that I call ‘Yard Macros’.
It’s when I go into the yard for some camera therapy.
I live in the ‘burbs. On a tiny plot of sand. I suck at gardening. As much as I’d like a nicely landscaped yard, I don’t (once I attempted it, but it didn’t take). I can’t stand yard work or gardening and so we basically have wildly overgrown plants, hardly any of which came from a green house. Most are what you’d call weeds.
Yeah, I said it. Weeds.
And this year is the worst year yet. I haven’t mowed. My husband had surgery to repair a torn pectoral, so neither has he.
Yep. Mid-June and narry a Honda has graced the lawn.
Lawn. That’s nice. Call it that if you want. I prefer pasture. Or meadow.
So back to that thing I do. Sometimes I go into the yard and shoot what is there. Often it’s something pretty small because any kind of landscape will have a neighbor’s house in it. No matter what direction I face there’s a house. So small scale it is, but darn, there’s sometimes wonders down there, out of sight but within view.
I would have added some mushrooms, but someone eated them.
I love your yard macros. I love almost anything that grows with no assistance from me. Every spring, we just dress up the place with potted annuals.
We might be twins. I also hate gardening and mowing and such — so Mother Nature is pretty much in charge here. I call my yard “wildlife habitat” — which indeed it is. (I can’t in truth call it “grass” anymore — and certainly not “lawn”.) I was unavoidably away for the month of May and have had other matters to attend to since, so my unmown yard is bursting into bloom – hawkweed, devil’s paintbrush, lupine, columbine, and who knows what next! I might mow a path or two to keep the ticks at bay, but I think it’s just going to be wild this year. My yard is bigger than what you describe and borders a large forest, so I see animal trails crossing thru the growth. My carpenter pointed out the rounded trail of a low-slung, wide-bodied visitor — and sure enough, a few days later I found a big pile of bear poop about 15 feet outside the cellar door. (Yep, I photograph scat too.) And the baby bird that got run over in the driveway. And all kinds of interesting bugs — even the tick that I found on my jeans. It’s all good — and definitely photo therapy when one needs a break!
Excellent photos Kris. Have you ever thought about just getting a big bag of wildflower seeds and then just letting the yard do its thing? 😀
I like Jeff Sinon’s suggestion. Unfortunately, I rent and the landowner has the lawn mown @ two weeks. I used to cry when they would come and mow down all my wonderful, lovely wild flowers at the beginning of summer. I am a macro addict. Some day I will be boss and my lawn will be ALL wildflowers, etc. Love all your photos…paula
I am a passionate gardener with a (mostly) green thumb. However, I also adore the wild meadows and overgrown areas; there’s always so much to see there! You’ve got a great eye for these little treasures that most people would just consider a nuisance. Oh, and what’s up with that “door frog?” 🙂
Thanks peeps!
Funny Jeff, I’ve thought of doing exactly that, but we have literally sand for soil for the most part. Only really ratty weeds grow in it. Even decades worth of grass clippings hasn’t input any bio-dynamic elements to the soil like bacteria and fungi which is really critical. Ants like it though. And moss. Eventually I’ll mow it and I’m at the point where I need pros to come in and get rid of a lot of overgrowth. It’s pathetic really, but makes for some good images.
Don’t despair. My yard is pretty much what you describe (sand!) and I have the same plants. But I also had so many blackberries and other yucky things growing here that I covered the worst places with black plastic for a year, then scattered seed from several wildflower mixes. That was 2 years ago. The first year and last year I had some flowers. This year I have 10 times more. Some things, like lupine, seem to thrive in poor soil — as long as they get sun. And now I have tons of sweet william, plus new foxglove, lupine, columbine, etc. So you might be surprised. I sure was!
Well it’s mowed. Maybe someday I can have a meadow, but not here. One thing I noticed was the birds seemed to disappear. Normally they’re at the feeder year-round, but with the grass so high, they all left. Too much cover for predators seems to have made them nervous.
It might depend on what kinds of birds you had. I can’t leave feeders up year round because of bears, but some birds like to get to worms and grubs and want mowed places. Others catch things on the fly, so tall grass isn’t an issue for them. But here, even on the forest edge, I’ve noticed a big change in birds over the years. No more thrushes and only an occasional veery — whereas they used to all be summer residents. I sure miss their sweet songs.
No bears here luckily, although 3 walked through my mom’s yard in Bedford last week. Just the usual backyard birds – chipping sparrows, chickadees, titmice, robins & thrashers (now they need short grass), house & gold finches, cardinals, catbirds, doves, indigo bunting, towhees, rosy breasted grossbeaks, jays – they’re all pretty active and with all that meadow, they stayed away. Hopefully they forgive us and come back. I especially miss watching the brown thrashers stalk through the yard, stabbing away with their big beaks.