Nadia's Backyard
type: channel
description: Photography and musings about nature, native plants, and keeping the wild in the city.
date: 2025-09-17T20:42:37Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
generator agent: https://wordpress.org/
items: Two-Marked Treehoppers: It’s Complex
items: Birds of a Feather?
items: The Promise of Disorder in a Winter Yard
items: Rerun: Men of Rice
items: Where the Words Live
items: Going Native
items: Backyard Gooseberries are Saucy Little Things
items: Spring Rerun: Kimchi from your backyard to you
items: A Seagull Named Emma
items: The Long Travelers: Leaf-cutter Bees, Part II

Two-Marked Treehoppers: It’s Complex
type: item
creator: Randy Tindall
date: 2023-12-21T20:24:06Z
subject: Insects
subject: Native Plants
subject: Photography
subject: Wildlife
subject: Enchenopa
subject: Speciation
subject: Treehoppers
description: There is a curious thing going on in our backyard. Well, okay, there are many curious things in that yard, truth be told, but this one came to my attention relatively recently. It didn’t jump out and grab hold of … Continue reading →
encoded: There is a curious thing going on in our backyard. Well, okay, there are many curious things in that yard, truth be told, but this one came to my attention relatively recently. It didn’t jump out and grab hold of me like some things do—like, say, a Mississippi kite nesting in one of our trees did last year. This one was quieter and more subtle and only revealed itself when I was attempting to identify an insect in some photographs I had taken. We have a few wafer ashes (Ptelea trifoliata) in our backyard, ranging from young twiggy things to one that is quite tall and mature. <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="981" height="1024" src="https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WaferAsh_015_b-1-981x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-2230" srcset="https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WaferAsh_015_b-1-981x1024.jpg 981w, https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WaferAsh_015_b-1-287x300.jpg 287w, https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WaferAsh_015_b-1-768x802.jpg 768w, https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WaferAsh_015_b-1-1472x1536.jpg 1472w" sizes="(max-width: 981px) 100vw, 981px" /> Wafer ash leaves and flowers One of the middling sized ones had many of its smaller branches and twigs covered with white masses that I first mistook for scale insect colonies. Then I noted that wherever the white stuff was, these perky little treehoppers were, too. The hoppers were quickly identified as Two-marked treehoppers (Enchenopa binotata), with their distinctive double-dash marks on their backs and their prominent “horns”, and a little more searching identified the white masses as “egg froth”, which serves to cover up the slits that the hoppers lay eggs in and protect the eggs from predators and the elements. <img decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/DSC5214-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-2232" srcset="https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/D…

Birds of a Feather?
type: item
creator: Randy Tindall
date: 2023-10-03T16:52:18Z
subject: Birds
subject: Wildlife
subject: Behavior
subject: Missouri
subject: nature
subject: Photography
description: “Birdes of a feather will flocke togither.”The Dictionarie in Spanish and English, compiled by English lexicographer John Minsheu, 1599 Sometimes, when I head into the backyard in seach of peace and quiet, I get more that I bargained for. Way … Continue reading →
encoded: “Birdes of a feather will flocke togither.” The Dictionarie in Spanish and English, compiled by English lexicographer John Minsheu, 1599 <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/DSC9225-1024x684.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-2193" style="width:665px;height:444px" width="665" height="444" srcset="https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/DSC9225-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/DSC9225-300x200.jpg 300w, https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/DSC9225-768x513.jpg 768w, https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/DSC9225-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/DSC9225-2048x1367.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 665px) 100vw, 665px" /> Quiet out here today. Sometimes, when I head into the backyard in seach of peace and quiet, I get more that I bargained for. Way back in the day, we began to notice periods of quiet, when wandering back there in our mini-woodland was like meandering through a held breath, when the trees were empty of birds and the only noise was the city-rush of traffic off in the background. Maybe a rustle of leaves, if a breeze happened by, but no chirps, twitters, tweets, or cheeps to be heard. Sometimes even the usually ceaseless tumble and buzz of insects would pause for a bit. These hiatuses were, I’m happy to report, temporary states of affairs, and if we waited them out we would soon see a flicker of motion at the edge of vision, then another, then another, until the trees and feeders and watering holes came alive again and the circus resumed. Sometimes, rarely, careful searching during the pauses might reveal the presence of a hawk, whose hungry gaze enforced a precautionary silence while the raptor lurked, but those times were the exceptions, not to mention the equal likelihood that the presence of a hawk, or wandering cat, would trigger cries of alarm and harassment until the predators gave up and moved …

