My first season of beekeeping. Several people have asked about my bees and my first season of beekeeping so I thought I would share some photos my daughter, Claire, took of a hive inspection yesterday. When I’m working alone, I don’t have enough hands to take photos very easily, and I haven’t yet created a setup…
Yorkshire Garden Trip: Newby Hall
One of my favorite gardens we visited on our Yorkshire Garden Trip was Newby Hall. Newby Hall was built for William Weddell, but the first home wasn’t like the stately one now standing. The main part of the current house was designed by Sir Christopher Wren for Sir Edward Blackett. Sir Blackett must have had some pull to…
Best plants for summer containers
This morning, I was outside watering the containers on the deck and those next to the potager and greenhouse. We had very hot temperatures in Oklahoma last week. One day we topped out at 108° and another, 110°F. We are now back down to the normal mid to low-90s, but Oklahoma’s extreme summer weather proved…
Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day July
Good morning campers! It’s the 15th of the month so, you know that means Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day hosted by the splendid Carol of May Dreams Gardens. I went out last night and took some photos. Because we had popup showers all day, and my son mowed the grass, which is still surprisingly green, everything…
Garden triage
For those of you who follow me on Instagram, you probably know Bill and I traveled to Yorkshire on a fabulous garden tour arranged during England’s National Garden Scheme. For those of you who don’t, posts about our trip are in the works. My mom is unwell, and I’ve been spending a lot of time with her, and…
Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day: Daylily season
It’s Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day, and since it’s June, it’s daylily season. Time for me to flit about the garden and wax rhapsodic about these big, bright perennials which take over for about two months each year. As I walked the back garden this evening, I pondered why daylilies garner so many gardeners’ imaginations including…
Why do gardens matter?
In this age of hyper-technology and a corresponding increase in nature blindness, why do gardens matter? This is the question I’ve pondered all spring as I work in my own garden. The garden seems to be the only thing that soothes my soul this spring, and yet, in my career, I, like many of you,…
Lucinda Hutson’s garden
On our last day in Austin, we visited several wonderful gardens. but the first stop for my bus was Lucinda Hutson’s garden, forever recognizable by her purple house. Bill and I visited Lucinda in 2014, but I wasn’t able to write a post about her lovely casita then–I was overwhelmed promoting my book–so I’m going…
Before the storm: Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
If ever you’re in Austin, you simply must visit the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. This homage to Texas wildflowers was our first stop on Garden Bloggers’ Fling this year. I also visited the center in 2014 and 2008, the year of the first Fling. Since this was our 10th anniversary of the Garden Bloggers Fling,…
In memoriam: Harper Gianna Secrest
Below is my daughter, Megan’s, eulogy for her baby, Harper Gianna Secrest, who was born on April 20, 2018, at 4:24 a.m., and passed away at 4:25 a.m. Robert and Megan wanted to preserve Harper’s eulogy from the funeral here. I’ve closed the comments, but we appreciate everyone’s prayers and kindness toward our family during this…
Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day: April
As I write this Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day, it is 29°F this morning. Yesterday was a howling, cold day with a high of 43°. We burned another fire in the fireplace, and I was grateful not to be a settler or one of the native tribes who lived in Oklahoma around the turn of the…
2018 Freeze: to cover or not to cover
For the 2018 freeze tonight, to cover or not to cover is the question. The forecasted low for Guthrie, Oklahoma, tomorrow morning is 24°F according to Oklahoma’s Mesonet. The state of the rest of the state isn’t much better. We’ve already had two 32°F lows this week which killed off some foliage, but it wasn’t…