Eastern Redcedar (Juniperus virginiana)

These trees seem about 30 m tall, (I'm bad a judgung distances, but at least 3 stories) with scaly leaves and small blue berries. The previous home owner had the ivy growing on the tress scraped, so they're now draped with dead vines. Not exactly the most pictureque thing to have gracing the center of the house, but I haven't figured out how to remove it.

These trees were called cedars because the wood is aromatic and historically cedars have been prized for their aromatic wood. So now these are the trees that cedar chests are made out of, but no one calls them "juniper chests". These trees also seems to be used to make pencils and flavor gin (etymology blog etnry on gin and junipers).

This website and this one provide identifation tips, but mostly I just based this ID on the tree being so common. Native to the eastern US.

?notched weeds

Heavily notched weeds, about 2 feet tall. Growing in sun

Mulberry bush (Morus Alba)

When I first figured out what this was. I had "Pop goes the weasel" stuck in my head. That was all I really knew about mulberry bushes. I was really excited about having a large tree that produced something edible. However, the 40 ft tree shadows my driveway, making a horrible purple mess several weeks a year. It's very invasive - there are at least 5 small trees, some of which I've dug up several times and they keep coming back.

White mulberries were first imported to feed silkworms, but silk is really difficult to make profitably.
(http://www.ces.purdue.edu/extmedia/FNR/FNR_237.pdf) ID: Three different leaf shapes (notched, mitten and entire) with glossy leaves and rounded serrate margins.

? pink flower shrub

Shrub, about 3 feet tall. Yellow leaves preceded pink flowers in April 2010.

???

After last night's thunderstorm, these bright orange tentacled things appeared. They're the size and texture of sea anemones, except that my yard isn't part of a tropical coral reef. The tentacles break off easily. One of these things seems to be attached to a needle from the ?juniper tree, but I can't see any in the trees. They're tall trees, so it may be hiding. But I always thought conifers used cones to disseminate seeds, not alien life forms.

Mock strawberry (Potentilla indica)

Inedible strawberry.
Thoughts: I'm sure this was a pretty border plant, but now it's so overrun with weeds I don't like it. If I'm going to have strawberries, I'd like to eat them.

Id: The leaves are more elliptical and serrated, so I think it's Potentilla, not Waldsteinia.
 It seems like the genus Duchesnea has been incorporated into genus Potentilla (Cinquefoils). Not P. sterilis, which seems to have white flowers. Maybe indica. Native to Asia. Listed at invasive.org, but not specifically in Georgia.

? ground cover weed

Short (~ 3 cm high) yellow flowers. Mixed in with clover.

mystery fuzzy weed

I think this might be mullein (Verbascum thapsus). It's about 4 inches tall and very fuzzy.

Henbit deadnettle (Lamium amplexicaule)

The small purple flowers are corolla bilabiate. Leaves opposite, circular is appearance (crenallated margins). Native to Europe. Looks nothing like the purple deadnettle, which bloomed about one month earlier this year.

Pecan (Carya illinoinensis )

Perhaps not as emblematic of the South as the magnolia,  these trees are still part of the local culture. Neighbors and strangers randomly drove up and picked bucket loads of nuts out of my yard (fall 2009), and the puppy hid the rest throughout the house in unlikely places. Now that I know the vaguely  creepy farmer's market on Eisenhower will shell the nuts, I'll actually try to do something with the next crop.
Pecan tree with spring catkins (April 2010).
Easy to identify when the nuts are available. Pecans are a type of hickory tree, and technically not nuts but fruits (drupes, to be more specific). Mine give nuts every year, which seems to indicate one protandrous cultivar (produces pollen first) and one protogynous (is pollinated first). I'm not sure though, all the catkins seemed to appear at the same time.

mystery shrub

Toothed leaves, 3 feet tall, growing in mostly shade.

mystery young tree

Young, 10 ft tall, leaves compound, alternate serrated. Not sure if the dried fruit is actually from the tree or a vine climbing the tree. Infested with some fuzzy blue stuff along branches.

Cleaver (Galium aparine)

Very sticky, backward burrs on stems and leaves. circular arrangement of leaves. Small white flowers. Native. Mostly in shady pats of yard.

Mystery palmate vine

Distinctive serrated leaves, palmate, climbing vine. In shade. Hopefully it will flower or something. Seems like I see this stuff all over Macon.

Mystery trifoliate vine

Each leaflet has 3 lobes and 3 leaflet come in a simple trifoliate arrangement. Hoping it blooms or something.

Mystery tree with white flower clusters

Tree is about 30 feet tall, bark is smooth. Leaves are alternate, ovate? with pinnate veins and entire margins and pointy tips. Flower petals look narrower than prunus serotina, and bark doesn't seem consistent. Started flowering mid March. No fruit yet.

Magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora)

 Smells beautiful when blooming. The sticky red seeds disturb me for reasons that I do not begin to understand. I always associated peaches with Georgia before I moved here, but I think I like having a magnolia better. Having a shady corner of the yard is great.

Id: Leaves simple ovate, smooth was fuzzy yellow underneath (pubescent). White flowers, pink fruit darkens, red seeds.
Native.

Carolina Geranium (Geranium carolinianum)

In back yard, full sun, small pink/purple 5 petal flowers and distinctive palmate lobed leafs. Native
http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=GECA5

Purple dead nettle (Lamium purpureum)

Like henbit, but with petioled leaves. In middle of back yard. Edible but not tasty. No basal leaves, bottom green top purple. All leaves are hairy, and are circular in outline with scalloped margins. Small flowers whorls of 3-6 in the upper leaves. Native to Europe and Asia.

Creeping Phlox (Phlox stolonifera)

Thoughts: Purple/white with really nice flowers. blooming March 10, 2010.


Id:  Evergreen, needle-like leaves. Planted in part-shade. Stoloniferous, seems to confined by the black garden fabric. Native to southeast US.
 
http://landscaping.about.com/od/groundcovervines1/p/creeping_phlox.htm

Common Vetch (Vicia sativa)

All over my yard. Compound leaf with 8-16 paired leaflets, terminates in a tendril, leaves notched.
Purple flowers, nitrogen fixer. Native to Europe.
http://www.arthurleej.com/a-vetch.html