10 Things in My Yard

My yard is entirely imaginary, so I can have whatever I want in it. My yard has:

10 Animals:

Dragon
Unicorn
Pegasus
Pegacorn
Griffin
Hydra
Kitsune
Phoenix
Sonic the Hedgehog
Knuckles the Echidna

10 Plants

Man-eating tree (tame, only eats burglars)
Venus flytrap bush
Pitcher plants
Weeping willow
Crabapple tree (gods I love crabapples!)
Japanese plum tree
Money tree
Cheese tree
Sentient moss
Mushrooms

Let's see, what's in my little urban backyard...

Ten Birds
Pigeon
Robin
Crow
Grackel
Another pigeon
And another pigeon
Drab brown lady cardinal
Pigeon again
Pigeon roosting in the gutter -- hey, get out of there!
The pigeon's mate

Ten Animals
Stray cat
Squirrel
Possum
Bunny
An orange cat with a collar on, stalking the bunny
Great big old spider
Cabbage butterfly
Monarch butterfly
Raccoon
Mouse

Ten plants
Rhubarb
Peppermint
Lavender
Parsley
Basil
Raspberries
Roses
Strawberries
Dandelions
Wild violets

Ten Tchotchkes Left Behind by the Previous Owners
Large plastic gnome
Deteriorating plaster Buddha
Tiki torch
Ornamental birdcage that should be holding a hanging plant, but the bottom is rusted out
Small tricycle-shaped planter
Terracotta snail holding a rain gauge
Plaster frog
Wooden birdhouse
Old stoneware jug
Blue, green and white enamelware pot

I love water gardens - unfortunately the raccoon problem is always a worry. I learned last year from someone with a successful water garden that the way to protect the fish from raccoons is to build in "shelves" of overhanging stone/rock in the water so that the fish can hide underneath them when predators arrive. She swears by this method, but never having tried it myself I can't vouch for it personally.

I presently live in a city apartment building so I don't have access to my own garden and I'm missing that. A few of us in the apartment building have asked for and gotten permission to plant some things in the back of the building. I'm planning on putting out some herb pots at least, and I am also thinking of trying some tomato cages. I'd like to make my own pesto and my own tomato sauce this year.

It's still a bit too cool up here in Canada to really start gardening in a serious way. I haven't spent any time actually sitting outdoors yet, but I am looking forward to that.

So far while walking through the neighborhood, in terms of wildlife I have seen and heard crows, grackles, woodpeckers, sparrows, cardinals, blue jays, robins, finches, and pigeons. I've heard that the hummingbirds are on their way up, but I haven't seen any.

Animals? Horses (Mounted Police), Cats, Dogs, Squirrels, and Raccoons are all I've seen since living here in the city. That's not ten either. I'm sure there are rats and mice out there somewhere, but I haven't seen any.

Plants? I live in an area of the city where everyone is garden-crazy if they have the space so there's a lot of variety in plants. Just a very few of the newly budding/flowering plants I've seen come to life this spring include willow trees, magnolia trees, oak trees, apple trees, maple trees, forsythia bushes, pussy willows, daffodils, tulips, and hyacinth.

I like the Imaginary yard posted by fayanora. Now I want one too! :-)

The desert can be moderately fruitful with a bit of coaxing and a bunch of water--and the right combination of desert and other plants.

10 Birds:

Pair of mallard ducks

Hummingbird (She didn't say what species)

Oriole

Ring-necked dove

Mourning dove

House finch

Cooper's Hawk

Red-winged Blackbird

Starling

Cactus Wren

Quail


10 Mammals:

Ring-necked lizard

Neighbor's cat

Mice

Gopher snake

squirrel

skunk

jack rabbits

cottontail bunnies

Spiny lizard


10 Plants:

Desert willow

Mimosa (Silk) tree

Century plant

Joshua Trees

Fig tree

Pomegranate Bush

Mock orange Bush

Peach tree

Grape vine

Almond tree

Just getting started on the plants--didn't even get to the Iris, roses, primrose, aloes, ivy, santolina, texas ranger bush, and many varieties of succulents.