Our Missouri Yard Before the Killing Frost

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I walked around our yard before the killing frost last week…to capture the colors of late fall. There is not much to do in the yard right now. I am following the ‘leave the leaves’ strategy. The winds swept away most of the leaves in the front yard but there are two drift areas in the back which may thin the grass. I don’t mind at all if that happens. I’ll plant black-eyed susans, cone flowers, golden rod, asters, bee balm, golden alexander, etc. I am inclined to let the pokeweed grow at will since I have seen mockingbirds eat the berries this fall.

There were still a few dandelions in bloom….and insects. The morning I walked around was in the 40s so the insects were not moving very fast.

Of course there was lots of color…including aromatic sumac, a young maple, our Kousa dogwood…as well as other plants that are probably not native.

The seeds of the chives are easily falling out of their husk. The pods on the crape myrtle will probably freeze before the can mature; the plants have died back to the ground every year we have lived in Missouri so far. The big buds on the rhododendron look great and will likely make it through the winter to bloom next spring.

Both the Eastern White Pine and Short Leaf Pines are doing well in our back yard – pokeweed growing underneath them. There is also a small Eastern Redcedar that has come up in my wildflower bed; I’m thinking about where to move it next spring…maybe to the area where I planted a button bush…which a squirrel promptly clipped to the ground.

My husband got the barn swallow nests removed from under our deck. We succeeded in not letting them build a nest on the brick of our house last summer…but they found a place on the deck supports and we didn’t notice soon enough.

Our maples in the front yard have lost their leaves. Our neighbor’s river birch has also lost its leaves and it looks like there is a squirrels nest in the tree. The oak in our neighbor’s yard (a pin oak) still has a lot of leaves but seemingly has dropped a lot as well; most of the leaves in our back yard are from that tree.

Even though the drought of the summer made the fall not as brilliantly colored, fall lingered lingered…and the transition to winter was worth noticing.

Our Missouri Yard – November 2024

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We haven’t had any extremely cold weather yet. Some trees have lost their leaves but not the oaks. We already are well above the monthly average for rainfall so are recovering somewhat from the drought through the summer and fall…just as we are bracing for winter.

The violets are reduced in volume but still mostly green. They have been a great plant for extending the flower beds on the east side of our house into the yard (I have several feet of ‘grass’ that is so thick with violets that I haven’t mowed it for at least two months!).

I have an area that is full of pine needles and clippings (grass, boxwood, yew) that I will plant with hostas next spring – as soon as my established clumps of hostas begin to sprout and can be easily divided. The rhododendron looks great…lots of buds for next spring’s blooms. The grapevine that I’ve draped over the stubble of a crape myrtle is turning yellow. I’m not sure what I will do with it next year. I don’t want it growing into the rhododendron but there is not a lot of space where it can go otherwise.

The seeds are falling out of the chives. These plants were started a few years ago from seeds I got from my mother’s garden. There is an oak seedling growing in the lambs ear. The closest oak tree is a pin oak, but the squirrels might plant acorns from further afield. The parent of a maple seedling might be one of the maples in our front yard…although it is on the other side of the house from where this seedling is growing.

The spicebush that I bought and planted about a month ago is showing some fall color…hope it comes back in the spring.

It is obvious we haven’t had a hard freeze yet this year. There are ‘intimate landscapes’ with fall colors everywhere.

I am trying to ‘leave the leaves’ this year rather than mow them. There were two piles that had been created by the wind in my front yard so I gathered them up into the wheelbarrow to move to my compost spot where the hostas will go. Otherwise I am leaving the scattering of leaves on the yard. I might have to move some oak leaves that fall into our yard once our neighbor’s tree drops its leaves. Overall, the wind had done most of the ‘raking’ of leaves either away from my yard or into areas where they can stay.

The Virginia creeper on the west side of the house has already lost its leaves but the plants near our front door are spectacularly red.

