My snow covered front garden habitat. It's almost melted, but it was lovely for 24 hours.

Still blooming after several freezes. You have to get this native witch-hazel in your garden. Hamamelis virginiana is wonderful.

Hypericum frondosum is a fabulous year round beauty...Way better than Burning Bush could ever be. It's late fall color is gorgeous. But you don't have to take my word for it, check out this photo!

Frost flowers on a cold morning. Verbesina Virginia's ice flowers are formed when sap pushes through the broken stem and freezes into ice swirls.#wildflowers

Hamamelis virginiana has a lovely spidery bloom.

Rhus aromatica or Fragrant Sumac is a cool understory shrub that colonizes delightfully in deep shade or sun. Attracts small bees and flies. #nativeshrubs #rhusaromatica#softlandingforcaterpillars

The understory in my garden is beautiful most autumns, but the drought was rough this year. What I love about native plants is they always spring back!

Excited to learn that a friend from the Midwest has read my leave the leaves blog posts and has begun leaving the leaves and moving them where they will do the most good for critters. So happy.

An underappreciated native beauty that is possibly a host plant for Red-Spotted Purple and Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterflies. Nutlets eaten by songbirds and small mammals. I think it's a fabulous tree and has lovely fall color.

Hello BlueSky. I am a gardener, Tennessee naturalist and retired therapist in Middle Tennessee. I love wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoy writing about them and the critters that rely on them in my blog. It's called Clay and Limestone should you ever want to visit!

"Insects are the little things that run the world." Dr. E O Wilson