I am northwest of Springfield. We have two adult children and four grandchildren.

We live on a farm. We have beef cattle. I love gardening, both flowers and edibles. Hobbies are reading, cooking (especially breads), and knitting and crocheting. We watch the birds in winter and feed them. I love taking pictures of them and the gardens. I guess you could say digital photography is another hobby.

We have 6 cats and l dog. One of the cats is an indoor/outdoor cat.

Glenda

Hi, Ladycraft.
I'm married, live on a farm outside Willow Springs. I have 3 Daughters, 1 Son, 8 Grandchildren, and, at last count,about 15 Great-grandchildren.
Sure miss having Dogs, but now, just 2 cats-(and--we dont even like cats!) 2 Horses, and about 30 chickens.
Love all gardening, have addictions to some--LOL. Love to read, and this is perfect weather for it.

My wife (of thirtytwo years) and I live in SW Springfield Mo. We started our garden, ALTA BIRDSONG, about ten years ago. It's a shade garden covered by hedge trees, walnut, maples, and a 125 year old elm. Our favorite plants are hosta, japanese maple, and clematis. I post on the hosta forum quite often. Photographing ALTA BIRDSONG has become a passion.

Hi, I live in McDonald County, SW Missouri. My shopping towns are Neosho and Joplin. I am a single, retired woman with about 30 acres. I have no (human) children. I have three dogs and two outdoor cats all abandoned by foolish people who didn't realize their worth. I like ornamental plants, but I grow a salad vegetable garden. I like to grow lettuce, green onions, basil, cilantro, cucumbers, and tomatoes. I am trying to grow asparagus but not having very much success. I often visit the Web City farmer's market for fresh corn and other goodies.

Hi -- I live in south Joplin, Mo. I'm a retired Property & Casualty insurance agent. My parents built and planted where I live now. It was a salt mine then and I haven't helped at all, adding raised beds and a compost pile. My husband passed and I live here with my beautiful Katy, 3 year old yellow lab and an ancient house cat, Jade. Katy lives in the house as well.
I'm really loving growing flowers and vegetables. There is a greenhouse on the property so I garden all year long, it seems, but I don't often get tired of it.
I have learned a lot from everyone. So glad to have you join us, Ladycraft.
Sunny

I live a few miles west of Springfield. We have 10 acres, most in hay and have lived here for 20 years. The part we mow for our yard may be getting close to 2 acres now. It keeps creeping back.
We have 4 kids. Our oldest daughter got married about a year ago and the other three still live at home.
Part of our back yard is fenced where our 3 dogs stay most of the time and we have one housecat.
I like gardening for hummingbirds, butterflies, and other wildlife and planting edibles.

I live around Heber Springs, AR with my husband of 28 years, 2 Maltese and a brand new leftover kitten that somebody graced us with by throwing her out. We have A grown son and a granddaughter in high school.

I enjoy quilting, sewing, photographing my flowers and the few herbs I have along with tomatoes and green onions. I'm hoping to add more herbs and a salad garden this year.

Welcome to the Ozarks!

Nancy

This is fun. I will make a list until I get to know everyone. I hope the others join the list. I was not clear what the Ozark Region included. I wouldn't think there would be boundaries but helps as I assume everyone is in my area and that isn't necessarily true. Kathy

Hi, I live in Tahlequah, OK. My DH and I live in town on 1/2 acre. We have one dog and one cat, and then 8 ferals that we take care of. All have been fixed. Hopefully, no one else will dump anymore cats here.

I spent the last 3 years landscaping the yard while my husband has been remodeling the house. At lesat the yard is done. No more carrying heavy rocks for borders, no more rototilling, no more digging large holes, hopefully.

I have been trying to plant things for the birds, but haven't gotten far with that. I have a lot of herbs and knock out roses, which I do not like outside of the fact that they are easy and cover the foundation. In back in have a shade garden, that will remain so if the ice storms don't quit killing our trees. I am hoping someday it will look like the photo far above this post.

I love photography, reading,decorating, shopping, and some crafts.

Hi, I'm an oldtimer. I grew up in ARK than lived across the US and Turkey. MY DH and i retired up here on a mountain in the National Forest. DH passed away a couple years ago and now i live alone, Well not really alone. I have 2 dogs,a chihuahua mix rescue and a blueheeler-hound mix rescue.and a black angora mix black cat. I have squirrels,possums,birds,deer and bear for neighbors.I don't recognise snakes for neighbors.LOL i Also have my DD as a neighbor.

I have a few health problems. and am somewhat handicapped, but i still get things done slowly.I mostly grow daylillies in containers but also have spring flowers and last year my SIL broke up a small plot for me and i grew some very precious tomatoes.
I like to read,crochet,visit live european city and country websites,arts and craft work.stargazing.

