Photo-a-Day Week 21

Happy Sunday, and welcome back to this week's wrap-up. A few wildlife items this week. I told my husband that our front walk is a wildlife center with lizards and skinks and anoles, frogs and toads, birds, and a few snakes.

Day 139-

We made a quick trip to Nashville to visit our daughter and family for the oldest grandchild's pre-school graduation. Busy little ones love trips to the playground down the street. They especially like it when Grandpa goes up the steps to the slides and they can hide. Grandpa is a good sport and loves the grands. 

You Can't See Us Grandpa

Day 140-

We had some time one day during our visit, so we went to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. As we passed this building, below, I was amazed at the reflection of the clouds and blue sky. I quickly snapped this photo, it doesn't have any filters or adjustments. 

Reflection

Day 141-

Who doesn't love a big bouquet of festive balloons to celebrate a graduation? One of them looked like a disco ball. Some of the other photos of the balloons were uninteresting, just a picture of a bouquet of balloons. This one was fun.

Sparkle

Day 142-

Our route home was on Route 40 from Nashville to Asheville. Near the border between Tennessee and North Carolina, there are some monumental repairs underway. Hurricane Helene hit this area really hard and there is still so much work to be done. This section of Rt. 40 is open with one lane each way. If you zoom into the photo, you can see big equipment at the lower level, working to rebuild the mountain. Each time we look to go this route instead of going through Atlanta, we check the road conditions. I worry about storms washing out the forward progress they have already made. 

Route 40 Repair

Day 143-

Mexican Ponytails, Stipa tenuissima, now Nassella tenuissima waves in the breeze of my front garden. I love the movement of this grass. It doesn't grow too tall and upkeep is minimal. 

Morning Light

Day 144-

As I mentioned in the introduction, our wildlife corridor, otherwise known as our front sidewalk, is teeming with activity. I often see the Eastern Fence Lizard coloring like that on the left. They are both Easter Fence Lizards, just with different markings. As for the dog hair, it is everywhere. After a bath, both the dogs shed an incredible amount. 

Eastern Fence Lizards with Dog Hair

Day 145-

On this morning's walk with Fiona, we encountered this Eastern Box Turtle. From a distance, I wasn't sure if it was a pinecone or a turtle. It was going one direction and then turned and went the other. I know I needed to move it off the road. I chose the second direction it was headed. Of course that was after a brief photo shoot. 

Morning Rescue

Once again, thanks for coming by and checking out this past week's photo-a-day. 

©Copyright 2025 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet, The Queen of Seaford.

South Carolina Snakes and More

We have an abundance of wildlife in our area. Sure there are deer and turkeys and fox and even coyote. The wildlife I am writing about is more in the reptile family tree. We have many snakes in our neighborhood and only one is venomous, the Copperhead. There others in nearby counties, but in Greenwood it is the Copperhead you need to be aware of.

Let's start with some less frightening reptiles. Who doesn't love a baby turtle? How about a handful of three newly hatched turtles?  I came across these little ones while planting a hydrangea along the side of the house. After a quick picture, I put them back where I found them. 

Fast forward ten years, came across another newly hatched turtle in the same area of the garden. 

Another reptile that we have everywhere is an Anole, Anolis carolinensis. When newly hatched they are about an inch or so in size. Just too cute.

There are Eastern Fence lizards, varying in size from teeny tiny to about almost eight inches from head to tail. 

Now that we have touched on some of the legged reptiles (and there are so many others- multiple Skinks and Glass Lizards), it is time to venture to the snakes in the Upstate of South Carolina. Now you can ask some self-proclaimed experts and they will tell you about lots of venomous snakes. Not true. I have a few sources to back up my information. One of the best is the Savannah River Ecology Lab from the University of Georgia. I have two friends, one retired from and one currently employed by Department of Natural Resources in South Carolina. I have one almost on speed dial. He backs up all his identifications with a link to the said snake's ID document. 

So let's look at the snakes I see regularly in my yard/garden. 

I will ease you in slowly- Here's a pretty one- 

Above and below- Rough Green Snake. It is a lovely emerald green and quite small. Their diet is insects, spiders and other small invertebrates.

On to the various black snakes we have. 

There is the Black Racer, who is really fast.  These guys will really move through the garden to get away from you. They are mostly black with a little bit of white under their chin. Their diet is mostly insects, other snakes, lizards, birds and amphibians. 

Black Racer

 Next is the Blackrat Snake. Their diets include lizards, frogs and rodents (yea!). They are also fond of duck eggs. They are quite common in our area and while mostly black, they have a good bit of white on them. They will try to look tough to scare you away.

