Where Are We?
NancysGardens is in Eastern Nebraska. It's a little south of Bellevue, Nebraska USA which is a city located along the Missouri River.
We are in about the very center of the United States, from both East to West and North to South. The largest nearby city is Omaha, Nebraska.
This area was originally prairie grasses and many wild flowers up until the time it was invaded by people of European heritage in the 1800's. Because it is a natural grassland, it is excellent farmland for raising grain crops.
Except in cities, there are not many trees. Most native trees grow mainly in riparian forests which are woodlands confined to riverbanks and floodplains. The most common tree is our state tree, the cottonwood.
Climate
We have 4 distinct seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter. The Eastern part of Nebraska is considered to be in growing zone 4b according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) map of the the cold hardiness zones.
Omaha has a continental climate, with warm summers and cold, dry winters. Temperature extremes can be as low as about -23 F (-30.5 C) and highs to about 110 F (43 C) ...most years the extremes are less. The last few years have been considerably warmer than usual. For January, the average high temp in 31.4 degrees F and low is 11.0 degrees F. In July, the average high temperature is 88.1 degrees F and average low is 66.3 degrees F.
Omaha has what is called a continental climate, with warm summers and cold, dry winters. Our precipitation occurs mostly between April and September, with showers and early evening thunderstorms. Average snowfall for the year is about 32 inches, but this amounts to only about 10 percent of the annual precipitation. Yearly total precipitation is about 30 inches here in the Eastern part of the state, along the Missouri river, decreasing to about one-half that amount, or 15 inches, along the Wyoming line in the Western end of the state. This is an average decrease in percipation of one inch for each thirty miles as one travels westward across the state.
A weather reporting computer has been placed in our neighborhood with up-to the minute weather.
Nebraska
Birthplace of Arbor Day
When people of European heritage began moving westward to homestead in the newly opened territories, they found vast grasslands in Nebraska, and none of the familiar forests they were used to back in the eastern states. When the wind blew across the prairie, air currents caused ripples in the grasses looking like waves on an ocean. Some people became very homesick for the forests they had left behind.
John Sterling Morton thought of the idea of a tree planting holiday in 1872. In 1885, Arbor Day became a legal holiday in Nebraska, observed on Morton's birthday, April 22.
The Nebraska holiday caught on in the rest of the United States and in many other countries. Today the holiday is celebrated on a variety of dates throughtout the country. It is celebrated on the last Friday in April in and many States.
