Frazz by Jef Mallett for August 06, 2023

A lot of the time invasive plants don’t make native bugs and birds happy! And they crowd out natives. There’s a lot of wildlife even in a suburb, I went out with Merlin’s bird call identifier a few mornings ago and it overheard 32 different birds species, with me standing still in my own back yard in the most densely populated zip code in Memphis.

My standard rule-thumb for “smart enough to be an interesting friend” is that they “get” puns and similar jokes. But “comes up with interesting paradoxen” is another way.

The rainbow in the water spray is a nice touch.

I wonder if that is a Boston Terrier at the end of the lead.

How do we know the flora that was here when we arrived is native and not something invasive that drove out that which was really native?

Mrs Caneteaude? Love it.

The dog from Zack Hill?!

Life in the Edgelands.

Is Canetaude pronounce like, “cane toad?” Another invasive species. As are most humans, come to think about it…..

From time to time, Caulfield does make one think about the world in a different way. Yes, sassy some times, but usually accurate.

Some people are too smart for their own good.

And when Caulfield meets that person, he will probably marry them.

Yes, Caulfield, you are invasive!

I love this relationship, Caufield drives the questions but there’s so much coming the other way that he may not realize until way down the road in his life. I had a few teachers like this and I wish I’d realized how much they’d pushed me while they were still around to thank them.

Everything we do is invasive. We’re akin to feral hogs.

Not everything non native is invasive.

Grass lawns use more resources to maintain them than any other plant in the country. ( https://youtu.be/UG-7Bz5R8MU )

Is there a trap-and-release program for suburbanites?

Mrs. Cane Toad?

One of the benefits of not living in a homeowner association is the ability to NOT run over the wildflowers with a lawnmower despite how tall they get. I have these weird purple flowers with tiny “brush heads” that are just now starting to bloom. They have large ovular variegated leaves that lay flat against the ground like plantain. Haven’t been able to find them on the internets – but after a few years of not mowing them – they’ve started spreading all over the yard.

There’s an Arbor Trail in Northville. Clue or just random?

Caneteaude looks to be pronounced Cane Toad, which was introduced to Australia and is an invasive species. There’s a nice symmetry there.

It seems like it should be, “Is anything not invasive in suburbs that used to be woods?”

When they took out the strip of woods by a street I used to live on, they named it “Arboro Place.” Worse, when they razed an area of beautiful big oak trees, they named the subdivision “Royal Oaks.” Those examples happened years ago; most recently, they razed another nice wooded area, and named it “(something) Preserve.” Absolutely NOTHING was preserved. Ugh.

In response to his last question, people.

Meh, the woods might have invaded a flowery meadow; starlings and sparrows that people might consider native to America are imports; no telling what invasive species may become part of the scenery in the future.

And humans are the most invasive species of all.