Black Ratsnake

If frightened they will 'freeze' and assume a kinked position. In the grass that helps them disappear, though not so much on the pavement.

Black Ratsnake

The juvenile Rat Snake is more varied in coloration. 

Juvenile Black Ratsnake

I find I have a resident Rat Snake near the dryer vent. I tried to pull it out one time, but he held fast. It is in the space between the ductwork and the wall. Always fun to be in the wild!

The third black colored snake that is common in our area is the Eastern Kingsnake. They are black with white markings that look like cyclone fencing to me. It is one you want to have around if there are Copperheads- Kingsnakes eat Copperheads. Their diet includes snakes, lizards, rodents, turtle eggs, and birds. They are resistant to the venom of the Copperhead. 

Eastern Kingsnake

There are many tiny snakes.  First, Worm Snake. My phone-a-friend gave me a hard time when I first found this one. I was not sure what it was but described it as a snake that looked like a worm. He came back with a smart comment that I will not share. They feed exclusively on earthworms. 

Worm Snake

A couple that I confused with each other- Redbellied Snake, who feeds on slugs,

Redbellied Snake

Redbellied Snake

and DeKay's Brown snake. They are closely related. Brown snake also eats slugs as well as earthworms and other small invertebrates.

DeKay's Brown Snake

Another small snake is a Ringneck Snake-  pictured below is a hatchling next to a piece of pine straw. They can grow to 10 - 15 inches in length. Diet includes amphibians, small invertebrates, and lizards. 

Ringneck Snake

Not to be confused with the Redbellied snake, there is also a Red-bellied Watersnake. While they are a water snake, they can be found in the yard. They eat primarily amphibians but also eat fish.  

Red-bellied Watersnake

Note the red/orange underside of the snake. They are really attractive.

Red-bellied Watersnake

Another colorful snake is the Corn Snake. They eat larger prey- birds, small mammals, lizards and reptiles.

Corn Snake

Corn Snake

Next come two that are closely related, both water snakes. First Northern Watersnake. This snake is often confused with a Cottonmouth (venomous) snake. Cottonmouth or water moccasin have different markings, bands instead of blotches. The Northern Watersnake's diet is primarily fish and amphibians. 

Northern Watersnake

Northern Watersnake

The other watersnake is the Brown Watersnake. It is not common in our area but seem to be showing up more often in recent years. This photo was shared by a neighbor, wanting to know friend or foe. The Brown Watersnake's diet is primarily young catfish. 

Brown Watersnake photo credit Barb Warner

Finally we come to our venomous snake. The Copperhead. Their most distinctive marking is on their side- it looks like a Hershey' kiss. This is a snake to avoid. Another neighbor sent me this photo, asking what it was. She was walking, looking elsewhere and tripped over it!!!  Young Copperhead snakes have a yellow tip to their tail, very distinctive. Their diets are pretty wide. They eat small mammals, birds, lizards, and other reptiles. 

Copperhead photo credit Laurie English

Thanks for following along with me on our photo journey of snakes in the Upstate of South Carolina. There are other snakes I did not profile as I have not seen them. I have comments allowed, if you comment, please sign your name so I know who has visited.

Many thanks to my phone-a-friend buddy Win Ott. 

©Copyright 2022 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

Nature- Volunteers and Surprises

As it says in the heading of my blog, it is a random diary of what is going on in my garden. I need to get back to documenting growth of my garden. One of my neighbors said that they thought my garden had really popped this year. Will it be even better next year? Who knows, every year has so many variables  from late frosts to rainfall factoring in to benefit or challenge each year's growth.

The volunteers in my garden are always a treat to see. The various colors of Blue-eyed Grasses pop up in the spring. The blue flowered grass is Sisyrinchium angustifolium. 

The yellow flowered grass is most likely Sisyrinchium rosulatum. It isn't always yellow, sometimes they are pink to lavender. Always a nice little bloom to see in the garden/yard.

Don't you love the seed pods?

A new volunteer this year is Lyreleaf sage, Salvia lyrata. It is a vigorous spreader, maybe even a thug. I am not sure how it entered my garden. There really aren't Lyreleaf sage in our wild areas. Could it have come in on a plant from a plant sale? Maybe. 

 I like the purple and lavender colors together, Sage and Iris. There is a Gladiolus byzantine planted near the Irises, so in the coming years, we will get another color combination.

