Our Missouri Yard – September/October 2024
/The chives have flowered and the seeds are almost mature. I savor these plants at the edges of some of my back yard beds since they are descendants of my mother’s plants; I harvested the seeds from her garden several years ago and will be enjoying them in my garden and in meals for as long as I live in this house.
There is a plant blooming in one of the areas I’ve not been mowing…letting the violets grow into the grass. I think it is sweet everlasting – which is native. Maybe I’ll collect the seeds and plant it elsewhere too.
I’ve harvested some of the American Spikenard seeds and planted them in a shady area where they might grow next spring. I would like to establish more of this plant in my yard. It dies back each winter but comes back from the root the following year getting bigger each year.
The shortleaf pine has dropped most of its mature cones but there are still a few in the tree and the terminal buds are a great color contrast to the needles….good photo opportunities!
I bought 4 native shrubs and small trees
And got them planted in my back yard the day after I bought them:
Spicebush – Lindera benzoi
Ozark Witch Hazel – Hamamelis vernalis
Buttonbush – Cephalanthus occidentalis
American Beautyberry – Callicarpa American
Digging the holes for these small plants was harder than I expected – a lot of small rocks and some plastic mesh that is a few inches under the soil surface (the previous owner had the yard sodded and they must have put the mesh down before they put the sod…I am chagrined that there is a plastic pollutant under most of my yard but can’t do anything about it).
I’ll save the fall foliage pictures for another post!