Now that presents are opened, our cat-in-a-dogsuit Cattle Dog #WeAreAllZoey has taken up space under tree as a nap cave. I heard ornaments shaking & found her clawing at Santa’s face trying to make a comfier pillow. She has 6 real dog beds & couch privileges.🤪🫠 #GardenDogs #DogsOfBluesky #ACDLife 🐶

Some more acouplefewthings from one of the fun unusual seed sellers I like. Edibles on the left, flowers on the right, plus a few bonus packs they included. #gardening #seeds #SmallJoys 🌱

Happy New Year, #gardening friends. Our yard with all its standing seedheads is a #wildlife wonderland this morning. Sound on to hear #birds symphony. Juncos, Cardinals, >8 Robins, Sparrows & Finches zoom across the sky & dig through lightly snow-dusted garden beds. #UrbsInHorto #Chicago #nature 🌱

Learned when lunch noodles stayed cold that built-in microwave died so rushed out to buy new one before early close & then to pharmacy for Mom’s end-of-year med restock. Mr. CMG & I had tasty champagne but also had to drug our impish #WeAreAllZoey (fireworks suck). #Adulting #NYE2026 #DogsOfBluesky

Is there such a thing as too much #MilkweedForMonarchs? Impossible! 🦋🐛 #gardening #butterflies #ecosystem #NoSpray #MonarchButterflies 🌱

More #NativePlants seeds have arrived. Mostly new species to try plus a few try agains! My favorite time of year—so much hope for the future garden. #gardening #ecosystem #wildlife 🌱

This lovely #NativePlants Symphyotrichum cordifolium just stomping the runway of “winter interest” on the walk up to our front door. 🤩 #gardening #ecosystem #wildlife 🌱

Today’s hands-in-dirt project is belated planting of end-of-season sale Tree Peony roots I ordered end of Nov before it promptly turned frigid & snowpack on ground for weeks. 45-50F stretch this week before temps drop out again next week so tough babes are going in. #gardening #AlwaysBePlanting 🌱

I got some fun #gardening themed #Christmas ornaments as gifts this year. A chonky #MonarchButterfly caterpillar, a beautiful Hummingbird on colorful #bloomscrolling worthy glowers, a Dove of Peace for this #birds lover, & a beautiful Eastern Tiger #butterfly. 🌱

Christmas surprise for my dear senior mom who asks me for popovers multiple times a year and I never get around to them: Cheddar Parmesan Popovers with Cheddar Butter. 🎄🎅🏻❤️💚

2025 top ten: #8 Female Dark-veined longhorn bee (Melissodes trinodis) on homegrown sunflower 8-21-25 in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood. #xmas #eastcoastkin #insectThursday #macro #photography #native #bees #pollen #flowers #nature #art #gardens #gardening #bugSky #pollinators #sunflower

Snow melted. Temps are up again so grasses are dancing. Had rough fatigue/pain day yesterday but ordered more #NativePlants #seeds. Apparently, giving myself more work to do is some kind of coping mechanism. 🙃 Small businesses have already packed them up so will share haul soon! #gardening 🌱

New Christmas fit: both are accurate. 🙃 #WeAreAllZoey #GardenDogs #ACDLife #DogsOfBluesky

This impromptu snow melt gutter bird bath party has brought childlike joy to my face today. ☺️Sound all the way up to hear the cacophony of different songs. We still have tons of seedheads for them too so wine & dine, feathery friends! #gardening #UrbsInHorto #Chicago #birds #wildlife #nature 🌱

Strawflowers are amazing. This fallen beauty still looks perfect after sitting under the snow for weeks and finally thawing out yesterday. #gardening #UrbsInHorto #Chicago 🌱

Seriously, outdoor cats are the worst. Neighbors let it out so it can poop in our yard, dispatch #wildlife for fun, & annoy #GardenDogs #WeAreAllZoey. When I scuttled it, 5 little #birds & Charlie the yard bunny came zooming out to from their happy little stem shelter it was stalking. #gardening 🌱

More new #NativePlants #seeds friends have arrived! #gardening 🌱

Charlie the yard bunny feasting again to celebrate the snow melting. Brazen nibbles! #gardening #UrbsInHorto #Chicago #wildlife #nature 🌱

It’s been a frozen snowglobe here for weeks which seemingly blew in right after I ordered my sale Tree Peony roots but it’s slowly been melting so it looks like I might spent my Christmas Day burying them if I can get a shovel in the dirt. 🤷‍♀️🤞👩🏼‍🌾🎄 #gardening #Chicaho #UrbsInHorto #WinterProblems 🌱

From last year, but just an amazing #UrbsInHorto #Chicago #birds story in case you need to be inspired by perseverance and hope to contrast all the bad things. #nature #wildlife 🌱 news.wttw.com/2024/11/15/c...