I'm in Oklahoma too, near Stilwell, but visit this forum as well as the Oklahoma one, as my climate and topography is more like Ozarks than Plains.

My DH and I live on 15 country acres. Have lived in Ok for all our 41 years of married life. Have four children all married and 3 lovely granddaughters ages 8, 11,and 14. Have 2 outside dogs. Raise chickens in the spring and fall just to butcher. We have a quite large vegetable garden and a few fruit trees. And next year this time after DH retires we plan to have a greenhouse, a longtime dream.

Today though I am planting salad greens, lettuce, spinach, mustard, on the warm bench on the glassed porch. It will be six weeks before I need it to start the spring peas and broccoli, so might as well make use of it.

Dorothy

Hello all, I live in town, in Joplin.
I have 5 grown children. an 5.5 grandchildren. lol
We are to have the 6th one here in may.
I love flowers. almost all types. Really love tropical plants. I have started palms an banana's this year. I started a raised bed for veggies this past summer. It was the first time growing veggies in a very long time. I have learned a few things from my mistakes an a lot of things from all the wonderful advice here.
I really like winter sowing. I had over one hundred plants to set out last spring. So I plan on doing that again this year.
I like to bake an read as well as play w/my grandchildren. I used to enjoy sewing. That is something that is put to the back burner now.
I'm like most of the others. I have to do most everything myself. so it is a slow an steady pace sometimes. But I do see results : )
Bonnie

Hello I lurk here. Southwest Missouri is where I grew up. I stop by to see what my sister and her animals are up to. I am married, working and hope to retire soon. We live in the city but have a 1/2 acre lot. I like to plant in big pots to out smart thirsty tree roots. I haven't grown many vegetables and will do more this coming year. I like cottage gardens and want to mix vegetables in with the flowers. DH likes to garden too but he's a tree and shrub man which is a perfect setting for my pots of flowers. I also like a bit of whimsy. I buy metal suns, fancy fire screens, a lot of metal chickens and DH welds them into trellises or welds a stack on them to stick in the ground.
My present favorites are the metal arching cat that I painted pink with brown strips and the sun trellis I put out front. Our dog is as old as we are in dog years and leaves the landscape along. I feed birds and plant for the hummingbirds too. I never post but search often for tip. I like to pick out a few plants to learn about each year. Last year it was caladiums and coleus. This year I want to start plants form seeds and learn to use a heat matt and my greenhouse to do that. So far I have used the greenhouse to fry plants in the summer and freeze them in the winter. But, what's the point, I can do that with out the aid of a greenhouse lol! I think I always strive to create that Ozark lush in my dry climate.

peggy, welcome! Please keep posting along with the lurking.

I would love to see pictures of your garden objects. Helen has some wonderful ones too. My garden is totally devoid of that kind of thing and I do appreciate seeing them in others gardens.

I raise almost everything from seeds on the back porch under grow and fluorescent lights. If they need bottom heat to germinate, I carefully place the flat on the top of the light fixtures. Works for me.

At least I don't have to have supplementary heat. I still envy you the greenhouse though! I think they would be very useful from about March on to summer.

glenda

Thanks for having me. I will post some pictures eventually. I got a new phone at work and it has a camera. I can directly e-mail my pictures from the phone. It is so much fun waking around the garden and e-mailing myself pictures. Yes, helenh has some great stuff. I really like her summer lady and the big sunflowers. I look for objects that I think are fun and mess around with them until I am satisfied. I have a lot of nerve and will try most anything. The neighbors are very obliging. I had toilets in the front yard for a couple of weeks with flowers in them one summer. I didn't get any complaints, it was amazing. The dumpster finally was delivered and we started the remodel. Roosevelt said " A chicken in every pot" Peggiewho has a metal chicken for every flower pot. It's getting a little crowded.
The greenhouse was DH's impulse. He put it up and so I went to the garden web to read about greenhouses. We were horrified to find out that many blow down. One panel gets blown out, the wind gets in and it all falls down. Thanks to others that will post about their misfortune, we reinforced it and we made it through some windy storms. You envy my greenhouse, I envy your experience.

Thanks everybody, This helps this old lady! I'm one of those people that needs to write things down and then I can remember. Kathy

Hi, I'm Ilene and I live in Dewey, OK, just 20 miles south of the KS/OK border. I mostly lurk here and post on the Oklahoma Gardening site, but most of the time I think the Ozarks weather is more like mine so I'm thinking about coming here more often.

I live with my husband of over 40 years, and my 20-YO grandson, whom we raised. We are retired. We live in town, and I have converted my back yard into garden, also part of my front yard. Other than gardening, I enjoy quilting and puttering around in my kitchen. I write a blog, which has been taking up quite a bit of my time lately. The URL is on my member page if anybody's interested.

