The Hidden Magic of a Backyard: What Nature Reveals When You Slow Down

I was filming a Reel about what's blooming in our yard this week when I grabbed a UV flashlight.

I had done this before, during the Northern Lights appearance in Ohio and it was amazing!

Suddenly, flowers I'd looked at hundreds of times looked completely different, they were glowing.

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  Golden Jubilee Anise Hyssop glowing under ultraviolet light

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  Culver's Root glowing under ultraviolet light

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  Annual Salvia glowing under ultraviolet light

What's cool about this is that bees, unlike us, can see ultraviolet light.  They see ultraviolet (UV) light to spot hidden "nectar guides" or bullseye patterns on flower petals. These invisible-to-humans rings, dots, or contrasting lines act like runway lights, pointing bees straight to the center where nectar and pollen are stored. Learning from the Northern Lights appearance (that we humans can only see the full display through our phone lens), I decided to try it on some items in our yard (I had heard about some animal fur glowing under ultraviolet light)...and it worked!

What's so fascinating, aside from the ultraviolet patterns, is realizing they've been there all along, right in the backyard. Our suburban backyard. Our little piece of the planet, in the middle of three major roads and an outer belt, all 9, 247 ft², full of amazing and interesting science and nature stuff.

When you take the time to build even a small habitat, cool stuff finds you, because the backyard is full of hidden stories.

The caterpillar you never noticed.

The baby birds waiting for another mouthful.

The monarch butterfly emerging from its chrysalis.

The fungi underground connecting roots.

The tiny native bees that don't even sting.

The hummingbird that appears for seven seconds.

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  A Ruby-Throat Hummingbird in a backyard

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  Baby house wrens in a hanging fern

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  Mating Mason Bees on a Hyacinth

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  A Spicebush caterpillar

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  a cluster of fungus

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  A monarch butterfly ready to emerge from the chrysalis

One of the reasons I love gardening isn't because I think every flower has to be perfect.

It's because the more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't see, how much there still is to discover and learn in my own yard. The UV flashlight reminded me that nature is full of things happening just beyond our awareness.

That's why I keep walking the yard every night after I get home from work.

Not because I'm looking for perfection.

Because I'm hoping to notice something I didn't see yesterday.

The other day I was weeding our front pollinator garden/food forest and discovered a little praying mantis (a native Carolina mantis) scurrying away. This is why I always look: because I always find something cool! I would also hate to accidentally add a little creature to the compost bin...

When you slow down, take the time to just look and wonder, you'll be so surprised what you start to see! I hope that on some random day, you'll walk through your yard and start to notice little cool things, too. Watch out, it's addicting!