The Promise of Disorder in a Winter Yard
type: item
creator: Randy Tindall
date: 2022-02-11T20:01:07Z
subject: Insects
subject: Landscaping
subject: Native Plants
subject: Seasons
subject: Wildlife
subject: Lawns
subject: Neighbors
description: Here at the front end of February, our yards, back and front, are looking a mite shopworn and forlorn, dressed in sodden grays and browns, rather than the riot of colors they show in spring, summer, and into even late … Continue reading →
encoded: Here at the front end of February, our yards, back and front, are looking a mite shopworn and forlorn, dressed in sodden grays and browns, rather than the riot of colors they show in spring, summer, and into even late autumn. The ground out front, and what little turf-grass we have, is covered with leaves—mostly pin oak and sweetgum, with some birch for good measure. Out back is a mix of maple, oak, ash, redbud, persimmon, and a few more. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="http://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/DSC2475-1024x684.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-2040" width="676" height="450" srcset="https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/DSC2475-300x200.jpg 300w, https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/DSC2475-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/DSC2475.jpg 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px" /> A wild yard in summer…. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="http://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/DSC8716-1024x677.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-2041" width="672" height="444" srcset="https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/DSC8716-1024x677.jpg 1024w, https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/DSC8716-300x198.jpg 300w, https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/DSC8716-768x508.jpg 768w, https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/DSC8716-1536x1016.jpg 1536w, https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/DSC8716.jpg 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 672px) 100vw, 672px" /> …can look like this in winter. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="http://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/DSC5361-1024x728.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-2029" width="448" height="318" srcset="https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/DSC5361-1024x728.jpg 1024w, https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/DSC5361-300x213.jpg 300w, https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/DSC5361-768x546.jpg 768w, https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/…

Rerun: Men of Rice
type: item
creator: Randy Tindall
date: 2016-12-07T05:18:12Z
subject: Hiking
subject: Musings
subject: Photography
description: Feeling nostalgic tonight, looking over our almost frozen backyard, so I decided to rerun this old post from 2012. That trip was one of the formative experiences of my life. Men of Rice
encoded: Feeling nostalgic tonight, looking over our almost frozen backyard, so I decided to rerun this old post from 2012. That trip was one of the formative experiences of my life. Men of Rice

Where the Words Live
type: item
creator: Randy Tindall
date: 2016-11-30T22:13:31Z
subject: Books
subject: Musings
subject: Uncategorized
subject: Dictionaries
subject: Memories
subject: Writing
description: Writing about our backyard requires words. Lots of them, of high quality. So I keep a supply of all the best words handy, and, in this house, they mostly live in the book up above, which, as you may … Continue reading →
encoded: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1890" class="size-full wp-image-1890" src="http://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/DSC7528-001.jpg" alt="An old friend. " width="995" height="1024" srcset="https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/DSC7528-001.jpg 995w, https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/DSC7528-001-292x300.jpg 292w, https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/DSC7528-001-768x790.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 995px) 100vw, 995px" /> An old friend. Writing about our backyard requires words. Lots of them, of high quality. So I keep a supply of all the best words handy, and, in this house, they mostly live in the book up above, which, as you may or may not be able to make out, is Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary. It has seen better days. I bought this particular piece of word habitat in 1983, from 710 Bookstore in Carbondale, Illinois. I was just returning from a couple years living a more or less simple life in the African nation of Malawi and preparing to embark on the new adventure of graduate school. I figured a grad student might need words. I don’t remember what I paid for it, but I seem to recall that it wasn’t much. It quickly became my constant companion, being carried around in a student backpack wherever I went, even though at about 1565 pages, give or take, it has some weight and takes up space, but I felt lost without it. Still do. Now it sits next to my main reading chair and also serves to support my coffee cup or wine glass, depending on the time of day. As you can see, sometimes it absorbs spills and dribbles and has become warped and stained over these many years, but the words remain safe and dry inside. It is one of my favorite books. I seldom run across a word that I can’t find in it, although new tech lingo is lacking (not that I care much). It is skimpy on word origins, but otherwise pretty darn reliable. There are, I’m sure, better dictionaries out there,…

