Flowering trees are important because they add beauty and seasonal interest to the landscape according to Patrick Byers, horticulture specialist, University of Missouri Extension.
“In the landscape, flowering trees are secondary in importance to shade trees that provide framing, shade and background. However, flowering trees do provide interest that few shade trees can match,” said Byers.
Varied intensity
The flowering tree bloom intensity and color may vary each year. That is why Byers frequently gets asked about what factors may influence a tree’s bloom performance.
“One of the biggest factors is the growing season the previous year. Flower buds are formed and set during the past summer growing season. Weather conditions or drought play a significant role on bloom intensity next spring,” said Byers.
Harsh winter
by Marilyn Odneal, Horticulture Adviser
I am going looking forward to checking out the tulip display at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis. I love tulips but find that they are not as easy to grow as daffodils in my garden. First of all, critters like to eat the bulbs. There are also some tulips that perennialize (come back every year) better than others. The tulips that form fewer, larger bulblets rather than many, smaller
Talk about being all dressed up with nowhere to go. Too many Missouri gardeners are watching spring days slip away because of cool, wet weather which has delayed the gardening season well past the frost-free date.
Gardeners may be eager to put spade to soil, but they need to wait.
“Avoid the temptation to work the soil when it’s wet because it’s one of the worst things you can do to your soil,” said David Trinklein, horticulture specialist for University of Missouri Extension.
As
What started out a couple of years ago as just an idea on how to include Wounded Veterans in their favorite sport – hunting – has blossomed into a successful and fun operation for members of the former Horse Creek Hunt Club. Now called KAMO Adventures they are partnered with the Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes. Mike Meyer is the vice president of programs from Salute America’s Heroes.
Bass Pro furnished hunting supplies and clothing.
Grandma’s Restaurant, Osiris, furnished chicken dinners for the both Friday nights.
Last year on the first weekend of May, it was so hot you couldn’t stand to hunt turkeys in a long sleeved shirt. Must have been 90 degrees or more. This year on the first weekend of May, it snows almost three inches up here on Lightnin’ Ridge.
It melted quickly and there’s mud and water everywhere, but before it left us, I got some unusual photos of mushrooms sticking up out of the snow here at my place and bright orange orioles feeding at a snow-encrusted feeder.
In spite of all the obstacles like downpours throughout the Spring Shotgun Turkey Season and near blizzard conditions in May, Missouri turkey hunters managed to harvest a respectable 42,220 birds in the just completed season. That is an increase of 1,773, or 4 percent, from 2012. The 2013 total included 33,917 adult gobblers, 624 bearded hens and 7,679 juvenile gobblers (or jakes).
This year’s spring turkey season was the safest on record, with only one firearms-related hunting incident reported. That incident was nonfatal and occurred during the regular season.
Kansas City’s downtown hosts peregrine falcons that can dive at more than 200 mph when full grown. But their new generations start life as fragile chicks pecking out of an egg in a nest on a ledge near the top of the 30-story Commerce Tower. Now, the drama of life renewing in a falcon nest amid the skyscrapers can be watched live on streaming video via the web at http://mdc.mo.gov/node/21769.
The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) is providing the falcon watch
You might call this the big bird show for Dick and Jane Petri, ardent backyard wildlife watchers. Barred owls are raising at least two chicks in a nest that is mere yards from their deck. The owls don’t seem to mind onlookers, and the Petri’s find their gaze often trained on the nest high in a hollow dead limb on a large cottonwood tree.
One evening they watched the male and female owl chase marauding crows away from the nest.
by Marilyn Odneal, Horticulture Adviser
Flowering dogwood, Cornus florida, is definitely one of the delights of spring. We all enjoy the big and beautiful blooms brightening up our native woodlands at this time of year. Botanists will remind us that the lovely flower petals are actually bracts or modified leaves and the actual flower in really the center of the bracts.
The flowering dogwood grows 15-30 feet tall and wide, and can be grown as a single or multi-trunk tree. The fruit
Missouri has been named the “Best Trails State” by American Trails, a national, nonprofit organization working on behalf of the nation’s hiking, biking and riding trails. The award was announced today at the International Trails Symposium in Arizona. The national award is presented every two years to the state that has made tremendous contributions to promote and improve their trails system.
“Missouri has an outstanding system of trails that can accommodate a wide variety of activities ranging from a short walk to a hike through the wilderness,” said Gov. Jay Nixon. “This