First Post

This is the first post on a project I've been wanting to do for a long time:  documenting what nature can do even in the most unexpected places. (like my backyard!)

Google Earth map of where I live

I live in suburban Wilmington, North Carolina and have a fairly typical half-acre yard in a fairly typical sprawling neighborhood located just a few hundred feet from a busy four-lane highway.  Interstate 40 is less than a mile from here and despite the relative closeness of the Atlantic Ocean (a little over five miles as the Crow flies) I'm too far inland for the local views to look very different than what you would find 50 or even 100 miles inland.  My weather is strongly influenced by the ocean however, and that largely makes possible the climate conditions that support what I find living and growing here.




So why write this blog?  I want to keep a record of what I see across all the spectrum of life from the tiniest insect to the rarest bird to the largest tree.  I hope to do this in an entertaining, interesting, and visually exciting way with plenty of photos and well-researched identifications.  Perhaps others stumbling across this blog years (or even generations) from now will also realize that while 100,000 acre wilderness preserves are wonderful and necessary, even in the most urbanized, homogenized location you'll find a staggering number of species growing happily there, many of which will amaze the careful observer.

Yuzu (Citrus ichangensis ×
Citrus reticulata )

Back to my yard for a moment.  Despite living in an area that is better identified as a "warm temperate" than a "subtropical" climate, I'm growing plants that are definitely subtropical in origin:  citrus, bananas, and pomegranates.  The bananas are relegated by my climate (frequent frost during the winter months) to the ornamental category only.  The citrus will easily survive most winters here -- but that one-in-ten year hard freeze is going to be tough on them too.  Same thing goes for the pomegranates.  I look forward to expounding more on these in later blog posts.








My influences in this endeavor are mainly what I've seen others do online, particularly Bill Hilton Jr. over at hiltonpond.org.  He's taken a parcel of otherwise mundane South Carolina Piedmont (an area not known for its diversity in wildlife or plant life) and shown how many amazing plants, animals, insects, and birds call it home.  His photography skills, particularly with birds and insects, are some of the best I've ever seen.  My wife and her family have been instrumental in developing my love of birds and birdwatching over the past couple of years.  An outgrowth of birdwatching has been an appreciation and love of virtually every other form of life you can find outdoors from butterflies and lizards to trees and insects.  My grandparents on both my mom's and dad's side of the family were avid gardeners and that has definitely translated into one of my interests as well.

We'll see what direction this project takes over the coming months -- I can't wait to see it myself!