We have a dog, Sonny, and the neighbor's siamese cat has been trying to adopt me for the last three years. I had to put my Maine Coon Cat mix, Pearl, to sleep about a year ago and I do miss her, so the siamese is having some success.

I plant my plants in lots of different ways as I'm sure most others do. I do a little wintersowing, plant some things under lights and direct sow other things. Last year I had the greatest success with cabbage. We had an unusual spring in which the beans and onions didn't do well at all. I usually grow enough to keep us in veggies all through the winter. I dehydrate some things, can or freeze others. Made sauerkraut for the first time in a long time last summer. Really enjoying that now.

I think the idea of introductions every now and then is a nice idea.

Welcome Ilene we would love to have your input on this forum. I wish I had a good neighbor to watch my cats when I go on vacation. They hide when anyone comes.

Welcome Ilene. Glad to see you posting here.

I have been visiting her Blog since I discovered it and am enjoying it and her very much.

I think you may be right about our weather being similar. I see you are zone 6, so am I.

Glenda

Welcome Ilene! Glad you joined in. : )

Hello, I'm Kat and my honey of 37 years and I live in Bentonville, in NWARK. We have a steeply sloped down into a ravine town lot half a mile or so from Walmart's offices.
We have 3 grown children, 2 grandsons we hardly get to see as they live so far away, 2 sons in the area we hardly see as they are so busy like us.
Not retired, nor likely too.
Hard to garden a tiny town steeply sloped yard, but we try.

Welcome kadasuki. I would love to see your small garden and hear about your projects. I was at the battlefield in Pea Ridge Saturday. My friend thought I might get hard time for rock snatching and I didn't but I coveted them.

Hi,

I'm Carrie. I am a 39 YO law student living in Columbia, Mo. I am finishing up my last semester, will stay most of the summer, then take the bar exam.

I live in on one side of a rented duplex with my hubs, two dogs and two cats. I have carved out a nice little sunny spot at the back of our drive for a container garden, which will have various veggies and such this spring and summer. My goal is to have nothing that I cannot pick up and move when we leave in August. So, I am especially keen to pick up container growing tips, as all of my previous gardening projects have been square-foot/raised bed types.

I'll be in Waynesville, Mo. after that (which is near Fort Leonard Wood), joining my family's law firm.

About eight months before law school, I completed the Mo. Master Gardener course, but did not finish my volunteer hours before school started. I really hope to get back to that once I get back into a "real" life.

I look forward to reading more posts in this and other forums, and hopefully getting to know some neat other gardening folks in our region . . .

Welcome Carrie. I am glad you found us. Every one here loves plants and it sounds you will fit in. We also spoil our animals. It is fun to grow in containers because you don't have to dig a hole and you can finish your project in an afternoon.

I am sorry I missed the newbies posting. Welcome Carrie and kadasuki.

Carrie, my husband drove between Springfield and Ft. Wood for a few years before he retired. He managed the laundry on the fort when it was contracted outside and the company he worked for won the contract. August will be here before you know it and you will be home. How nice that you have a job waiting for you! Good luck with the bar exam.

I can't advise you much about gardening in pots, but I doubt it is much different than in the ground except you have to water more. I did grow carrots in a half barrel last year with purple petunias around the edges. It was very pretty. The carrots didn't get very big, but were perfectly straight because the soil was so soft and had no rocks. I may not have added enough pelleted fertilizer. I will be doing it again this year.

Kadasuki, I have been to Bentonville too so am slightly familiar with your area. I would say gardening on the sloped area is a challenge but on other forums, I know lots are doing that.Just remember the terrace gardens in China!

It is interesting and FUN to know where everyone is from and hear about your lives. I've done a little container gardening. What soil we have here is not good. It is nice to be able to move the containers around. I have gotten into making hyperturfa pots so that makes it more fun.

Welcome Carrie! Waynesville is a pretty area - I grew a small climbing melon called Sakata's Sweet in a container last summer and it did ok except a groundhog or something ate most of the melons before I could get them. I've decided I need to grow melon's that are too big for the varmints to carry off. Good luck with your gardening and your bar exam.

Well, thanks to you all for the warm welcome. I look forward to letting you know how my little garden grows, and to hearing about yours!

I may have jumped the gun, given the wintry weather outside, but I already have cauliflower, cabbage and broccoli started, and I am playing with some saved catnip seeds (three years old).

Here's to more to come as spring approaches!

Hi, my name is Karen and some people call me Ann. I use to visit the site a couple years ago and had the username bunny6. To make a long story short...I got divorce. After that, I had no computer until lately. I am getting remarried and have relocated to Sherwood. I know it is not in the Ozark area, but I enjoy all of your posts. I have been growing my plants in containers, because I live in a duplex.