The aromatic sumac has lots of buds. I hope it makes seed clusters next season.

The Ozark witch hazel is probably too small to bloom in January but hopefully it will in a few years. I found a small tree growing under the holly trees. The leaves are rough…maybe a hackberry? I am going to leave it be for now…just as I am all the redbud seedlings!

I still have work to do before it gets too cold: pulling/digging out Japanese honeysuckle primarily.

Sprouting an Acorn

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I picked up some acorns back in September – pin oak (neighbor’s oak) and white oak (from Identifying Wood Plants field trip). Some of each were wrapped in damp paper towels to sprout. Only one sprouted! It was a white oak which was not too surprising since they are known for sprouting in the fall (didn’t learn this until I had the acorns in the damp paper towels).

The sprouted acorn is now in a modified soft drink bottle with some soil…in the window of my office. The pictures below show the young white oak over the past 7 days.

The plan is to keep it indoors through the winter and plant it outdoors after the last frost next spring. It could be the only white oak in the neighborhood!

Ten Little Celebrations – October 2024

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The temperatures were more pleasant in October….I enjoyed the outdoor field trips and classes a lot more.

Pleasant temperature to walk around the Missouri campus during class. We were outdoors longer but it was easy compared to short hikes around campus in August and September!

Field trip to a healthy stream and woodland. Celebrating the water quality and the native species (not overcome by invasives)!

Cut down a Japanese barberry and burned most of it. Celebrated one more non-native (that is sometimes invasive) being gone from my yard.

Geology field trip plans. I celebrated that enough of my Missouri Master Naturalist classmates and chapter are interested in geology field trips to make them a likely late fall/early winter activity.

Getting seeds planted. I got buckeye, Hopi sunflower, common milkweed, and persimmon seeds during the second week of October….and celebrated when I got them planted. Some must go through the cold temps of winter to sprout in the spring.

Volunteering at a fair for homeschoolers…talking about Monarch butterflies. I celebrated by first gig as a Missouri Master Naturalist…and that my iPad-based slideshow of Monarch butterfly pictures was well received.

Owl Pellet. I vaguely remember that I had dissected an owl pellet in some previous training…but I celebrated that I did a more thorough job this time… and found a complete rodent skull…and the backbone…lots of ribs.

First solo Missouri Master Naturalist volunteer gig. I celebrated that the two days spent doing an after-school program with a local school for gift students was positive for them…and for me!

Whataburger. Sometimes I just want to splurge. On the way back from my Dallas trip, I stopped for a Whataburger…celebrated that it tasted just as I remembered - although I won’t do it very often.

Successfully completed my Missouri Master Naturalist training. Hurray! I am celebrating what I learned and that I now have more time to volunteer!

Next Spring Dreaming

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I have been doing some seed planting this fall…dreaming of what will come up next spring. There are some areas that I might have to thin in a few years if too many of the seeds grow!

On the east side of the house where I have a patch of volunteer lambs ear taking over a bare spot in the yard, I planted a persimmon seed. If it grows, it would help stabilize the slope on that side of the house.

In the same area that I planted a spicebush (right side of image), I planted 3 pawpaw seeds…visions of a spicebush and pawpaw garden in that corner of our yard.

A little further down in the violets that have grown into the grass…directly out from my favorite office window, I planted two red buckeye seeds…hopefully I got them far enough apart that they could both thrive (I will feel lucky that even one comes up). I used the iris and peacock stakes to mark where I planted them.  I have visions of blooming buckeyes enjoyed by frequently visiting hummingbirds! The American spikenard is closer to the window and I am hoping to propagate it to other shady parts of the yard as well.

In the mound left when the pine tree fell (stump ground), I have a beautyberry that I planted (to the left in the image) and the goldenrod and volunteer asters are still blooming on the right. I planted 3 pawpaw there…so maybe some trees that will come up next spring.

