Floral choirs sing spring's anthems

If you've ever been to Natchez, Miss., during the town's spring pilgrimage, you know the beauty of the season,

Natchez has stunning displays of spring flowers and ante-bellum homes that knock your socks off.

Last weekend, my wife and I drove to Charleston, Mo., to check on its azaleas and dogwoods a week ahead of the annual festival there. This year, Charleston's streetscapes more than equal the best Natchez has to offer.

You know how it is with Missouri's fickle weather. This year, it appears everything has come together at the same time. I'm hoping that this week's cool weather has maintained the lush beauty in Charleston for this weekend's visitors to the big festival.

It's well worth the trip.

Thanks to a great tip my wife received, we were able to see another outstanding display of residential landscaping this week in Jackson.

I don't know how we've managed to live in Cape Girardeau so long without hearing about the Garden of Eden at the Joe Haupt residence on Berchman Street in Jackson.

I certainly don't want to cause a traffic jam, and maybe everyone else has already driven by, but the grounds surrounding the Haupt home have been turned into one of most elegant displays of spring blossoms that I can recall seeing anywhere.

A couple of years ago we toured Biltmore, the lavish Vanderbilt estate in Asheville, N.C. That's a "Wow!" experience of its own. But I can honestly say the Haupt showplace is just as great.

And it's 10 hours closer.

The Gene Penzels are again graciously inviting the public to drive through their Pinecrest Azalea Farm off County Road 472 north of Jackson and west of Oak Ridge.

Here's another labor of love that makes the heart glad every spring. I'm told there are more than 3,000 azaleas at Pinecrest.

I believe it.

Last Saturday I was working in the yard, which is something I like to do.

A lot.

Just ask my wife.

As I finished up in the front, I stood in the driveway for a moment to take in the lush greens and the just-bloomed irises and the dazzling blue vining vinca flowers under the snowy mass of dogwood blossoms.

I have to admit I was feeling pretty proud of myself.

A car that I didn't recognize as belonging to any of the neighbors drove slowly by. Thinking the occupants might stop and ask for directions or say something nice about the yard, I waited a moment. But the car passed me only to come to a stop around the curve in front of a rock-walled flower bed -- the one we call our "sun garden" because it has a couple of hours of full sun before the shade of the big trees creeps over it, I made that flower bed the first spring after we moved into the house.

We haven't always been entirely pleased with this flower bed, but it's our own fault. Trying to grow plants that crave sunlight in a shaded bed is tough. As the years go by, we keep planting stuff as experiments. Most of our efforts have unhappy results.

Soon the car drove away. The next day, my wife and I were returning from a drive through Trail of Tears State Park (another lovely way to spend an hour or so). As we pulled into our street, I noticed the same car was just ahead of us. Again, it stopped in front of our flower bed, admired for a moment and then went on.

There are lots of ways to receive compliments. Having other people admire your handiwork is one of the best. I hope whoever was in the car got a moment of pleasure while driving by.

I know I did.

R. Joe Sullivan is the editor of the Southeast Missourian.