Good for you Bunny. I am glad you are back. I hoped nothing was wrong when you went missing. You said your computer needed to be replaced, so I thought maybe it was just computer problems. Congratulations in advance on your marriage.

Congrats on your new start Karen! I'm not sure how far south the Ozarks region goes but I know we've had forum members from central Arkansas and even further south. I hope you stick around and join in often.

Karen, welcome back. Congratulations on the new marriage.

Glenda

Well, I don't know if I'm in the Ozarks really but I like this site. I'm about 80 miles south of St. Louis. Been married 28 years with 2 grown children and 6 grandchildren. I started wintersowing a couple of years ago (although I haven't done any this year) and have a large flower garden. Hope to make a couple of raised beds for vegetables this year. We have a shizu/chihauhau mix and a tortie cat. I teach high school learning disabilities. Great to see all the new people.

Hi Karen - I'm a duplex container gardener, too. Congrats on the upcoming tying of the knot!

Hi Proudgm - I have hiked around the area south of STL - the Ozark Trail, Johnson Shut-Ins, Taum-Sauk "Mountain" . . . very pretty country, and the streams are beautiful, too.

I forgot to say that I would love to see pics of everyone's yard art or what they have in their yards. I am always looking for new ideas.

Thanks everyone! Carrie, it's nice to know that I am not the only duplex, container gardener. Hope to have my own home again in a couple of years. I love looking at everyones' plants, garden, etc... Thank you for welcoming me.
Karen

Hi Proudgm - Wish you would post more often here. If I remember right, you had a very long list of things you were winter sowing. We want to hear what has done well in our hot summers. Be sure to post some spring flower photos (if spring ever gets here).

When things start blooming I'll post pics. I haven't done any winter sowing this year. I just can't get in the mood. Which is probably a good thing as I need to take the year to clean out the garden and see what room I still have and decide what I just can't live without. I'll be around more on this forum. I like it.

We'll hold you to it Proudgm. I haven't done any winter sowing either but I don't think I have anything that needs to be cold stratified anyway so no hurry.

One of my favorite ornamentals for a container is sweet potato vine. The ones with lime colored leaves seem to be faster growers for me. They're very easy to root so you only need to get one.

Hi All,
I am a newbie.I have a great interest in the interior designing field so i am searching about the information about this field.Hope i will get information regarding this.

Hi, Kathy! What a good idea, to have everyone introduce themselves! It was so nice to meet you! Everyone at the garden club party last week commented on the wonderful concrete leaves you gave me!

I live in Joplin, in the midst of an acre of woodsy garden, in a stone cottage that was built in the l950s. I am an artist, and I worked at a local garden center for many years. (Still do, part time, in fact.) After that, I owned Isadora's Wonderful Things bead store in Joplin before I retired 4 years ago. My husband, Jim and I have an extensive garden of perennials, trees and shrubs. Hostas are our current passion and we have some 500+ in our woodland garden. You can come and visit at my blog, below. And if you are in Joplin, please feel free to come by for a visit and a tour of the garden. We love to share it! Nice to meet you all!

Sandy

Here is a link that might be useful: Welcome to Chaos

Hi everyone. I'm a retired potter living on our 3 acres in downtown Mountain Home, AR. I taught for eight years at the University of Oregon and Savannah College of Art & Design before my husband and I moved to the Ozarks. We collectively have 4 grown children and 3 grandchildren. Besides pottery, I dabble in doll making... sculpted old faces and hands kind of thing, sewing, cooking... especially putting up food. I've been a passionate gardener all my life... mostly veggies. These days I'm doing the veggies but am moving into flowers and shrubs. I got carried away last fall after Helen talked about her pond. I HAD to build one. :-) I'm having fun planting the pond and veggie filter this spring. I'm not having fun with all this rain... 14" in my rain gauge in one week! Glub, glub...

Bunny6, Karen I still have the lilies you gave me. They are in a big pot and come up every year. I wonder where Bonnie is. She used to post regularly so it is strange not to hear from her. I am hoping it is just computer problems.

I live in Springfield and have lived in the Ozarks my whole life. Two children 20 & 25 away now in college. Gardening has been one of my empty nester hobbies that I've really come to enjoy. My other favorite hobby is dog training and competing with my 2 little dogs in agility and rally. I've mostly been doing flowers and landscaping type gradening but this year am putting out a tiny vegetable garden too. Hoping for some good homegrown tomatoes and cucumbers!

Watch Glenda and Ceresone they will have you planting vegetables in no time. I used to be a flower person too and now I am overrun by tomatoes. Ceresone and William did that and Glenda has me planting beans.