Daughter’s April Yard

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I am enjoying my daughter’s yard through her occasional pictures and when I am at her house. Early in April, she sent me pictures of the plants in her garden by the driveway. She was uncertain if the second one (not blooming) was a weed or something they had planted.

The small red buckeye we had seen in her yard last summer was up and had one cluster of blooms.

Later in the month the young tree had grown more than a foot and had two bloom clusters. Hopefully the hummingbirds are finding the flowers.

The bloom stalks were visible in two yuccas. Penstemons, azaleas, clematis, and yellow wild indigo were already blooming.

Several plants in the shady part of the yard (including oak leaf hydrangea and American spikenard were looking good too.

Her house was built in the 50s so many of her trees are quite large – particularly an oak, a river birch, and an Eastern Hemlock. Her yard has more shade than mine…and she is slowly adding more natives to the mix of perennials in the few sunny places.  

Springfield ArtsFest

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The annual ArtsFest in Springfield MO was the first weekend in May. My daughter and I went on the Sunday morning. It was just us this year – our spouses deciding to do other things. The temperature was a little cool, but the sun was shining. We parked in the nearby MSU parking garage and then walked over to the festival.

One of my fellow master naturalists was volunteering at the entrance table! We walked down the street fair with booths lining the way. There were lots of earrings but I am not wearing them as much as I used to, so I didn’t browse them. Hats might be my new ‘souvenir’ purchase since I tend to wear more of them now; there weren’t any booths that had hats at the Artsfest!

I did find the stainless-steel yard art vendor– which I had purchased from twice before. I bought two iris sculptures this year. The new teal one gets a spotlight of sun in the afternoon near my white pine. I looked up the name of the company from the Artsfest list of vendors: Uniquely Yours Metal.

Afterwards we went out to lunch at a Mexican food restaurant. I enjoyed the mural in their entrance…colorful botanical.

Back at my daughter’s house, the clematis was blooming on her gate and we discovered a buckeye sapling that is coming up in a place she can leave it to grow!

Springfield Botanical Gardens – April 2024

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I made my second visit to the Springfield Botanical Gardens in late April when one of my sisters was visiting; my husband and I had gone to the Kite and Pinata Festival earlier in the month. The tulips had been in full bloom during the first visit. There were a few left in late April, but the irises and columbines were the big show. I noticed some native honeysuckle and clematis blooming as well. I made it a goal to make a walk around the gardens at least once a month until cold weather comes again next fall. There will always be something new to see.

My sister and I walked through the Mizumoto Japanese Stroll Garden after viewing the gardens close to the Botanical Center building. I used my Friends of the Garden membership in lieu of the admission fee. I made a small cairn on one of the posts near the rock garden…this time choosing the same type of stone for all three rocks.

The Japanese lanterns are always some of my favorite photographic subjects in the garden. I like the greenery around many of them. The pines are there all year round, but the grasses and yellow iris are only around during the warm months.

The yellow iris grow around the ponds – along with the bald cypress knees that always make the water’s edge look more interesting.

It was a good way to spend a couple of hours….enjoy the beautiful gardens and get in some steps for the day!