The area that was a dead patch in the yard has recovered somewhat since I stopped mowing it completely and the mole tunnels crisscrossed it. I planted common milkweed seeds and 2 persimmon seeds there. If the milkweed and persimmons come up the patch will become another garden surrounded by yard…eventually merging with the mound left when the pine tree fell.

I planted 2 other persimmon seeds at the end of the retaining wall in an area that is difficult to mow not that far from where I already have fragrant sumac spilling out of the flower bed.

On the west side of the house, I planted some Hopi Sunflower seeds in an already existing bed. The vegetation there holds the moisture well from the sprinkler system. And maybe that same vegetation will keep the squirrels from finding the seeds!

I also planted Hopi Sunflowers toward the back of my wildflower garden (I am letting the stalks from this summer stand since they might be harboring native bee/wasp larvae). I covered my seed plantings with clippings from the yew…to deter squirrels. This area was very dry so I will put up a sprinkler to water it next spring; evidently our sprinkler system does not reach it.

I have started keeping better records of where and when I am planting in my yard….and dreaming that most of it will come up next spring! It will be a step forward in increasing the number of native plants and reducing the amount of yard I mow.

Our Missouri Yard – September/October 2024

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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.

The poke weed that I didn’t pull up is being eating by something. Maybe I should leave more of it for the insects.

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!

Ten Little Celebrations – September 2024

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It seemed liked the heat of summer lingered into September this year…but we are already savoring a few cooler days and looking forward to fall foliage. There was plenty to celebrate this month:

Places to visit

Butterflies at Botanical Garden of the Ozarks (in Fayetteville). Celebrated finally seeing some of the larger butterflies although it was in Arkansas rather than at home.

A few hours at the Lovett Pinetum. The place is not a park…requires some coordination to visit. I visited as part of my Identifying Woody Plants class (Missouri State University) and celebrated the evergreens…but also the native plants that are growing in the unmanaged areas. There is also a lovely spring feed pond and then stream.

Japanese festival at the Springfield Botanical Gardens. Celebrating big drums and the Mizumoto Japanese Stroll Garden full of people enjoying the fall day. We got ice matcha tea just before the booth was scheduled to close!

La Petite Prairie field trip. Celebrating the experience of walking through a prairie with grass almost as tall as me for the first time….and not getting bitten by anything (maybe because of my permethrin treated gaiters and hat…long sleeves and jeans).

Family ties

Finding puzzles for Dad. Finally…found a used books/puzzles sale that had some 300 piece puzzles. Celebrated and took them down to Dallas for my dad a few days later.

Around our yard

A cooler day. September had some hot days…but there are cooler ones where the high stays in the 70s to celebrate too.

Getting the yard mowed and the brush burning in the chiminea. I celebrated that I got so much yard work done on one of the cooler days…mowed the whole yard and burned a pile of brush that had accumulated during the summer.

Collecting pin oak acorns to sprout. Celebrating finding a video about sprouting acrons in water and starting the process with some carefully selected acorns from my neighbor’s tree that fell in my yard.

Planting pawpaw seeds. So many seeds from 2 pawpaws I got from an earlier master naturalist class! This time I stratified them before planting. I am celebrating that I got them in the ground…and hopefully will celebrate some of them coming up next spring/summer.

American Spikenard seeds turning red. Celebrating that the American Spikenard I planted a year ago has survived and is producing red seeds this September.

Ten Little Celebrations – August 2024

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The heat of summer is still with us…but there are signs of fall too. Lots to celebrate in August.

Road trip adventures that didn’t become problems. In the first hour of my road trip to Dallas I saw a skunk and an overturned semi-truck. The skunk abled away from the road (i.e. did not become roadkill) and the semi was on the oposite side of the highway!

Finding puzzles. Keeping the supply of puzzles coming for my dad at his assisted living home is a little more challenging since he requires ones with 500 or fewer pieces…and they can’t be small pieces. I was celebrated a couple for a reasonable price and the used book/puzzles sale from Friends of the Library is coming up in a few days where I should be able to get a good supply for $2 each.

