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citymousegarden.bsky.social
City Mouse Garden
@citymousegarden.bsky.social
3.2K followers 52 following 2.8K posts
#NativePlants & #Pollinators Fan. Master Gardener. Master Urban Farmer. Cookbook Editor/Chef. Tiny #Chicago Garden Zone 6A. All photos mine unless otherwise indicated. #UrbsInHorto #GardenDogs #KitchenGarden #FantasticFoliage
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citymousegarden.bsky.social
Mr. CMG sent this pic today. My adorable senior mom named it ‘Charlie’. Went downstairs immediately & dug out some leftover plastic tubing saved from rain barrel kits, cut to fit & split to protect my young columnar apples from bun-bun chomps.

#gardening #UrbsInHorto #Chicago #nature #ecosystem 🌱
Photo by Mr. CMG in borb-like roundness of a grey-brown wild bunny battened down in the 10” wide run of clear mulch I keep between the huge concrete garage slab and the clematis trellises so I can make sure I don’t get rats digging again. One of two young columnar apple trees freshly protected with a loose tall collar with the bunny’s favorite hiding spot visible behind the white trellis in the upper left.
November 28, 2025 at 4:05 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
Only interested in bargains on seeds & plants on this day of otherwise unfettered consumerism so feeling lucky to have scored half-off Tree Peony lovelies while the weather has kept my soil workable. Can’t wait for these to arrive!

#gardening #SmallJoys #HubbyGaveMeForeverFlowers #BrighterFuture 🌱
An American Peony Society graphic showing the pale pink and burgundy flares of Lutea Hybrid Tree Peony ‘Rosalind Elsie Franklin” — ps, yay #WomenInStem An American Peony Society graphic showing the clear medium pink of Suffruticosa Tree Peony ‘Princess Chiffon”
November 28, 2025 at 2:44 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
Thankful for kind selfless partner, being able to care for my mom, wild fur-icane #GardenDogs #WeAreAllZoey & beautiful tiny urban garden that gives me peace in trying times, clean food, pride of building habitat for #pollinators & #birds in need of support, & endless hope for future. #gardening 🌱🦃
Cleaning Asclepias tuberosa seed to winter sow extra jugs for neighbors trying to plant up the parkway corner so you see yet another cookie sheet and labeled paper lunch bag with seed pods to be cleaned. Floppy eared diva queen #WeAreAllZoey says hi to you all with a royal paw up on the bolster and her embarrassingly large basket of toys behind her.
November 27, 2025 at 4:55 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
Text I definitely didn’t want from Mr. CMG as I almost sat after 4 loads of laundry on top of other morning chores. 60+ MPH gusts! Upright & bungeed to raised bed now. Dragged potted roses, mints, rosemary plus wormery into basement (after taking out big trug of compost). Thanks, worms! #gardening 🌱
A white trellis planter knocked over so you can see the raised beds behind it. Luckily no lasting damage to anything but what a wind storm!
November 26, 2025 at 7:53 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
‘Scarborough Fair’ is pushing out softest little #RoseWednesday blooms too. And we have maybe five other varieties in the backyard with new buds but it is also 35F today so who knows. 🤷‍♀️

#gardening #bloomscrolling #FlowerReport #UrbsInHorto #Chicago 🌱
A soft pink and cream bloom drooping under the weight of unsteady weather and raindrops.
November 26, 2025 at 4:39 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
A new rose for #RoseWednesday on the day before Thanksgiving. Poor confused plants!

#gardening #bloomscrolling #FlowerReport #UrbsInHorto #Chicago 🌱
A purple rose unfurling with drops of rain caught in the petals surrounded by other buds.
November 26, 2025 at 4:35 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
Another massive beauty #ThickTrunkThursday with handsome hubby birding for scale.

#gardening #UrbsInHorto #Chicago 🌱
An epic naked tree exposing its burls and broken limbs and bent claw-like crown grabbing at the blue sky with a medium tall human to the left in a bright red fleece listening to bird song on his phone app for scale.
November 25, 2025 at 6:37 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
Incredible Shagbark Hickory for #ThickTrunkTuesday.

