I have some odds and ends to share today. They are photos taken in my yard recently and they’re not otherwise related.

First is a shot of the blooms on a crepe myrtle (Lagerstroemia) in our landscape. This non-native is certainly well-adapted to our area and is very popular in landscapes. It is native to Asia. You see them in many colors, red, pink, white, and purple. The small round balls  you see are the flower buds. They can get quite tall. This one is about 12 feet tall.

You see many crepe myrtles which have been topped (had the tops cut-off). A friend of mine calls that crepe murder and they look awful. I think the reasoning is that it forces the plant to become bushier and promotes blooms, but their natural growth is fine with me.

Crepe Myrtle Flowers

Here is a photo of what I think is Silver Bluestem (Bothriochloa saccharoides). We only have a few spots of this native grass. As you can see, it is a bunch or clump grass and grows to about 3 feet high. The mature seed heads turn a beautful silver or white color, catch the sunlight and seem to sparkle.

Silver Bluestem is considered an excellent cow grazing grass, but we enjoy it for its beauty.

Silver Bluestem

I found a deer skull at the very back of our yard. It looks like a white-tailed deer and we see many of them running through our neighborhood. Our dogs love to chase them out of our fenced yard. I don’t think they’d know what to do if they every caught one though.

This one was a younger male. His left antlers have 4 points but his right antler seems to have suffered some damage.

White-tailed Deer Skull