A cooler than expected morning in Dallas. My dad likes to take walks in the neighborhood where he lives so I celebrated the morning when I was there was cool enough for the activity (it didn’t start raining until a couple of hours later when I was starting the drive back to Missouri).

Getting the whole yard mowed. I am celebrating that my stamina has improved enough that I can mow the whole yard on one day (my husband made it a little easier by buying an extra battery so I’m more confident of having enough power for the mower even if the grass is a little wet).

A rainy day. It’s been a drier August than usual. I celebrated when I heard it raining in the early morning hours.

Starting the stepping stone path in the new garden area. The narrow grassy area between a pine tree and our flower beds that I am converting to other plants is progressing well this summer. It is currently a compost area for grass clippings, pine needles, and leaves. The hostas that I planted last spring in the area are doing well. I celebrated the milestone of putting done the first two stepping stones that will lead from the patio to the yard through the area.

No tax day for school supplies/clothes. Both my husband and I intentionally made some purchases on Missouri’s no tax weekend for school supplies/clothes…celebrating the annual starting of a new school year. He got 2 pair of jeans and I got some packs of card stock: black and bright colors.

Registering/starting a class at the university. I am celebrating being back in a university classroom after more than 40 years. It feels good!

Multiple types of fungus on a stump in a neighbor’s yard. The stump is deterioating rapidly now. I’m celebrating that there are interesting fungi doing the work.

The Paris Olympics. Celebrating the efforts and sportsmanship of the athletics…seeing their dedication and joy.

Yard Work at my Daughter’s

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Last week my daughter and I finally got around to cutting down a mimosa tree we are trying to kill that keeps returning to her yard. I took our Ryobi Sawzall (battery powered) for the job.

It made quick work of the long but relatively small branches/trunks.

We used long-handled pruners for the last cut and for the pokeweed that was growing rampant nearby. My daughter was the one that waded into the bed…her gloves and clothes were covered with burrs; we are going to proactively get rid of those plants next year while they are blooming (before the burrs form)!

I enjoyed taking pictures around her yard between handing tools to her and carrying away the branches as they were cut. There is a small solanum that has produced black fruits. The Southern Magnolia pods are forming. Miniature roses are blooming again; I like the color variation the small bush supplies. The Black Eyed Susans are a little battered but still brilliant color in the flower beds.

I tried photographing several Queen Anne’s Lace seed pods. They always look like a jumbled mess but there are a lot of seeds in there!

August Yard Highlights

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The two plants that are the highlights of my yard this month are the crepe myrtles – which all died back to the roots over last winter and are now blooming – and noticing a stinkhorn under one of my red maples.

The crepe myrtles are not my favorites because they will never grow into small trees with interesting bark like they do in Texas and Maryland. Both winters we have lived in Missouri – the 4 crepe myrtles in our flower beds have died and come up from the roots - growing enough to bloom in August. But they will always be short bushes if this continues. I am giving them one more season before I start replacing them with a native plant.

Earlier in the season I saw stinkhorn fungi in the area where a pine tree fell in our back yard and the chipped remains of the stump are decaying. This month, there was a stinkhorn near one of the red maples. They are a welcome sight so far because their presence means there is plant material decomposing and being recycled in the yard…and there are never very many of them to be unbearably stinky.

A Colorful Maple Leaf

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When I came out of my polling place (for the Missouri primary) earlier this month - I noticed a spot of color in one of the maple trees growing in an island of the parking lot. I took a closer look.

It was the only leaf on the tree that wasn’t green! Of course, in the fall the tree will be full of leaves that are brilliantly colored since so many of the trees here are varieties of red maples. I am savoring this spot of color and not yet having to worry about mowing my yard frequently enough to mulch the fallen leaves into the grass.