Going Native
type: item
creator: Randy Tindall
date: 2016-10-16T02:53:04Z
subject: Gardening
subject: Landscaping
subject: Musings
subject: Native Plants
subject: Society
subject: Uncategorized
subject: Wildlife
subject: Birds
subject: Insects
subject: Landscapes
subject: Missouri
subject: nature
subject: Plants
subject: Pollinators
subject: Wildflowers
subject: Yard work
description: Our yard—front and back—is a curious place, located at a cultural and environmental crossroads. Depending on one’s point of view, our yard is a treasure, an eyesore, an oasis of biological diversity, a blight on the neighborhood, something to be … Continue reading →
encoded: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1870" class="wp-image-1870 size-full" src="http://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/PICT3462.jpg" alt="KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA" width="800" height="558" srcset="https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/PICT3462.jpg 800w, https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/PICT3462-300x209.jpg 300w, https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/PICT3462-768x536.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /> A view from the front (with purple coneflowers and more). Our yard—front and back—is a curious place, located at a cultural and environmental crossroads. Depending on one’s point of view, our yard is a treasure, an eyesore, an oasis of biological diversity, a blight on the neighborhood, something to be celebrated in the local press (this has happened), or something to be reported to the local authorities for code violations (this has also happened). Ah, the times they are a’changin’, but sometimes it feels like they are a’changin’ awful slow. The decision to dedicate a yard to native plants, rather than turf-grass, is a decision with many facets. One the one hand, we have said goodbye to fertilizers, frequent waterings, hours of mowing, soil aeration and those little yellow signs informing the world that our yard is a toxic place after being treated for weeds and/or critters. On the other hand, we have said hello to lots of variety in plant, insect, bird and other life. We have greeted a different type of yard maintenance, as a switch occurred from encouraging one kind of plant to grow so we could mow it, to keeping exuberant growth from taking over completely. There is a loss of control involved in letting natives do their thing. Indeed, that is a big part of the fun, but a native yard is NOT a maintenance-free yard, at least in the city, and if anyone says it is they don’t have one. The truth of the matter is that we spend more hours working in our nati…

Backyard Gooseberries are Saucy Little Things
type: item
creator: Randy Tindall
date: 2015-06-17T21:48:45Z
subject: Cooking
subject: Edible Native Plants
subject: Foraging
subject: Native Plants
subject: Photography
subject: Recipes
subject: Food
subject: Gardening
subject: Native edibles
description: The gooseberries in our backyard try to get our attention with their tart little green offerings every year in the mid- to waning days of spring, but mostly they end up being overlooked as contributors to our partly wild larder. … Continue reading →
encoded: The gooseberries in our backyard try to get our attention with their tart little green offerings every year in the mid- to waning days of spring, but mostly they end up being overlooked as contributors to our partly wild larder. Why? Mainly because I could never get enthusiastic about the taste, which is mostly just tart. I’ve tried letting the berries ripen past the green stage into their ruddier maturity, which tones down the tartness a bit, but doesn’t seem to replace it with anything better. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1795" class="size-large wp-image-1795" src="http://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/DSC5879-691x1024.jpg" alt="Gooseberries (Ribes missouriense)" width="640" height="948" srcset="https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/DSC5879-691x1024.jpg 691w, https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/DSC5879-203x300.jpg 203w, https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/DSC5879.jpg 1080w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /> Gooseberries ready for the picking! These are not, in my book at least, munching-off-the-bush berries. Something must be done to them. In most recipes that seems to involve copious amounts of sugar and calling it pie filling or pudding, which gives a sweet-sour contrast that can be really tasty (ah, the rhubarb puddings of my youth!), but that never seemed to tempt me enough to get moving. This year, however, Nadia came home with a small supply of gooseberries from somewhere else, so I determined to figure out something to do with them other than making sugar bombs out of them. I set out to do some research and expand my gooseberry horizons, as it were, and found that there really are a few things to do besides pastries, puddings, jams and preserves. In particular a recipe I found online for gooseberry ketchup caught my attention. It was easy and fast, with a short list of ingredients. Great place to start! So I marched out the back door and harvested …

Spring Rerun: Kimchi from your backyard to you
type: item
creator: Randy Tindall
date: 2015-04-27T20:02:56Z
subject: Cooking
subject: Edible Native Plants
subject: Foraging
subject: Gardening
subject: Native Plants
subject: Recipes
subject: fermented foods
subject: Food
subject: kimchi
subject: Native edibles
description: Spring is sprung and we have cup plant and lamb’s quarters in our backyard, with goldenglow within an easy hike (soon to join our other natives around the house). In honor of this wealth of native edible greens, we are … Continue reading →
encoded: Spring is sprung and we have cup plant and lamb’s quarters in our backyard, with goldenglow within an easy hike (soon to join our other natives around the house). In honor of this wealth of native edible greens, we are doing a rerun of an earlier posting on the making of kimchi, or fermented Korean vegetables, from whatcha got around ya. It’s easy, it’s tasty, and, with wild ingredients for the asking, it’s almost free! Plus, it can made in hundreds of variations—just check the web for recipes and switch in your own ingredients and preferences for spiciness, etc. (I would imagine that an enterprising person could adapt this to make a native greens sauerkraut without too much difficulty.) <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1754" class="size-full wp-image-1754" src="http://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/DSC_0036.jpg" alt="Native edible greens, korean kimchi" width="676" height="800" srcset="https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/DSC_0036.jpg 676w, https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/DSC_0036-254x300.jpg 254w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px" /> Korean-style kimchi made from native edible greens So here’s the link: Backyard Haute (or at least, Hot) Cuisine Go thou and ferment likewise.