My dog is experimenting with Dali-esque surrealism. #WeAreAllZoey #GardenDogs #DogsOfBluesky 🐶

Fall leaves with raindrops #eastcoastkin #bloomscrolling #photography #leaves #autumn

Trying to get into the #Christmas spirit by decorating our tree even though I’m really thinking about all the #MilkweedsForMonarchs I’d rather be settling into winter sowing jugs for their cold wet winter’s nap instead. #gardening #NativePlants #butterflies #ecosystem 🌱

Sharing a beautiful photo Mr. CMG snapped in mystical light over the Bahá’í house of worship with icy cold #birds during a walk he took this week because #nature is majestic in every season. #UrbsInHorto #Chicago 🌱

A large bumblebee riding a dandelion like it's a bucking bronco, yee-haw! 🌱🐝 #InsectThursday #Bloomscrolling #BugSky #YellowThu #ColorADay #EastCosstKin

Leaving plants up over the winter not only provide food for #birds and habitat for all kinds of #wildlife. It creates beautiful moments like these seedheads against the snow from our walk last weekend. #gardening #UrbsInHorto #Chicago 🌱

Of course #WeAreAllZoey wanted to drag me through deep parkway snow rather than clear sidewalks but I did encounter this lovely Witch Hazel starting to bloom down the way. A little color on a less gloomy day finally warm enough to melt some of this white stuff! #gardening #UrbsInHorto #Chicago 🌱

From this angle, #WeAreAllZoey has a black spot behind her trademark Cattle Dog white Bentley mark that looks like a heart is so adorbs. We also call it her ‘“power button” when we are trying to get her to turn down the dingo energy. #GardenDogs #DogsOfBluesky #ACDLife

Another great video from our walk along the retention basin. This lovely woodpecker was so busy in this tree on the path along the moving water that it let me get excellent footage. #nature #birds #UrbsInHorto #Chicago #BigCityWinter 🌱

A Great Blue Heron playing marble statue in the cold on our walk this weekend. #nature #birds #UrbsInHorto #Chicago #BigCityWinter 🌱

Charlie the yard bunny is earning his keep by enthusiastically fertilizing our decorative beds. 🤣 #gardening #ecosystem #nature 🌱

We went for a walk yesterday at Techny Basin and ain’t no party like a Mallard Party! Watch the whole video with sound on to see this big group swishing about the water & hear them talk over each other like your drunk uncle at a holiday party. #nature #birds #UrbsInHorto #Chicago #BigCityWinter 🌱

Charlie the yard bunny is a ninja in the snow. Mr. CMG took this from the upstairs window and it took me a hot minute to spot him. I sure hope my roses are feeling resilient come spring. 🫣 #gardening #nature #wildlife #ecosystem #UrbsInHorto #Chicago 🌱

A Margined Calligrapher Fly from June for #flyday. Toxomerus marginatus. #EastCoastKin #gardening #insects 🌱🪰

More new seeds arrived. Also spent morning cleaning saved #seeds of 2 types of marigolds, Dill ‘Ambrosia’, Ammi ‘Green Mist’—plus making packets of few #NativePlants that share range & favorite veggies I saved to send to my uncle in VA. #gardening #SmallJoys #BrighterFuture #SharingIsCaring 🌱

Forgot to share how nice the bulk packaging on seeds is from a new-to-me #NativePlants #seeds supplier (Roundstone Native Seeds in KY) I am trying this year. Very clean seeds too. We’ll see what germination is like next year. #gardening #SmallJoys #BrighterFuture 🌱

A beautiful #ThickTrunkTuesday specimen before the snow with amazing fence shadows mirroring the multiple trunks. #Gardening #nature #TakeAWalk🌱

Apparently Charlie the yard bunny doesn’t mind the snow. Surprised Mr. CMG coming out of the garage on the way back from taking trash out the yesterday. #gardening #Winter #ecosystem #wildlife #UrbsInHorto #Chicago 🌱

Frost Aster (Symphyotrichum pilosum) shot today. #Bloomscrolling #FlowerReport #Flowers #Wildflowers

Outside #gardening is on hold due to snow although my neighbors probably think I’m bonkers because we still had a full bowl of coffee grounds that needed spreading so the snow looks contagious now. #GardenDogs #WeAreAllZoey watching for #birds, squirrels & bunnies from a cozy spot. 🌱

Collected #seeds for 2+ less common IL #NativePlants #MilkweedForMonarchs sourced from tiny Etsy shop (Asclepias amplexicaulis & variegata). Plus Silphium albiflorum (TX native) just because it sounds lovely. Gonna be a busy winter sowing jug season here! #gardening #SmallJoys #BrighterFuture 🌱

Red-Tailed Hawk, we think, having a festive holiday-themed snack (you can see a little bird foot sticking up) with wind blowing through its feathers in an old snag a few houses down. Circle of life right in middle of big city! #gardening #birds #nature #ecosystem #wildlife #UrbsInHorto #Chicago 🌱

#TFW you hit your walk button, remember your dumb humans make you wear booties and a puffy because the neighbors are sidewalk salt drunk and you smell when you get wet—but you’re living your best life anyways! #WeAreAllZoey #GardenDogs #DogsOfBluesky 🐶

Trying out new #seeds suppliers this year that arrived just in time for #SmallBusinessSaturday. Cannot speak to performance yet but definitely packed lovingly & super excited to winter sow. Especially very hard-to-source Illinois #NativePlants #MilkweedForMonarchs Asclepias stenophylla. #gardening 🌱

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 🌱

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 🌱

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 🌱🦃

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 🌱

‘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 new rose for #RoseWednesday on the day before Thanksgiving. Poor confused plants! #gardening #bloomscrolling #FlowerReport #UrbsInHorto #Chicago 🌱