My Ozark Mountain GardenWhen Jack and I married, our first house was duplex on a college campus--basic student housing. If those little houses were there today, they would be considered historic structures. The white wooden buildings were part of the Rohwer Japanese Internment during World War II. When we lived in them, they were a row of little one-story apartments just off to the east of the football stadium. An easy walk to campus. Our first spring there, Jack borrowed a shovel and dug up a little piece of ground just under the living room window for my first flowerbed--pink petunias. It was the beginning of a series of flowerbeds that have multiplied each time we have moved.
Today, Jack is still digging flowerbeds. The little borrowed shovel has turned into a new Kabota tractor--his pride and joy. Mine too! We can now move dirt, logs, rocks of all sizes, and anything else that isn't attached to the mountain.
When we first saw our 65 acres with the remains of a burned down house with an old fence surrounding the backyard, I had no idea of the joys that were in store for me! This yard was once a barnyard, and the soil is so rich that I usually don't have to add more nutrients. And rocks! They are mine for the taking! I have outlined beds, laid walking paths and patios, built stonewalls and steps, and have the beginnings of a water garden with a waterfall and fishpond. Only time and my aching back keep me from going crazy!
I love to share my garden with our guests. Most of my plants have come from friends and family, and many guests and friends leave with a seed packet of hollyhocks, Angel Trumpets, or Mexican Hats, or a clump of whatever is blooming at the time. Most of the flowers in my garden are "pass-alongs". And, so I continue the practice. I also have plants that I brought from my yard in Hamburg that have special family ties such as the dark pink phlox that grows by my fence just as I remember it growing near the fence in my grandmother's backyard when I was a little girl. It's roots are from those old, original plants. Also, the day lilies from Jack's mother yard, and the pink old-fashioned rose I call "Aunt Marie's Rose" have a special place in the garden.
Today, if you were to visit Mountain Springs, you could probably take home a clump of Butter and Eggs, a vigorous little yellow snapdragon-like flower that blooms from early spring to frost, and spreads like wildfire! Soon, I will be collecting seeds from Coreopsis, Blanket Flower, fever few, and hollyhocks. We have a sack of daisy seeds already. Along with these flowers, the hummers and butterflies and bees are really enjoying the lavender, oregano, garden phlox, butterfly weed, and butterfly bush blooms. The wildflower seeds that I sowed several years ago make a wonderful "natural" area outside the fence. The seeds are collected every year and planted each spring. And, outstanding this year, are my "Candy Stripe" zinnias. I have never had such a wonderful "crop" of zinnias, though I never miss growing them somewhere in the garden, this year they are something to brag about!
I hope you will check in occasionally for updates on what is growing in my garden. I love to walk around the yard and talk about my plants and flowers. We might even get our hands dirty!
Just living is not enough..
One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.
Hans Christian Anderson
