What Is That? (Outside Edition)

 My husband and I have been playing this game since we purchased our home in the Poconos.  We call it "What is that?"  We come across things in the house and on the property that we have no idea what they are.  Early on we asked the former owners and quite often their response was "we don't know either."  

We also play a version that the game that is more: "WHY is that?"  For example, the three electrical outlets on the outside of the detached garage that are all relatively close to each other.  I understand what they are, but why?  Maybe I should forgo the WHY and just turn to one of my favorite SNL sketches and start singing "Oooo weeee...what up with that?  What up with that?"

As things started to grow and green in our yard, I've been wondering and asking "What is that?" more and more often.  In many cases Google Lens can help, but not always.  

For example, when these things started sprouting:


The "bottom" of the sprout was so dark it was almost black and then this green shoots (almost finger like ) came up.  Lens said:  Allium ochotense.  What's THAT?  Well, according to Wikipedia:  "Allium ochotense, or the Siberian onion, is a primarily East Asian species of wild onion native to northern Japan, Korea, China, and the Russian Far East, as well as on Attu Island in Alaska."  Ummm...I'm thinking probably not.

Then they really started to come up and I tried again. 


This time Lens came back with something I'd actually heard of:  Hosta.  According to https://www.gardenia.net/ : "Hostas prefer a shady spot in the garden, as their leaves can get scorched by the intense midday sun and need well-draining soil. Uses: Hostas are popular in landscape design for their low maintenance and shade tolerance. They are often used in woodland garden settings, in borders, or as specimen plants."  Now that makes sense.

Then there was this weird looking thing:
What up with that? To me it looked like some bizarre sort of Venus Flytrap.  I KNEW it couldn't be that, but Lens didn't have much of an answer, until TONS of them started sprouting up and even I (who knows next to nothing) could figure out what they were (or at least what family they were from)


They are ferns.  According to Google, Ostrich Ferns.  Further research found on https://www.americanmeadows.com/ told me this:  "The Ostrich Fern is a grand, native plant from the Eastern American woodlands. Unfurling in a fiddlehead shape, it gets its name from the open plumes that resemble ostrich feathers. Like most ferns, this one prefers a cool, moist spot and will spread and thrive in any wet, shady area of the garden. A notably graceful plant."  These "graceful" plants are all over the yard and can grow as high as 60"!  (Yikes!)

While there are many thing that I CAN identify.  The rhododendron in the front along with the pachysandra.
(This was taken last fall before the landscaper did his work and cut back the overgrowth.  Anyone care to identify the tree in the photo).

And there are some tulips and daffodils in the backyard


But then is THIS a daffodil too?
Or how about these?


While I'm pretty convinced that this is an azalea:  

I'm not sure about this:  
(Possibly Lamprocapnos spectabilis, commonly known as bleeding heart or Asian bleeding heart.)

And I'd NEVER know what this is, if the landscaper hadn't told me:


(Crimson Queen Japanese Maple Tree)

I don't know how much I can trust Lens.  Is this really a Japanese Cedar?  

I mean I would accept that this is a Hosta Undulata:



But what is this?  Yerba Buena?  Stonecop?  Organo (I don't think so)  The Lens isn't so trustworthy so..



If anyone would like to take a whack at it for me; go for it!









As everything comes into full bloom, I'm going to try and figure out what everything is and, per my husband's suggestion, map it out.  So next year I won't be quite so puzzled.  (But I probably will!)

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