Taking the spring cleaning outdoors

Wow, I'm still tired from hours spent working in our Ozarks gardens.

It was time to move the nesting instinct closer to where nests usually are--outside.

Our toil involved raking, leaf blowing, burning, digging, mulching, weeding, cleaning, planting, mowing, and lots of other things.

 Pictured here, was our biggest accomplishment. At left, my husband John is trying to coax down a branch that had fallen during the ice storm in January, 2009. For the past three years, the huge branch that had broken off has just been hanging there teasing us into trying to pull it down. Unfortunately, all our attempts only succeeded in wedging it more tightly into the fork of two branches. Last winter, we decided to just wait until Mother Nature took care of it, finishing the job she started three years ago.

Piece by piece, the old branch weakened. Pieces of it would fall here and there--until this week. With a little coaxing, we are finally rid that old oak tree of this hideous reminder of that horrible storm when the power was out for five days and so many trees were damaged, not just on our property but in the whole southern portion of the country. Arkansas was hit hard; so were Missouri and Kentucky.

I'm so happy the thing is finally gone!

One of our other accomplishments was rejuvenating the magnolia garden next to the porch, so named by its most prominent occupant.

It may not look like much, but getting this garden back into shape is always  a chore! When we created the garden, we got rid of as much Bermuda grass as we could. We pulled, tilled, burned and mulched. It was like a never-ending task to keep this garden weeded. But this year, after our seven-plus inches of rain, the weeding was fairly easy. The soil amendments we have been adding for years seems to have finally paid off too. We now have a nice little bed in which to plant more perennials and perhaps a few herbs. A few are coming back from previous plantings.

John cleaned the barrel and got the pump running in the little water feature on the left. It is always nice to hear water run while while sitting on my wicker rocker and sipping iced tea. In the late afternoon, while taking one of my many and final breaks, I watched a frog hop all the way from near the road to the garden to claim his place. Last night I heard him croaking, so he is apparently doing a little spring nesting of his own.

I brought most my house plants outdoors for the season. My aged spider plant is visible in the above picture. We moved Lady Spider here with us eight years ago. She sits on the rusty old milk can next to the house in the shade garden alongside the house. She seems perfectly happy there. That is probably because there are no cats lying in her pot or eating her leaves. For some reason, the cats just love to nibble on her leaves.

Another chore that we undertook was the decision
to turn an overgrown garden area near the road into a wildflower garden. We had only briefly touched this area. It is just a bit too far to reach with the hose. Note to self: We will need to work on that. There are two peonies, a clump of irises and a few daffodils that were planted by previous owners of the property. We may move the peonies, but the rest can stay.

Part of that project involved one of my favorite springtime chores--burning leaves and brush. The before and after pictures show the world of difference.

Fire is exciting, but very scary. During my days as a journalist, I followed too many fire trucks to grass and field fires to ever take fire for granted. I certainly didn't want to cause an innocent burn to get out of control. I'm very cognizant of what can happen.

Needless to say, that was a pretty hard days work for a couch potato like me. I spent yesterday recuperating--deciding to work on my quilt instead of venturing out into the great pollen-filled outdoors.

There is still lots to of work left to do. In fact, I think it is never ending. It is such good work though. Gardens is so satisfying. Just one of the rewards came that very afternoon. At about the same time I watched the frog claim its place, I also watched this butterfly sipping the nectar of these lilacs.

After it was all over, I wondered if there could be anything more refreshing than a hot shower and a good night's sleep to end our beautiful day in the Ozarks.

Plenty of rain gives way to beautiful spring

The older this plant gets the more flowers it
has. I look forward to these
sweet-scented lilacs every year.

It finally rained--the kind of rain that is memorable--more than seven inches. We needed it! I absolutely loved watching the rain.

I'm grateful that predicted severe storms didn't materialize. I'm slightly terrified of what Mother Nature can do and has done all around us over the past several years. We aren't that far from Branson, which was hit on Leap Day this year by a powerful, destructive tornado. Gassville which was hit a few years ago is woefully close by--in the same county. So, I feel fortunate.

This recent rain event was nothing like that. In fact, while there are some dock owners on the lake that aren't happy around here, I saw our rain as nothing but positive.

Since spring had already commenced, Mother Nature's magic nectar has transformed our landscape into almost a terrarium.

I had planted a few things in the garden, but just a few. After all, it is only mid-March and I don't want to face plant death from a freak frost. So, I kept it to a few things that I could cover if need be. I plan to sow more seeds this weekend. There is time to take it slow.

The only possible negative I can see from the vast quantity of rain we received is that the flowering of the early trees and shrubs was accelerated. The forsythia and redbuds no sooner got their flowers open when they fell off and sprouted leaves. To tell the truth though, that was enough flower for me because I really live for those beautiful spring-green leaves. To me, they are as beautiful as the flowers.

That quick flowering cycle of the early trees and shrubs is about to give way to the soon-to-be flowering of azaleas, lilacs, mid to late-blooming tulips and irises. It is all fine with me. To me, spring is like magic.

Riding the weather roller coaster

This was the scene on Jan. 29th at Lake Norfork in north central Arkansas.

Everywhere you looked, people were outside, enjoying the first warm days that followed a cold and snowy winter.


The sky was as blue as the crystal clear water of the lake that beckoned boaters anxious to take advantage of the 70º weather. We even saw a girl wearing a bathing suit, as she sat on the sand near the water's edge. It was one of those late winter days that was certainly a sign of things to come. 

We just didn't know what exactly was coming.

After such a beautiful weekend, who could have predicted this would be the scene, just six days later, on the Friday night of Feb. 4. It was a beautiful sight as the snow gently fell.

In reality, it was predicted by local meteorologists. So, my husband and I were prepared. 


The beauty snow was breathtaking. There was wood to burn in the stove, the refrigerator was stocked up and   set out to simply enjoy the view.

Much to our surprise, we woke up on the morning of Feb. 9 to our third snowfall of the season. This one was more beautiful than the previous one. 

Interestingly, it crippled the states of Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma with record-breaking snow totals. And then came the record-breaking cold snap. Some temperatures reached well below the zero mark, making for transportation headaches and all the  ills.

At our house, we received just shy of a foot of snow. 

It was so beautiful. It began in the early morning hours and snowed all day. It was so lovely to look out the window. 

Again, this was predicted, so we were ready for it. Being retired, there was no place we had to be, except in our warm, cozy home, enjoying the beautiful wintry scene.

The temperatures are predicted to reach 60º again by Monday. 

I love the weather in the Ozarks. It certainly has been a roller coaster ride. There are 38 more days until the official start of Spring--a day worth waiting for. I can't help but wonder what Mother Nature has in store for us in those last gasps of winter.