Hit 47 species on my backyard list last weekend. Totally unexpected.

I was just out pulling bindweed and noticed a flower I didn't recognize. Pulled out my phone to ID it, turns out it was a nodding ladies' tresses orchid just growing by my compost pile. Then I started counting everything I'd seen in my yard over the last two years and it added up to 47 species. That includes 9 different ferns and some mosses I couldn't even name. Has anyone else found something rare just growing wild in their own yard?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_sam28d ago

Found a rare orchid volunteer in my garden too. Took a photo for the county extension office.

riley_price28d ago

Volunteer" is a nice way to put it. My yard mostly volunteers invasive weeds that the county extension office probably has a separate file for. I got excited once thinking I had a rare native plant and it turned out to be an escaped hosta that looked like it had been through a war. I bet your photo was way more impressive than that. Is it weird that I'm a little jealous of your garden's taste in plants?