Baking Soda

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My mother used to keep a small bowl with baking soda in it during the summer…adding some water to it when she came in from working in the yard to make a watery slurry that she’d rub over her arms and legs. She said it stopped a lot of the itching. I remembered her doing that and decided to try it. It helps – sometimes completely alleviating the itching!

Most of the time I apply it when if first get in the shower – no worries about leaving soda splashes on the floor that way. I use a back brush to scrub the baking soda slurry onto my back too. Then shower as usual.

In-between uses, the water evaporates, and the remaining baking soda makes a cake that looks like a miniature ice flow….or abstract art. At some point I add more soda, so the container is ready for the next time I am cleaning up after yard work.

Native Plants Added to Our Yard

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This is our third summer in our house. Last summer, I added some native plants to the yard and am pleased with how well they have done. The only one I have lost is a beautyberry that was planted last fall and didn’t survive the winter.

The fragrant sumac has new stems coming up and male flowers on the tips of the older branches. I like that the leaves start out with a lot of red and then turn a darker green. I intentionally planted it near the edge of the flowerbed and hope that it will eventually be stems that come up on the grassy side of the edging. There are some other plants around it that are already spilling over, and it would be good to gradually enlarge the bed area, reduce the grass.

The most successful plants in the wildflower area are black eyed susans and cone flowers. There are others…but they are not as robust. I will take some of the seeds from these two to plant elsewhere in the yard.

The grayhead coneflower bloomed in the garden I made where the stump of the old pine tree was cut down last year. It got top heavy and fell over and is now about done with its blooming. Next year I will stake it to help it stay upright.

The same happened with the hairy mountain mint. I think this one will bloom soon.

The showy goldenrod has been growing almost overwhelmed with pokeweed. Now that I have pulled the pokeweed, the plant will get more sun – and, hopefully, bloom this fall.

Early last spring I thought the American spikenard had died over the winter…but then rediscovered it! And now it is starting to bloom. It is still a very small tree but seems to like where it is planted and I can see it from my office window.

There are two redbuds that have come up in my yard, and I am letting them stay where they are. They are native (the parent tree is probably the one growing near the neighborhood ponds) and I like their heart shaped leaves. All the other trees in the back yard are evergreens (pines and hollies) so these two deciduous trees will be good additions.

Hurray for native plants!

Yard Work – July 2024

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The only yard work I do on a weekly basis is mow the grassy area; it is a good way for me to achieve my ‘intensity minutes’ of exercise for the week! I do some weed eating every other week. Everything else is more ad hoc…and as needed.

I ordered 25 orange daylily roots and got them planted around the base of our two red maples in the front yard. The ruff of these plants around my oak in Maryland looked good and made it easier to mow around the base of the tree without being too close to the trunk. The daylilies are better than mulch to keep the grass from growing too close to the tree trunks!

The Virginia creeper has covered the stones in the raised bed in front. I pull down any that tries to climb the brick and try to keep weeds from growing in the area (like poke weed). I do need to trim the boxwood (and remove the Virginia creeper growing into it.  

I have rounded most of the corners created by the fence by planting lambs ear…and I let low growing poke weed grow there too.

I mowed part of the area I didn’t mow in May back in June and left the thick clippings to mulch in place; much of the grass has died there and violets from the flower bed are spilling into the yard. The larger leafed plant near the metal iris is a spikenard which is in the same area. About a foot of grass has been eliminated along this section of the flower bed. Over time I will use this strategy to reduce the grassy area of our yard.

A plant came up in a bare ‘hole’ in the turf in my back yard and I have been carefully mowing around it. It appears to be a small white aster and has been blooming for more than 4 weeks. I’ll eventually mow it, but it was a fun experiment to see what kind of plant it was.

I noticed a tall something in the flowerbed on the yard side of the stairs from our deck. It is a young redbud! I’ve decided to keep it…will trim the bush that is on one side of it and the ornamental grass that is on the other side.

