Hell yeah. That’s so true.

Good ideas for me to consider too, thanks for sharing.

Certainly, glad to. It is a purpose-built bucket style pond liner from Lowe’s. Pump is also a cheapy little store brand one mint for a ceramic cutting tile setup. I just took out the filter because it always gets clogged and contributes nothing. I let it collect rainwater, but it didn’t get full fast enough so I treated some tap water with fish tank treatment solution. The rain has replenished it plenty recently and I’ve kept some buckets out and then cover them to replenish it if it gets low. I put a couple of rosy red minnows from the local shop in there, apparently they are native and they eat the absolute hell out of any mosquito larvas to get in there. I don’t do anything to balance the water, it seems to generally take care of itself but I did have some trouble with clay silt settling out so I turned the pump off for a while and put a little bit of sand over everything down there. I did leave the soil for the lilypads in a bucket that is removable just in case I feel uncomfortable with getting underneath the freeze line to save them.

This was initially set up to support frogs in the area. I put the slanted rocks in there to let anything that falls in or maturing tadpoles out of the water. Sometimes the birds will land on the little branches and bathe themselves. The frogs chose a bunch of other spots and not the micropond this year so I committed to the minnows and the pump. I saved some tadpoles from a construction site recently so I’ve probably got about a hundred and a 40 gallon tank with a bubbler in it. Just responding to what things I can out here lol.

Hope this is helpful, I’m still experimenting with/researching the best ways to set this up as I go.

Any stand out strategies that have worked well or poorly for you? Trying to learn more.

I think lots of folks around here definitely feel like that, but many are actually pretty cool. Even have a few neighbors who understand.

Refers to the leaves wrapping around the stems some. That’s my understanding.

https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=dram

Pretty sure it’s this but I’m doing a very large yard rewilding project right now and I can’t remember specifically what was in all of my seed mixes.

North America 😂

Good call, been doing that. Changes the concept of a good yard drastically once you start seeing it from that perspective.

Hell yeah, I love all that. You get it. Bit by bit we can make things better. I’m doing a total overhaul of our yard probably 75% now for the animals. Big new thing for me is selecting plants based off host/supported species and wildlife value. It all does make a difference.

Apparently one of the major culprits is ragweed and goldenrod gets the rap for it. Undoubtedly though goldenrod is a contributor though. Trees get me a lot worse in either case 🫠

Extremely s-tier, amazingly easy to maintain. They spread by rhizomes so if you plant a few in an area and a couple of years the whole thing will be full of strikingly tall plants. They’re very resistant to all kinds of bullshit. They can be a really cool anchor plant for native garden sections adding a lot of height to boundaries or borders. They’re pretty showy and have lots of nice yellow flowers. Lots of insects like them. Some birds will eat the seeds when the season is over. Reseeds extremely easily. Could probably use for soil retention. Many different kinds so you can find something that fits your need. Lots of reasons to like this plant.

Altissima more than likely but who knows.

Maybe tall, who knows!

Man I fuck with it big time! Showing up, making things better, and then leaving? Fantastic. World would be a better place with more people doing what you do.

Thank you friend, North Carolina.

Love all the non-nandina stuff!