So in the middle of no where in particular in the backyard, a plant unlike any I'd seen so far started growing early on, and just kept on going. The spot it was in was mostly sunny, and I decided to move it to the front to see how it would do.
I checked on it today, and it's looking rather well.
At first, I thought it might be lamb's ear, but the leaves also aren't as "hairy" as the images I saw of lamb's ear. We also had no flowers, so no color to go by, although I saw there are some variants that do not flower.
So I did a search for plants similar to lamb's ear, and I'm thinking we might have Mullein (aka velvet dock, flannel leaf or plant, feltwort, Aaron’s rod, shepherd’s staff, and lungwort). I didn't have the camera with me, but it looks awfully similar to this:
I've been keeping an eye on the milkweed pods and they are getting so very soft. So any day now, I will be harvesting them for seeds so I can choose where they might grow instead of where the wind blows. I'm going to keep most in the back, but will also put some in the front.
Speaking of the front. The sunflowers. The one by the separate small lily bed is dying back. Because of our neighbor's wall 'o flowering shrubs, it didn't get near the sun it could have.
The two in the corner were also likely affected by the shade. The higher up one started to unfurl today. The lower and smaller seems to have had the early sun blocked by the grass I let grow to help keep that portion from eroding. The one by the rain barrel is the tallest by far, which surprised me since it's so close to the porch. Yet I think the combination of the early east sun and being so near the rain barrel run off really gave it an extra push. I do not think they will last long, as the temperature finally turned downwards today, with a much balmier 76°F at 1:11pm.
When we did our walk around, I picked up a few fallen branches along the west side, and there were some tiny dragonflies about. One decided one of the branches I was carrying towards the woody bits pile was a fine place to be. So we had a nice friend for the walk across the backyard until I put it down on the pile, where it flew off shortly after.
We have a few devil's paintbrush that popped up again with the warmer weather in that back corner. I am still amazed at how much is here all on its own. I am really glad I let the back run wild this year. A lot of great finds.
The last of all the weedy bits and a few lower flowering bunches I haven't ID'd yet are slowly losing their flowers, so I am letting them die out on their own before culling. We still have a lot of bumble bees and the occasional wasps feeding. I haven't seen any of the smaller bees for a while. I also haven't had as much time to sit and look either.
At some point, I'll write about what I found when I researched transplanting a mature apple tree. I have to say searching for such was a joke. Most of the sites and youtube vids I found were calling what I think of as a sapling as mature.
Then I found this lovely gem on a site that I'll post more about later. I learned more watching that one video than I did on about two dozen sites and maybe a dozen or so other vids. So I wanted to share it in case anyone else is interested. They are transplanting a pear tree, I think it was, but from what I'm to understand, for the most part a lot of the steps are the same save a few apple specific tips I've picked up.
We're still not sure if they are a crab variant because they are about 2" on average, or if they are all just small because of the shade. We only had green crabapple trees where I grew up, but now I know there are red variants as well. I found a site with a listing of different types, and hope to ID it today if it is a crabapple.
Lots more I want to write about, but only so much sun time!