Eastern Prickly-Pear Cactus

My backyard acts as a sanctuary for a wide variety of flora and fauna. From the pill bugs, earthworms, beetles, and other insects that inhabit the soil in my mom’s garden, to the occasional red fox that wanders through the yard, there is always something interesting to discover if you look closely–especially now, with the turning of the seasons, for each season brings new wildlife. In the spring, the water on the pool cover serves as an oasis for frogs and toads as they mate and lay their eggs. In the summer, the hummingbirds stop by to drink the nectar from the flowers. In the fall, the chipmunks, rabbits, groundhogs, squirrels, and deer munch on the dying garden. And in the winter, the woodpecker, blue jays, cardinals, and other birds become easier to spot, standing out amongst the white snow.

So, when I first read the WordPress assignment, it seemed like a no-brainer for me to traipse through my backyard in search of a specimen to write about. I tied my sneakers and headed towards the door, but before I could even walk outside, my mom screamed from upstairs, “RENEA! Do you wanna go for a walk?” With my sneakers laced and a relatively free day ahead of me, I had no reason not to accompany her, so I called back, “SURE!”

We spent the next hour walking our typical mid-day quarantine path with our eyes peeled, on the lookout for any interesting plants we did not know the name of. We found several, so my apologies to all my neighbors who might’ve looked out their windows and saw me taking pictures of their landscaping. 

After returning home, I got to work attempting to find the names of all the plants I had photographed. With the help of iNaturalist, an iPhone app, I was able to classify the majority of my discoveries, like the Eastern Prickly-Pear Cactus pictured above. I chose this discovery to be my picture for this post for two main reasons. First of all, I did not know that any cactus varieties grew naturally in Pennsylvania, and secondly, I’ve never noticed this plant until I needed to look closely at my surroundings for this assignment, even though I’ve walked past it almost every day over the past month. It’s amazing how many things you can discover when you are forced to slow down and appreciate nature.

-Renea Briner