A Seagull Named Emma
type: item
creator: Randy Tindall
date: 2015-01-27T18:13:56Z
subject: Insects
subject: Musings
subject: Wildlife
subject: Bees
subject: Hymenoptera
subject: Leaf-cutter Bees
subject: Pollinators
description: We have never had a seagull in our backyard, at least to my knowledge. So let me be clear up front that if you are expecting a heartwarming tale of an errant seabird squawking its way into Nadia’s heart or … Continue reading →
encoded: We have never had a seagull in our backyard, at least to my knowledge. So let me be clear up front that if you are expecting a heartwarming tale of an errant seabird squawking its way into Nadia’s heart or mine, you will be disappointed and probably wondering why someone would call an article “A Seagull Named Emma” and then not bother to put a seagull in it. Well, we’ll get to that. Instead, let’s talk about names and naming, because I seem to spend an incredible amount of time trying to do that for the things we find in our little urban wilderness. During photogenic times of the year, we might take hundreds of photographs a week out there. That’s the fun part. What is sometimes less fun, and occasionally frustrating, is trying to put names to what we see, even though tools abound to help with this, from nature guidebooks, to invaluable websites with interactive identification tools, to myriads of phone apps to carry with you in the field (or yard), to friends smarter than me. I started to wonder why this was so important. I mean, it seems obvious that we would want to know what it is we are observing, right? But must we be so obsessive about it? I recall a conversation with friends years ago about local grasses, and someone pointed out some attractive specimens nearby. “Indiangrass”, she said, to which someone replied, “Sorghastrum nutans?” At that point, someone else snorted and exclaimed “Ah, you people drive me nuts when you do that!”. His point, as I understood it, was why not just appreciate what we’re seeing and experiencing, without trying to label it and stuff it into a dusty mental museum case? Fair enough. But that is much, much harder than it sounds. In fact some folks spend years, even lifetimes, in intensive training in how to experience the universe directly without filters and overcome their tendencies to name and categorize. The rest of us spend years, even lifetimes, learning how to name things. In fact, this is the training that starts before any …

The Long Travelers: Leaf-cutter Bees, Part II
type: item
creator: Randy Tindall
date: 2014-09-29T18:21:00Z
subject: Insects
subject: Musings
subject: Photography
subject: Evolution
subject: Hymenoptera
subject: Leaf-cutter Bees
subject: Missouri
subject: Pollinators
subject: Reproduction
description: Life travels, and a lot of it has made the journey to our backyard. That includes Nadia and me–a few hundred miles from my point of origin for me and considerably more for Nadia. Some of this life travels north … Continue reading →
encoded: Life travels, and a lot of it has made the journey to our backyard. That includes Nadia and me–a few hundred miles from my point of origin for me and considerably more for Nadia. Some of this life travels north to south and back each year and passes through on the way to grace us with its presence for a time, and some has meandered here haphazardly from far-off climes in all directions, welcome or not. Some of it stays here pretty much all the time, but all of it has journeyed through vast distances of time and evolution, those other dimensions of change that we can only peruse indirectly and with awe. Our last post described such a traveler: a Leaf-cutter Bee, Megachile mendica, plying its trade and reproducing in our yard. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1660" class="size-full wp-image-1660" src="http://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/DSC3145.jpg" alt="Megachile brevis or mendica" width="800" height="613" srcset="https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/DSC3145.jpg 800w, https://nadiasyard.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/DSC3145-300x229.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /> Leaf-cutter Bee (Megachile mendica) cutting leaf disk for nest cell. Now this particular specimen probably didn’t travel far to get here, since both of these species are native to Missouri, but a little research led to the discovery of some immense journeying indeed. Back into the mists of time. Way off yonder to a continent that split apart long, long ago. To a time and place where huge reptiles made the earth tremble and plants were just learning how to make flowers. It is thought that bees originated around 125-150 million years ago in Cretaceous times, splitting off from wasps and chasing the promise of the rise of angiosperms, the flowering plants (“Let’s hustle, guys! New niche! Snooze and lose!”) and in turn fueling the rapid spread and diversification of these new and wondrous plants. This event probably ha…