How do they make their garden grow?

MT. PLEASANT — Many birds and bees find an oasis in one Mt. Pleasant backyard as beautiful flowers and bountiful vegetable plants abundantly grow under the care of Tom Moore and Joyce Hanks.

Growing up on a farm, Tom says growing plants comes naturally to him. So, when the weather turns warm and green things begin to pop up in their backyard, Tom begins spending much of his time weeding, watering, and caring for the vegetation.

He sets up bird feeders and bird baths for nature’s guests to their back yard, and has established a watering system to keep the many plants growing strong.

While Joyce can’t spend much time in the sun due to issues with her eyes, she does enjoy watching Tom work and observing the bees and birds through her kitchen window as they come and go from their vivacious backyard.

According to Tom, they commonly grow a variety of vegetables such as tomatoes, corn, and green beans alongside many flowering plants.

A large tree provides shade over a circular deck in the middle of the couple’s yard, but Joyce explained that the plant that looked like a tree was a Pussy Willow bush.

“It just kept growing and growing,” Joyce said with a big smile.

Now, Tom, who enjoys woodworking along with garden-keeping, decorates the Pussy Willow with handmade wooden butterflies.

Other bits of his woodworking peek through in the yard, as well.

His workmanship appears in the bird houses that hide in leaves, a tall squirrel home that stands over their vegetable garden which a trellis covered in beautiful flowers leads to, decorative pieces pop out around the rest of the yard, and Anaconda Chairs that line the garage.

So, Tom makes much of the garden grow, Joyce gladly enjoys the beauty of it, and nature continually places it’s stamp on their backyard.

Another ever evolving growing piece of their backyard includes a mulberry tree in a far corner of their yard that had once been a lilac bush.

“I think evidently the birds would eat mulberries over in the neighbor’s yard, then come over here and sit in that lilac bush and do their thing, and now we have a mulberry tree,” Tom explained.

While their yard always contains a lot of life in the form of vegetation and visiting birds and bees, things look a bit different this year.

“Well, this sunflower just started to grow up in the sidewalk, and then it was as tall as the garage roof,” Joyce explained.

Tom assumes that much like the Mulberry tree, the sunflower made it’s way to their yard thanks to the fertilizing work of birds visiting from neighboring yards.

“Goldfinches love the sunflower,” Joyce said. “There was one at the very top of it.”

“We see three or four. Just about every day,” Tom said.

With the addition of the very large sunflower, the couple has seen many Goldfinches visiting.

These are some of Joyce’s favorite sights to see from her kitchen window that looks out directly at the towering Sunflower.

Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com