Here Comes the Invasion--Elaeagnus umbellata--Autumn Olive
Last year, I was so excited to share some Mimosa blooms from my tree in the backyard, only to find out it is on the target list in GA as a noxious invasive plant.
Turns out that this lovely spring shoot is also on the list. It's common name is the Autumn Olive and it is indigenous to Eastern Asia. It's my favorite bird feeder in my yard as it produces ripe berries for all of the animals in my yard--I was thinking of getting rid of the shrub last year until I saw how much it was an essential food source for my backyard visitors. Turns out their consumption makes it an invasive plant in GA. It's on the top 10 wanted list. It's also the food source in my first Top Twenty photo on 365 (you can see a mama Mockingbird feeding her youngster the Autumn Olive berry on a limb of my apple tree!): http://365project.org/darylo/365/2013-07-15
I have two in the backyard. Looks like I'll be harboring at least two villains of the state now, and I would appreciate everyone keeping my secret. I know it's probably a bad idea, but my back yard hill area is sort of wild and I like it that way.
Apparently, the berries are also suitable for human consumption, so I'll look into that later in the year. The blooms will be small trumpets, yellow, and fragrant. So fragrant and lovely!
For Macro-March, I plan this week to take the first shoots of trees/shrubs in my area and find out what they are. This one took me an hour or so to locate and I found so many other interesting plants in my search as a result. My Google searches were pretty funny too, but I arrived at the right identification finally! What a wonderful world the web is.
It's nice to see spring green. I know how you feel with wanting to keep the shrubs to feed the birds. Fingers crossed that you don't get any problems out of this (like a nosey neighbour sticking their oar in!)
@seanoneill Ahh, yes, I was actually thinking of it as a mouth about to be fed (like a bird)! You should see the activity around this bush when the berries are out. Everyone wants a piece of it. I just started feeding birds from a feeder in February, which I have not done before because so much of my backyard feeds them a plenty. As soon as the birdseed I was given as part of my birthday is gone (40lbs!), I will retire the feeders again. There's something nice about being able to provide what they need with what's already there. While I won't plant any more noxious plants, I will look for more to plant that feed the birds without all that annoying birdseed all over the place--it's sort of gross on the ground :)
Saw this when you posted on my iPad this morning but it's too hard to type on that. Had to come back to view larger. This really does look like the bud is opening wide for some water/food. The deep tones are wonderful and I love the low-key effect. Great macro! And I'm impressed with the work you went to, figuring out what is in your yard. I have things in our little patch with no clue as to what is what (except I do know allium from irises!). I think I've cultivated an invasive thing based on how awfully it is taking over -- or else I've got a great green thumb and the thing is just thriving (at least last year -- who knows what will come back after this winter).
March 5th, 2014
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