Hillbilly Garden Club of Springfield MO

06/11/2026

06/08/2026

You don't need a single leaf to name a tree. The bark tells you everything.

The shagbark hickory is the easiest — long plates curling away from the trunk at both ends. The shaggiest bark in the eastern forest. You can't confuse it with anything.

The sycamore gives herself away by shedding — the outer bark peels off to reveal smooth white patches underneath. That mottled look is unique.

🌿 The ones most people walk past:

Black cherry changes with age. Young trees have smooth reddish bark with horizontal lines. Old ones develop dark, rough plates that look like burnt potato chips. Same species, two completely different textures.

The American beech stays smooth and pale gray her entire life. She's the only common tree in the forest that never gets rough. People carve initials into her because there's nothing else that clean.

And sassafras — scratch the bark. She smells like root beer. That's the one detail nobody forgets.

Twelve trees. Twelve textures. Once you see the patterns, every walk changes 🌿

06/07/2026

We are having such a great time at the Master Gardeners of Greene County conference! So many fantastic people stopping by to learn all about Hillbilly Garden Club and all the fun things we do. Many thanks to all our members who volunteered their time to be a part of this amazing weekend!!!

06/07/2026

Can you relate?

06/05/2026

"A garden is all the therapy I shall ever need." There’s something profoundly healing about the simple act of tending to a garden. Among the blooms and the soil, worries soften and the mind finds peace.

Each seed planted is a quiet promise of growth, a reminder that life moves forward, slowly but surely. In the hush of early morning light or the golden warmth of late afternoon, a garden invites presence — grounding you in the now, far from the rush of daily noise.

With every w**d pulled and flower nurtured, the soul exhales, releasing stress and welcoming calm. It's in this quiet rhythm — dig, plant, water, wait — that we reconnect with the earth and with ourselves.

The colors, the textures, the gentle labor — they all work together as a kind of natural medicine. In a world that often moves too fast, a garden offers stillness. And in that stillness, healing blooms.

~ Spirit of a Hippie

~ Art by Stephanie Lambourne

06/04/2026

If you’re a gardener, you sure understand —even with gloves on, I sometimes get this manicure 😝