #UrbsInHorto #Chicago 🌱
November 30, 2025 at 8:20 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
#TFW you hit your walk button, remember your dumb humans make you wear booties and a puffy because the neighbors are sidewalk salt drunk and you smell when you get wet—but you’re living your best life anyways!

#WeAreAllZoey #GardenDogs #DogsOfBluesky 🐶
A small grey and brown Cattle Dog in a bright yellow puffy and striped boots has folded up ears and a tail pointy straight backwards that screams “I regret my life choices.” A small grey and brown Cattle Dog in a bright yellow puffy and striped boots dashing through the snow sniffing and loving it. A small grey and brown Cattle Dog in a bright yellow puffy and striped boots dashing through the snow sniffing and loving it. A small grey and brown Cattle Dog in a bright yellow puffy and striped boots dashing through the snow sniffing and loving it.
November 29, 2025 at 6:20 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
Trying out new #seeds suppliers this year that arrived just in time for #SmallBusinessSaturday. Cannot speak to performance yet but definitely packed lovingly & super excited to winter sow. Especially very hard-to-source Illinois #NativePlants #MilkweedForMonarchs Asclepias stenophylla. #gardening 🌱
Small brown envelopes marked from Fellabees Native Seeds ‘Hand Reared, Hand Picked, Hand Packed’ in Wisconsin for Asclepias stenophylla, Asclepias viridiflora, Agastache nepetoides, Symphyotrichum pilosum and Anaphalis margaritacea. Packet prices were even lower (except Asclepias) on sale when I shopped.
November 29, 2025 at 3:02 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
Mr. CMG sent this pic today. My adorable senior mom named it ‘Charlie’. Went downstairs immediately & dug out some leftover plastic tubing saved from rain barrel kits, cut to fit & split to protect my young columnar apples from bun-bun chomps.

#gardening #UrbsInHorto #Chicago #nature #ecosystem 🌱
Photo by Mr. CMG in borb-like roundness of a grey-brown wild bunny battened down in the 10” wide run of clear mulch I keep between the huge concrete garage slab and the clematis trellises so I can make sure I don’t get rats digging again. One of two young columnar apple trees freshly protected with a loose tall collar with the bunny’s favorite hiding spot visible behind the white trellis in the upper left.
November 28, 2025 at 4:05 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
Only interested in bargains on seeds & plants on this day of otherwise unfettered consumerism so feeling lucky to have scored half-off Tree Peony lovelies while the weather has kept my soil workable. Can’t wait for these to arrive!

#gardening #SmallJoys #HubbyGaveMeForeverFlowers #BrighterFuture 🌱
An American Peony Society graphic showing the pale pink and burgundy flares of Lutea Hybrid Tree Peony ‘Rosalind Elsie Franklin” — ps, yay #WomenInStem An American Peony Society graphic showing the clear medium pink of Suffruticosa Tree Peony ‘Princess Chiffon”
November 28, 2025 at 2:44 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
Thankful for kind selfless partner, being able to care for my mom, wild fur-icane #GardenDogs #WeAreAllZoey & beautiful tiny urban garden that gives me peace in trying times, clean food, pride of building habitat for #pollinators & #birds in need of support, & endless hope for future. #gardening 🌱🦃
Cleaning Asclepias tuberosa seed to winter sow extra jugs for neighbors trying to plant up the parkway corner so you see yet another cookie sheet and labeled paper lunch bag with seed pods to be cleaned. Floppy eared diva queen #WeAreAllZoey says hi to you all with a royal paw up on the bolster and her embarrassingly large basket of toys behind her.
November 27, 2025 at 4:55 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
Text I definitely didn’t want from Mr. CMG as I almost sat after 4 loads of laundry on top of other morning chores. 60+ MPH gusts! Upright & bungeed to raised bed now. Dragged potted roses, mints, rosemary plus wormery into basement (after taking out big trug of compost). Thanks, worms! #gardening 🌱
A white trellis planter knocked over so you can see the raised beds behind it. Luckily no lasting damage to anything but what a wind storm!
November 26, 2025 at 7:53 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
‘Scarborough Fair’ is pushing out softest little #RoseWednesday blooms too. And we have maybe five other varieties in the backyard with new buds but it is also 35F today so who knows. 🤷‍♀️

#gardening #bloomscrolling #FlowerReport #UrbsInHorto #Chicago 🌱
A soft pink and cream bloom drooping under the weight of unsteady weather and raindrops.
November 26, 2025 at 4:39 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
A new rose for #RoseWednesday on the day before Thanksgiving. Poor confused plants!

