Curious about my yard

Now that spring is solidly in bloom and summer upon us almost, I am curious about the things in my yard.

In the garage are these weird pipe-like nests attached to the concrete walls. The holes are too small to be bird's nest, so I surmised it was an insect. Googling "weird insect nests" I discovered that they are organ pipe mud dauber wasps (or dobber). Solitary wasps, they lay eggs inside and the new hatchlings emerge from holes they create in the pipe.

This glorious tree has entranced me from the first. Its long, shiny leaves are thick and stout. The tree towers, it is about 75 feet high and proportionally pleasing to boot. It affords shade over much of the side yard, and to my extreme delight, provides great cover for many birds, who sing and chirp there all day long. I searched Google and found that it is a Magnolia tree. How wonderful! I have a Magnolia Grandiflora in my yard!

The roses are blooming. I don't know what kind they are but they are huge and colorful. I put my 'little girl' planter in front of it to support the long stems.There is another one, a red rose, in the front yard that is blooming one giant blossom right now. It looks to be a "Purple Passion" if I compare to this photo.


I am not sure what these three are yet, but the pink and white are really vibrant. More than I could catch in the high sun.

So after my trip to the Farmer's Market, I arrive back home to find two of the cutest doggies ever in the dog pen under the Magnolia tree. I emerged from the car laughing. The landlord laughed too and said that they sure were cute.


In a serious moment though, he said that he saw them trying to cross the busy road in front. They would step out and skitter back as a car whooshed by. He saw they were clean, and had new collars on with lots of tags so he surmised they were well-kept pets. He grabbed both and brought them to the dob pen. Reading the collar he saw a name that rang a bell, and called the woman across the street. Sure enough, the lady's friends were visiting, with their dogs, which they had let out to go potty and then the family fell back asleep.

I'm so glad he nabbed them. What a shame if they had been injured!