My Backyard Wildlife Habitat

My Backyard Wildlife Habitat -- The Yard

This is a general view of my backyard, a work in progress.... The photo was taken summer 2002. You're facing almost due west, looking from my back porch toward the privacy fence at the back of our lot. It's a damned small world, especially after our hundred-twenty-acre farm. You can see the concrete pagoda that's been a part of my life for over thirty years and has been hauled all over the place despite weighing a ton. My tortoise, Albert, likes to hide under it. I guess he thinks it's his summer cottage.... Behind the pagoda is my Missouri wildflower bed, centered with a red dogwood tree. To the south, out of view, is my tool shed. Along the privacy fence, heading to the right, is a rugosa rosh bush, a redbud tree, then out of view, two heritage roses I dug up at the farm. The northwest corner of the yard is the overgrown corner from which my Backyard Wildlife Habitat gets its name. The red block structure between the dogwood and the redbud is the upper tier of my pond system -- the only section currently in place. The ground's hard clay, I'm lazy, and these facts combined led me to decide on an above-ground pond system. There'll be three tiers when it's finished. You can also see, kind of, my little reflecting ball and my bird-feeder hook.