#gardening #UrbsInHorto #Chicago 🌱
An almost full length view of this giant Shagbark that barely fits in the frame. Closeup of the beautiful peeling bark that gives the Shagbark its name.
November 25, 2025 at 6:21 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
Epimedium are great for adding flowers in dry shade earlier in the season but they are underrated for their #FantasticFoliage throughout multiple seasons.

#gardening #FallColor #UrbsInHorto #Chicago 🌱
Leaves in various shapes, some long and arrow shaped in bright green and others larger, more rounded, and speckled bright red with green veining. Dry brown tree leaves in the background.
November 25, 2025 at 3:25 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
More seed processing today. Tithonia ‘Yellow Torch’ did very well for us this year both in the rocky untended Alley Patch and one of our main clay beds after meh results in previous tries. Very long blooming & #Butterflies loved so will grow again.

#gardening #seeds #SmallJoys #BrighterFuture 🌱
A cookie tray with big sharp coneflower like dried flowers and a paper bag labeled Tithonia Yellow Torch.
November 24, 2025 at 6:05 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
And still more fresh Snapdragons in the garden today for #MagentaMonday. Not sure how much longer they can hold out but the #pollinators were out enjoying them yesterday.

#gardening #bloomscrolling #FlowerReport #February2Frost #UrbsInHorto #Chicago 🌱
Deep pink blooms tinged here and there with red and burgundy show off against fallen leaves and surprisingly green little Aquilegia seedlings for next year tucked in the lower left corner.
November 24, 2025 at 5:50 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
Nearly #Thanksgiving & #bees & #hoverflies visiting asters & other blooms while I was spreading seedheads of Solidago caesia & juncea, Heliopsis helianthoides, Penstemon digitalis, Ageratina altissima plus multiple species of Rudbeckia & Liatris on Parkway. #NativePlants #bloomscrolling #gardening 🌱
Giant cluster of purple and gold Aster ‘Jindai’ slowly fading. Like other asters, they are still pushing out a few fresh blooms here and there. Mr. CMG’s capture of a hoverfly stopping to rest in a leaf between flower visits.
November 23, 2025 at 7:35 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
Another amazing rainbow of #FallColor from one of our other Oakleaf Hydrangeas today.

#gardening #bloomscrolling #FantasticFoliage 🌱
A single shrub showing gold, bronze, burgundy, plum, green, orange and more on its big oak-like leaves.
November 23, 2025 at 7:22 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
Using Mr. CMG’s soccer victory TV time to work on saved #seeds cleaning. Excited to try #NativePlants Cirsium discolor in our alley #pollinators patch after seeing #MonarchButterflies, #wasps & other friends go wild on them late summer/fall in a nearby park mini meadow. #gardening #WeAreAllZoey 🌱
Beautiful seed heads with silky wings to carry them away under normal circumstances. A very judgy #WeAreAllZoey giving disapproving vibes in the background because seed work means no room on the couch for doggos. A cookie sheet with a paper bag labeled Cirsium discolor and a pile of fluffy seeds in need of cleaning.
November 23, 2025 at 6:48 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
#Seeds are my drug of choice.

#gardening #SmallJoys #BrighterFuture 🌱
Seed packets of mostly annuals in a rainbow of red shades with Standing Cypress, Strawflowers, Cosmos, Clarkia, Geum, Poppies, Rudbeckia, Nasturtium, plus a few white/pale yellow/neutrals in the form Moon Carrot, Four O’Clocks, Silver Sage, Grass-leaved Goldenrod, and Browalia Americana, that will fill bloom gaps in our beds. Oh, and the new Thai Towers Basil because I love the previous Tower series basils.
November 23, 2025 at 5:26 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
A unique #FallColor moment from our walk at the nature center last weekend.

