Blooms

Native Spring blooms at Eastside Cats:

White Trillium

Wood Poppy (yellow) and Rue Anemone (white)

Red-berried Elder

Trout Lily (first year coming up!)

Bloodroot

Pussytoes

What is a native plant?

"Native plants" are plants that were wild before Europeans settled in Michigan in the 1700s.

These plants are well-adapted to the local climate and ecosystem, meaning they require less time and effort from their gardener, generally requiring little fertilizer, pesticides, or supplemental watering to keep them looking great. 

Native plants provide valuable habitat to birds, insects, mammals, amphibians, and other wildlife.

In addition, we 'leave the leaves' every autumn, as we are encouraging a woods-like habitat in our yard.

Am thankful for the natives!

Let's Hop!

World Bee Day

 May 20 is World Bee Day!

The observance of World Bee Day worldwide aims to: 

• Draw the attention of the world’s public and political decision-makers to the importance of protecting bees.
• Remind us that we depend on bees and other pollinators.
• Protect bees and other pollinators, which would significantly contribute to solving problems related to the global food supply and eliminate hunger in developing countries. 
• Halt the further loss of biodiversity and degradation of ecosystems, and thereby contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

A bee visiting milkweed blossoms in our yard.

Our native bee house is busy.

Bats are also great pollinators; look at those wings.

Video taken in our yard, at dusk.

There are more than 450 kinds of bees in Michigan, 3,600 types of bees in the USA, and 20,000 bee species around the world.

Be nice to bees, birds, butterflies, and bats.

October 4: World Animal Day

Each and every one of us can make a difference for animals.

Make animal issue front page news - a vital catalyst for change.

Help make this world a fairer place for all animals.

Go to: https://www.worldanimalday.org.uk for more information!

One of our choices for helping animals:

Planting native-to-Midwest plants.

Native plants and native animals evolved together, and are co-dependent.

My gardens attract bees, birds, and bats.

We don't use pesticides.

Virginia Bluebells, in early Spring

Wild Petunia, in early Summer

Hyssop in Autumn

Be nice to Mother Nature and all of her children.

Don't buy furs or give your business to any company that promotes the fur trade.

Wildlife

As we plant more native Michigan/Midwest flowers, bushes, and milkweed, we are experiencing an increase in pollinators!

We have a long way to go yet, as I'd like to replace every inch of lawn.

Here are a few images of what's coming up:

Raindrops on clover

Jack-In-The-Pulpit

Wild Ginger bloom
They flower right at the base of the plant, on the ground!

Pussytoes

Our bee house

Bats!

Paddy O'Malley is backyard security!

Not Cats...Bats

Friend BG and I visited Stage Nature Center in Troy, Michigan this weekend, to visit with some bats! The lecture, called "Bats of the World", was presented by members of Organization for Bat Conservation.

Big Brown Bat (native to Michigan)

Female Fruit Bat

Another type of fruit bat, male

Then we walked around the 100-acre area, and I snapped a few photos:

Shelf fungus on tree stump

Interesting tree and plant life

Someone spied this screech owl just hanging out, waiting for us to take his picture!

Screech owl in a wood-duck box!

Bats are our friends; they pollinate and spread seeds.  They need flowers, water, and places to sleep and raise their young. Unfortunately, cats can be predators of baby bats testing their wings, or if they find a nest up in a tree.  We have bats flying around our yard, but Patty O'Malley and Sweetie do not seem to be in the mood to chase them down, not with bowls of kibble and food at their noses!