#gardening #bloomscrolling #FlowerReport #UrbsInHorto #Chicago 🌱
A purple rose unfurling with drops of rain caught in the petals surrounded by other buds.
November 26, 2025 at 4:35 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
Another massive beauty #ThickTrunkThursday with handsome hubby birding for scale.

#gardening #UrbsInHorto #Chicago 🌱
An epic naked tree exposing its burls and broken limbs and bent claw-like crown grabbing at the blue sky with a medium tall human to the left in a bright red fleece listening to bird song on his phone app for scale.
November 25, 2025 at 6:37 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
Incredible Shagbark Hickory for #ThickTrunkTuesday.

#gardening #UrbsInHorto #Chicago 🌱
An almost full length view of this giant Shagbark that barely fits in the frame. Closeup of the beautiful peeling bark that gives the Shagbark its name.
November 25, 2025 at 6:21 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
Epimedium are great for adding flowers in dry shade earlier in the season but they are underrated for their #FantasticFoliage throughout multiple seasons.

#gardening #FallColor #UrbsInHorto #Chicago 🌱
Leaves in various shapes, some long and arrow shaped in bright green and others larger, more rounded, and speckled bright red with green veining. Dry brown tree leaves in the background.
November 25, 2025 at 3:25 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
More seed processing today. Tithonia ‘Yellow Torch’ did very well for us this year both in the rocky untended Alley Patch and one of our main clay beds after meh results in previous tries. Very long blooming & #Butterflies loved so will grow again.

#gardening #seeds #SmallJoys #BrighterFuture 🌱
A cookie tray with big sharp coneflower like dried flowers and a paper bag labeled Tithonia Yellow Torch.
November 24, 2025 at 6:05 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
And still more fresh Snapdragons in the garden today for #MagentaMonday. Not sure how much longer they can hold out but the #pollinators were out enjoying them yesterday.

#gardening #bloomscrolling #FlowerReport #February2Frost #UrbsInHorto #Chicago 🌱
Deep pink blooms tinged here and there with red and burgundy show off against fallen leaves and surprisingly green little Aquilegia seedlings for next year tucked in the lower left corner.
November 24, 2025 at 5:50 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
Nearly #Thanksgiving & #bees & #hoverflies visiting asters & other blooms while I was spreading seedheads of Solidago caesia & juncea, Heliopsis helianthoides, Penstemon digitalis, Ageratina altissima plus multiple species of Rudbeckia & Liatris on Parkway. #NativePlants #bloomscrolling #gardening 🌱
Giant cluster of purple and gold Aster ‘Jindai’ slowly fading. Like other asters, they are still pushing out a few fresh blooms here and there. Mr. CMG’s capture of a hoverfly stopping to rest in a leaf between flower visits.
November 23, 2025 at 7:35 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
Another amazing rainbow of #FallColor from one of our other Oakleaf Hydrangeas today.

#gardening #bloomscrolling #FantasticFoliage 🌱
A single shrub showing gold, bronze, burgundy, plum, green, orange and more on its big oak-like leaves.
November 23, 2025 at 7:22 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
Using Mr. CMG’s soccer victory TV time to work on saved #seeds cleaning. Excited to try #NativePlants Cirsium discolor in our alley #pollinators patch after seeing #MonarchButterflies, #wasps & other friends go wild on them late summer/fall in a nearby park mini meadow. #gardening #WeAreAllZoey 🌱
Beautiful seed heads with silky wings to carry them away under normal circumstances. A very judgy #WeAreAllZoey giving disapproving vibes in the background because seed work means no room on the couch for doggos. A cookie sheet with a paper bag labeled Cirsium discolor and a pile of fluffy seeds in need of cleaning.
November 23, 2025 at 6:48 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
#Seeds are my drug of choice.

#gardening #SmallJoys #BrighterFuture 🌱
Seed packets of mostly annuals in a rainbow of red shades with Standing Cypress, Strawflowers, Cosmos, Clarkia, Geum, Poppies, Rudbeckia, Nasturtium, plus a few white/pale yellow/neutrals in the form Moon Carrot, Four O’Clocks, Silver Sage, Grass-leaved Goldenrod, and Browalia Americana, that will fill bloom gaps in our beds. Oh, and the new Thai Towers Basil because I love the previous Tower series basils.
November 23, 2025 at 5:26 PM