My spider mum metal sculpture was visible from my office window when I first stuck it in the ground…but the branches of the pine are growing and getting lower around it. I have borrowed a pole saw from my daughter and will trim the lowest ones (it is impossible to get close enough to the trunk without using a pole saw!).

I am pleased with the progress I am making on the yard. My goals are to make it easier to maintain…more native plants…less grass…all while staying within the ‘rules’ of the neighborhood HOA.

Our Missouri Yard – July 2024

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The wildest part of my yard is the wildflower garden I planted last summer.

In front of the wildflowers are some pumpkin vines, lambs ear, and fragrant sumac. Behind the wildflowers there is a rose bush that has died back to the roots during both winters we’ve lived in the house but has come back each year to form a low bush…blooming small red roses.

That area is always a good place to do some macro photography with my iPhone 15 Pro Max. I’ve noticed that the native plants tend to harbor more insects although most of them are quite small. We’re missing the big butterflies in our yard too.

When I mow the grass, I stop to photograph anything I find of interest…like the shell of a robin’s egg (was it taken by predator or did the young hatched and the parent clear the nest?) and a plant that grows reliably by our mailbox.

There are frequently mushrooms that come up on the area where a tree was cut down (and the stump ground up) before we moved to the house. This month there were at least 2 different kinds.

One of our pine trees is not old enough to produce cones…but the other one is prolific and I wince when I run over a cone with the lawn mower (they probably cause the blade to get dull faster). The cones look good with green needles – or grass – around them!

I still have a few areas of the yard that I have not mowed this year. In one area – violets have escaped from the flower bed and spilled out into the unmowed area. I mowed some of no-mow May area and the clippings are slowing/stopping grass from growing there and the violets are moving there too! I am getting other ideas on how to extend the flowerbeds in a way that results in less need to use the weed-eater…and overall less lawn….that remains compliant with the Home Owners Association of our neighborhood.

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 29, 2024

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

The Electric Revolution of Gardening Tools is Here – Hurray! We’ve been completely transitioned to battery powered yard tools for a few years now. I wouldn’t be mowing my own yard without our electric mower. Our old gas-powered one was noisy and my throat got scratchy from the fumes. Now I think of mowing the yard as a challenging exercise rather than a negative impact on my hearing and lungs!

US Cities Ranked by Vehicle Miles Traveled – As I read the article, I wondered where Dallas/Fort Worth fit since they were not on the top 10 list. I went to the source cited in the article and found that Dallas/Fort Worth was 19th.  Other Texas cities are high too – San Antonio at 14, Houston at 18 and Austin at 22.

See Frida Kahlo in Her Element in a New York Show of Rare Photographs – There is a picture of her (and Diego) viewing a solar eclipse in 1932 (Detroit)!

The apple detectives hunting for lost varieties - Apple fanatics across the UK are now taking samples from very old apple trees in hopes of learning more about antique varieties, and perhaps making some surprising discoveries. That's because there are apples, documented in 19th-Century books like Robert Hogg and Robert Bull Graves' The Herefordshire Pomona, that have slipped through people's fingers.

In North Macedonia, an Ancient Lake Faces Modern Threats – Lake Ohrid - 19 miles long, nine miles wide and 945 feet deep, teeming with fish, snails, leeches, flatworms, phytoplankton, crustaceans, and more. Of the lake’s roughly 1,200 known native species, 212 of them are endemic, occurring nowhere else. It faces growing threats, including from overfishing, nutrient pollution, invasive species, booming tourism, unregulated building, official neglect, and perhaps the most inexorable challenge of all, global warming.

Rare White Bison Calf Born at Yellowstone National Park - Photographed on June 4, as a group of bison crossed a road with traffic stopped.

A supermarket trip may soon look different, thanks to electronic shelf labels - This month, Walmart became the latest retailer to announce it’s replacing the price stickers in its aisles with electronic shelf labels. The new labels allow employees to change prices as often as every ten seconds. They haven’t come to the Walmart near me yet…I’ll be looking for them every time I shop there.