#nature #UrbsInHorto #Chicago 🌱
A very large boulder sits in the shadows surrounded by tall golden grasses with a few trees on the horizon against blue sky in the background.
November 22, 2025 at 4:31 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
#LongRead but interesting thought exercise. In my own #NativePlants journey, I’ve slowly overcome concerns about tall plants in our small city garden. We now proudly grow some truly big bois (looking at you Scrophularia marilandica) with support/chop/etc. (1/2) #gardening 🌱

bplant.org/blog/38
The Bias Against Tall Plants
Bias against tall plants can cause environmental problems and favor invasives where native vegetation would be taller.
bplant.org
November 21, 2025 at 11:39 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
Me having deja vu and my sweet angel fur baby giving me big FAFO energy when I complain about the rug—again!

#WeAreAllZoey #GardenDogs #DogsOfBluesky #ACDLife 🐶🫠🙃
A small grey and brown Cattle Dog sits in the shadows having yet again remodeled the rug and is staring up at me with “serious ears” and a face that dares me to remind her she is not in charge (which I did anyways because I have thumbs and you don’t, tiny beast! 👍🤣).
November 21, 2025 at 10:07 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
That thing where you get up fully intending to function but are so tired you immediately climb back into your bed full dressed with coffee and impulse buy some #NativePlants #seeds instead.

#gardening #SmallJoys #BrighterFuture 🌱
Screenshot of thumbnail images for Lemon Mint (Monarda Citriodora), Maryland Meadowbeauty (Rhexia mariana), Broomsedge (Andropogon virginicus), & Bushy Bluestem (Andropogon glomeratus). Screenshot of thumbnail images for Seed Box (Ludwigia alternifolia), Clasping Coneflower (Rudbeckia amplexicaulis), Starry Silphium (Silphium asteriscus), & Blanket Flower (Gaillardia aristata).
November 21, 2025 at 2:59 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
Strawflowers are the song that never ends.

#gardening #bloomscrolling #FlowerReport #FlowersOnFriday #FantasticFoliage #FallColor 🌱
White Strawflowers still unfurling against a backdrop of burgundy brick, golden and brown fallen leaves, green Epimedium leaves, and red/purple Smokebush foliage.
November 21, 2025 at 2:38 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
Ruta gravolens proving to be surprisingly hearty. Just planted late this year as future caterpillar chow. I’m maybe slightly obsessed with creating a maximalist host plant buffet situation. 🤓

#gardening #FantasticFoliage #butterflies #pollinators #ecosystem 🌱
Shapely blue-green foliage looking fresh and new under a coating of raindrops.
November 21, 2025 at 2:29 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
#WeAreAllZoey is available for interior design commissions. She thinks flat rugs are soooo last year and is very proud of her work.

#GardenDogs #DogsOfBluesky #ACDLife 🐶🫠🙃
A small grey and brown Cattle Dog sits proudly atop a crumpled woven wool rug exposing a grey rug pad beneath that she displaced in an epic ACD backside wiggle sesh.
November 20, 2025 at 11:46 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
#NativePlants Hydrophyllum virginianum (Virginia waterleaf) looking so fresh for November. This flowered for 1st time in May (so pretty!—see right pic) so hoping it lives up to its reputation to fill in as a lovely green mulch in my shady front beds.

#gardening #bloomscrolling #FantasticFoliage 🌱
Current photo of healthy green foliage surrounded by fallen leaves. Photo from mid May of the beautiful clusters of soft purple bell-shaped blooms from this native groundcover.
November 20, 2025 at 10:43 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
Celebrating the beauty of our fading fall garden.

#gardening #bloomscrolling #FallColor #UrbsInHorto #Chicago 🌱
Front walkway with fallen leaves, burgundy Oakleaf Hydrangea, and a few bits of green here and there. Parkway garden edged in deadwood fence filled with greens, browns, golds, and burgundies. Hosta garden with fallen leaves, burgundy Oakleaf Hydrangea, golden Hostas melting away and a few bits of green here and there.
November 20, 2025 at 6:01 PM
citymousegarden.bsky.social
Aster ‘Jindai’ still looking beautiful for #February2Frost. I love this shade of blurple! 🙃

#gardening #bloomscrolling #FlowerReport 🌱
Beautiful blue-purple rays surrounding faded mustard colored composite blooms.
November 20, 2025 at 5:55 PM