Why do I have a rose in the volunteer list? Well, this gorgeous deep red rose sprouted from root stock. I had a David Austin rose, Rosa 'Olivia' in a container in this garden bed. Sadly, it was just at deer eating height. When I dug the rose out of the container there were some roots that had traveled out of the hole in the bottom of the container and into the garden. I thought I had dug up all remaining roots, but it looks as though I was wrong. This unnamed red rose is probably a rambler based on its growth habit. This coming winter I will rework this corner of the garden. The rose is fragrant and a gorgeous deep red. I love it against the yellow of the creeping St. John's Wort, Hypericum calycinum 'Brigadoon'.

Surprises in the garden come in fauna form, some with legs and some without. Below is the ladybug/ ladybeetle feasting on aphids. Balance of nature!

We have lots of turtles in our neighborhood area. Being on the lake there are many sliders, this one headed off to the woods to perhaps lay her eggs. I made sure it was well off the road before venturing on.

We also have lots of box turtles in the garden. Love seeing all the turtles.

There are also snakes in the garden, or in this case, in my hose caddy on the patio. This is a Black Rat snake, nonvenomous and beneficial to the health of the garden. Like I said with the aphids and ladybugs, balance of nature. 

Hanging out in the front yard is one of many toads and frogs we have. I believe this one to be an American Toad, Bufo [Anaxyrus] americanus. 

And finally, Bambi was visiting in the backyard garden with her mom. It is a love/hate relationship with the numerous deer. The fawns are so stinkin' cute!

Stay tuned for more observations from my garden. Thanks for stopping by.

©Copyright 2022 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

Mulch, Mulch and More Mulch

For the past week or so we have been moving mulch.  Seemingly mountains of mulch.  In reality it was 10 cubic yards of mulch.....but most of it was to be used in the back gardens.  You know....around back and down the hill to the very sloped gardens.
Thankfully we bought the cart to go behind the lawn tractor last year when we put some rocks in the garden.  Charlie loaded and loaded and loaded and dropped big piles of mulch all along the pathway in the back garden.  I had some more weeding to do and lots of little baby plants emerging, so I didn't want mulch dropped into the garden bed directly.

I didn't have my camera in my pocket while all this was done...so no befores and middles of the work.  I did walk around AFTER and am so happy with how the garden is shaping up.   In July I will share a 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 progress report.  For tonight, visions of a job well done.

This garden bed, above, Charlie lined the edge of the garden with newspaper and piled a lot of mulch throughout.  It is mostly daylilies-- already up.  Other plants in this very wet bed include Cardinal Lobelia and another cultivar Lobelia 'Queen Victoria'...red foliage and red blooms.  Elephant ears are quite happy in this bed.  Along the back of the bed are three Magnolia 'Little Gem' and a Cryptomeria japonica 'Black Dragon'.

This one is sort of a middle job photo....you can see some of the piles of mulch on the high part of the pathway.

The beds along the sides of the house just needed a little top dressing.  The daffodils still have their foliage up in the garden,  don't want to cut nor cover it.   The Deutzia gracilis 'Nikko' is just about done blooming, just a few blossoms left.    You can see that the yard slopes down toward the back of property.

The shed in the front yard shows the slope.   Hopefully the shrubs will hide the cinder blocks in the next year or so.

Everything looks much better with a fresh layer of mulch doesn't it?

Part of this front garden got some edge dressing with the last of the mulch mountain.    We also had to patch some areas of the grass where the dogs and the winter wet weather makes it so thin.

Most of the mulch went to the back.  Thank goodness for the cart and tractor.    Love the flagstone patio bordered by the Catmint, Rosemary and various goodies.

Looking back up to the house, you can make out the beds, now ready for this growing season.  Now mulched the plants stand out and have a presence in the garden.

Lest you think I done with the mulching....there are still a dozen bales of pinestraw waiting, waiting since last year to be spread.  ugh.

Once done, my gloves removed and my shoes taken off....I was in great need of a shower!!

Before showering I walked the yard and got some of these pictures and saw a new little friend.  

He was on the wall by the side garden.  I was worried about him falling off, it would be a three foot drop.  It appears he has had a few bumps and bruises already, see the cut in his shell.  Poor turtle.  I moved him into the garden, under the Edgeworthia for him to forage.

One more exciting capture---

Mr. Gray Fox in my neighbor's driveway.  I was walking the dogs and saw the fox.  Lucky for me the dogs didn't see the fox and the fox didn't see the dogs.  

Is your garden ready for the summer?  

©Copyright 2012 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.