A new way to measure aging and disease risk with the protein aggregation clock - Although there are other "clocks" to measure ageing and health, most of them are based on nucleic acids like DNA. A biological clock based on proteins could be a useful complement to these existing clocks, as proteins are among the most abundant molecules in cells and are crucial for all cellular functions. With the help of such a protein aggregation clock, scientists and doctors might move one step closer towards helping people age healthily and preventing age-related diseases.

Tiny beauty: how I make scientific art from behind the microscope – Great illustrations…worth scrolling through.

New metric for blood circulation in brain to better understand dementia - By accurately measuring how pulsatility is transmitted in the brain, researchers can better understand the underlying mechanism of brain conditions (including Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia) and potentially guide development of new treatments.

Macro Photography – June 2024

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My yard is full of subjects for macro photography this time of year.

The wildflower garden is in its second season and is very lush after the spring rains…both flowers and insects abound.

The area in our front yard that once hosted a large tree (before we moved here) now has mushrooms after almost every rain. It is surprising how quickly they can develop and then degrade to black goo.

One of the daylilies I planted last under the red maple is blooming this year. Hopefully the plant will propagate to surround the trunk. There are enough buds to appreciate this year from a photographic standpoint.

I’ve let the Virginia Creeper that came up in the front flowerbed cascade over the castle rocks. Mowing the lawn contains it once it is in the grass. I like the foliage now and it will look great in the fall when it turns red.

I’ve found several eggs in the grass and always try a photograph. This one was white. The cracks in the shell around the edges and inside appealed to me. The grass offers a sense of scale.

I took pictures of two small branches blown off by an overnight storm – making a macro image of the part that interested me the most.

The plant by the mailbox is full of buds. Another plant of the same type is near the house, but its buds always get eaten and there are holes in the leaves!

The two ‘hens’ that I bought last year at a farmers’ market have more and more chicks. There were only 3 chicks at the beginning of the season. I count more than 30 chicks in this image when I look at it on a bigger monitor!

I enjoy ‘filling the frame’ with magnified images from my yard!

Our Missouri Yard – June 2024

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I always enjoy a walk around our yard – particularly when the plants are changing so rapidly. Our two rose bushes died back almost to the roots – just as they did our first winter here – but they are blooming now. I enjoy the new reddish leaves and the buds/flowers. I keep thinking that one year I will just dig them out…but it won’t be this year.

The wildflower garden is different every time I look.

It is also the place that has the highest diversity of insects; it really proves the point that native plants are good for wildlife! I was taking a picture of one of the plants when I noticed what I thought was some kind of seed or debris….then realized there were bugs!

In the front yard, there are mushrooms again this year – where a tree was cut down and the stump ground up before we moved to the house. I photograph them before I mow! It’s another sign that our yard is doing well with our strategy of mulching grass and leaves into the yard and very little fertilizer (and no pest or weed killers).

I am including a picture of the holes I made the front flower bed….clearing rocks and cutting away landscaping fabric…to plant miniature pumpkin seeds.

I hope they come up soon. I have some in the back coming up. They did very well there last year, and I hope the ones in front will also do well. The vine was so robust with large green leaves that I thought it would look great covering some of the rocked expanse in the front flower bed….and a larger crop of miniature pumpkins would be good too.  

2nd Anniversary in our Missouri Home

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Today is our second anniversary in our Missouri home and I am thinking about what has changed relative to the house in that time. We still have some boxes in the storage areas of the house that we haven’t unpacked – a sure indication that we probably moved some items we didn’t need.

We’ve changed more in the yard than inside the house.

I planted a wildflower garden in the back and some hens and chicks in the front.

One of the pine trees in the backyard fell over last summer and I’ve planted some irises and native plants in the area where the stump was ground up after the tree was taken away; colorful stinkhorns are coming up in the mulch too!

