Yard Work – March 2023

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So much to do before it’s warm enough to plant into the new native plant garden in my front yard – that’s the April project. Now I am working on existing plantings. The Missouri evening primrose has come up in the small bed near the mailbox. There is a stone crop there too. I trimmed off the seed heads from last season so that the green at the base will show sooner. I try to leave the small twigs and leaves in the bed…reducing any bare  soil that might wash away during the spring rains.

I need to trim the boxwood, but I’ll wait a bit on that. The electric hedge trimmer will make fast work of that job. I got a little sidetracked while I was looking at it when I realized it was blooming…and had a lot of new leaves; it was a good opportunity for some macro photography.

In the back yard – the iris bed where we cut down a pine several years ago was full of stalks from goldenrods. I cleared them away and realized that some of the leaves are rounded instead of pointy like the irises; those are naked lady lilies and there are more of them than last year. The bed is not formal, and I am letting it develop with the idea that the America beautyberry will eventually be the tall plant.

The fragrant sumac that I planted the first fall that we owned the house is blooming! I noticed that there is Japanese honeysuckle (an invasive) in the bed. I have spent several mornings working on it and am at the stage of digging out some of the hubs of the vines. I’ll work to keep the plant in check (or eliminated) this summer.

In the area where the small red buckeye is unfolding its leaves, the debris from last season’s violets and leaves provides good mulch that does not overwhelm the small plant. As it gets larger, I’ll decide if I’ll just leave it with that groundcover or put wood chips around it. There will never be a lawn mower near it….but no bare soil either! way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Our Missouri Yard – February 2026

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I put on my river boots to walk around the yard as the snow melted last week. I was glad to see the recently cut stump of the Callery Pear looked like it was rotting; I’ll be continuing to cut it until it is dead; the stems have thorns! The horse nettle fruits from last fall are a bit of color in the flower bed. An oat leaf blown from our neighbor’s tree was a point of interest in a snowbank on the far side of our yard. The forsythia in the northwest corner of our yard is another project where the pruning chainsaw will be used.

The high point of my walk was seeing that my small Ozark Witch Hazel is blooming! This is the time of year for it to bloom, but I hadn’t noticed the blooms before since the young tree kept most of its leaves. I am hopeful that it will take over the southwest corner of my back yard but that might take a few years.

Bulbs are up on the east side of my house, and the metal sculpture is marking something I planted last year (and adding some color). The Hens and Chicks are still doing well in our rock garden. The snow formed hieroglyph type shapes as it melted.

The forecast is for temperatures warm enough this weekend that I might get out to do some winter yard work!

Ten Little Celebrations – August 2025

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August was hot…so some of the celebrations were indoors (with air-conditioning) this month!

Naked lady lilies. It was a pleasant surprise that I have three of these plants in my yard – blooming for the first time this August. But I celebrated them because they are a remnant of my mother’s garden from 2023 just before the house/garden was sold.

Spicebush caterpillars. Earlier this summer my young spicebush didn’t have caterpillars…but is does now. I celebrated that the swallowtails have found my plant to lay their eggs.

Beautyberry. While I was pulling grass and weeds in my yard, I discovered that the beautyberry I planted last fall has survived…and is blooming. Time to celebrate!

Dispelling Myths of Native Gardening webinar (from Grow Native!). I celebrated the timing of a panel discussion about native gardening (webinar)…and gleaned some ideas I will apply in the next few weeks as I create a new area of by front yard…with native plants.

Field trip at the Lake Springfield Boathouse gardens. Another well timed opportunity for learning how to better create my new native plant garden. It was hot…but I learned enough to make it all worthwhile.

Roston Native Butterfly House. Celebrating my favorite volunteer gig of the summer…every time I work a shift there.

Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge. The big cats are the draw, but I celebrated seeing a juvenile racoon and butterflies!

Two caves in one day – Cosmic Caverns and Onyx Cave. Celebrating caves…cooler than the outside temperature.

Dr. Megan Wolff’s webinar “Plastics and Public Health: the unsettling latest in medical research.” A different kind of celebration…it’s more like FINALLY someone had done a reasonable job to at articulating the rationale in one place about why our plastic creation must change dramatically. Here’s the link to the video. The bottom line is that we can’t “recycle” or “reuse” our way out of the mess.

Lawn mowing – getting it done. It’s been hot this month and I celebrate every time I finish mowing the yard…so glad that it is done for another week.

Yard Work – June 2025

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It’s the time of year when there is a lot to do in the yard. There is always something to see along the way….like an insect on one of lawn mower knobs. I am appreciating the new blades my husband installed on the mower.  It does not clog as easily when the grass is a little wet and the batteries seem to last longer too.

With my husband’s surgery in May, we got a little behind on edging and weed eating. When he was recovered enough to do the edging, he went out to check the situation and someone in the neighborhood had already done it! They also did some weed eating which was not as appreciated since they cut some daylilies and my Missouri evening primrose too. There was a smashed bird nest/egg nearby as well (although that could have been from another cause). I put some bricks around the cut primrose and later pulled most of the grass growing around it. I posted a thank you with a proviso about the evening primrose and day lilies on the neighborhood’s Facebook page since I have no idea who did it.

We have hackberries coming up everywhere….planted by birds. There is a large hackberry near the neighborhood pond – probably the parent. I am cutting them at this point but might leave one if it comes up in a place that it could grow to be a tree. Poke weed and Virginia Creeper are other natives that are prolific in the yard…..sometimes a little overwhelming and I usually leave them – particularly in the back yard. Poison ivy is something I always try to pull as soon as I find.


A hedge parsley came up in one of my flower beds…and it was pulled since it is not native to North America and tends to spread. I do the same with tree and Asian honeysuckle. A forsythia (also non-native) has been an ongoing project in my back yard. I am gradually cutting it down and will eventually paint the cut stubs with herbicide to kill it. I would rather have a native bush there. In the meantime, the results of my pruning are making a higher pile on my deck….drying out now and will be burned in the fall in my chimenea.

I planted a pot of flowers and veggies and a white oak seedling in late May. The zinnias are beginning to bloom! I won’t do it long term since it must be watered frequently….not something I want to do! I’ll have to decide where to put the white oak.

Other than my mower - my pruners, water bottle and gauntlet gloves are my primary tools. I’ve purchased some summer weight sunblock shirts and wear a hat, so I don’t need sunscreen except on my face!

PT on my Own – month 2

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I am in my second month of continuing my physical therapy exercises without the rigor of twice weekly appointments. I’ve become somewhat inconsistent – and am determined to get back to a better routine. My biggest challenge seems to be the aspects of my everyday life that have me sitting for too long: road trips, in front of my computer, meetings and classes. Toward the end of the day, I realize I haven’t done enough of the exercises to improve…and maybe not even enough to maintain. And then I have a round of aches at night…poor sleep…a bad cycle begins.

I have been more consistent in getting at least 8,000 steps per day and that is helpful but does not work on all the muscles that need to be stretched and improved.

I’ve started a seated twist exercise that seem to be helping relieve lower back pain very quickly. It is easy to do when I am out and about.

I bought some slats for under the mattress of the twin bed I use for back exercises…to make it firmer. Now I need to open the box and get them in place!

It helps that the weather is warmer, and I hope in the next month to be outdoors more frequently doing yard work which will test how well the physical therapy exercises are keeping my lower back pain at bay.

Previous Physical Therapy posts