We hired a crew to mow the yard the first summer, but I mowed it last summer and this summer too. The depression in the area where the previous owner took out a large tree in the front yard is obvious when I mow….and when mushrooms come up in the grass.

Both my husband and I are glad the yard had a sprinkler system – even though we haven’t needed it so far this season (we got 10 inches of rain in May!). This is our first house with a sprinkler system, so we have a company to check the system in the spring and fall.

We haven’t used the community pool or walked around the ponds as much as we thought we would…but I did enjoy walking patterns on the tennis courts in the snow last winter. The amenities of the neighborhood are greater than anywhere we’ve lived previously.

As far as the inside of the house….

I like my office in the basement (with windows on three sides) as much as I thought I would. The views were nice to begin with, but we’ve added bird feeders, a bird bath, spring bulbs, and some native plants. I also like having the mini-kitchen near my office. I’ve turned off the gas to the gas fireplace and put a magnet blanket over the opening; it leaked heat (from the pilot light) into my office in the summer and let in a cold draft in the winter. I like that my office area has its own heating/cooling.

We’ve only used the basement storm shelter once….but I am glad it is there. Fortunately, the storm did no damage in our neighborhood. Our challenge in using the shelter is getting our three cats (additions since we moved to the house) into crates and down there in time!

Both my husband and I have enjoyed the large shower – just as we anticipated. We still have not used the Jacuzzi tub!

The laundry chute has eliminated the need for hampers…and eliminated the need for carrying dirty laundry. We did put baby latches on the doors to the chute since the kittens were way too interested and dexterous at opening things; we added latches on the lower cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms for the same reason.

We discovered magnets strong enough to hold a wreath for our front door (it is metal) and added a Ring doorbell since the door did not have a peephole already installed.

The 3-car garage is a wonderful upgrade from our previous 2-car versions. We enjoy the room (and have not filled it up!).

Both my husband and I agree that this is the best house we’ve owned. It’s very satisfying to realize that we’ve thought the same thing every time we have moved!

Ten Little Celebrations – May 2024

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May 2024 was full of little celebrations…with near perfect temperatures and some big events.

3 pink irises - Most of the irises were fading by May but there were three still in good condition in a flower bed at the side of our house which can’t be seen (by us or our neighbors) except by walking around our house. I saw them when I was mowing and cut them to bring indoors.

Bleu Monkey - The first thing we did in Hot Springs was to have lunch. We picked a great place – tasty food and a huge drink (that my daughter did not finish)…but what made it celebratory was the interaction with the other patrons!

Garvan Woodland Gardens – My daughter and I both celebrated our experience at Garvan Woodland Gardens (via golf cart and on foot). I’m sure we’ll go again…maybe experience it in every season over the next few years.

Whirlpool bath at Buckstaff Bathhouse in Hot Springs – The Buckstaff Bathhouse is a way to celebrate history and the great feel hot springs.

Large birdbath – I moved a large glass birdbath from Maryland but didn’t set it up last year because I didn’t think the old stand was stable enough in our environment. I bought a new stand at Branson’s Butterfly Palace last fall and celebrated how great it looks set up near our bird feeders…and that I’ve seen birds coming to get a drink.

Mowing the whole yard in one day – Usually I mow my yard over 2 days…so I celebrate when I can do it one. It helped that May was cool…I probably won’t attempt it when the temperatures are higher.

A new family member - One of my nieces had a baby girl….always a celebratory event.

New glasses - I celebrated new plastic frames (rather than wire rims with pads as the bridge) that feel better on my narrow nose bridge.

Salmon salad – Salad made with canned salmon and celery (and other veggies) with chipotle mayonnaise (or other spicy dressing) has become one of my favorite lunches. I celebrated rediscovering a staple (canned salmon) that my mother always had in her pantry.

Aurora from our deck – My husband and I both celebrated that we managed to see and photograph the aurora from the deck of our house! It was very special.