A tropical, native plant paradise of variegated tapioca, Salvia greggii 'Pink Preference' and Melinis nerviglumis 'Pink Crystals' or 'Savannah' depending upon where it's purchased. Heady with their beauty, these plants are proud to proclaim it loud and clear. Our climate is changing, and instead of sporting a big ole' temper tantrum, I've decided to adjust to the changes by inviting more and more tropical growers. They must also come with plenty of good foliage color to make up for any lack of blooms. Often, if they do bloom, they wait until fall. A good example of this is Salvia Vanhouettei, a hot, little, red number I now use, throughout the garden, for late summer color continuing into fall. Salvia splendens 'Vanhouettei' or VanHoutte's salvia is a red like no other. No matter how high summer temperatures soar, I know this reliable bloomer will grow all summer and then stake its claim in...

Swiss chard and red fountain early last spring Fall and winter vegetable gardening in Oklahoma is tricky, and anyone who tells you different is wrong or misleading. I don't know which. While others north of us were sowing seeds in July and August to reap a fall harvest, we were still at 103F. Oh, wait . . . we're still at 104F today on September 3. Traditionally, August was a good time to sow fall seeds, but in the last couple of years, not so much. I'm putting in seeds for late fall crops next week, and I'm putting row covers over them as soon as the weather cools. Even though temperatures are high, I've been watching the forecast, and temperatures will come down. If I wanted fall lettuce instead of in winter, I needed to sow the seeds indoors under lights. I just didn't feel like it, and that's...

Lagerstroemia indica Dynamite® with blown glass in the same color scheme. If the rose is the undisputed queen of the garden, then crapemyrtles are her knights in shining armor, for when summer temperature rise, and the queen goes into seclusion, that's when crapemyrtles really begin to shine. "When sustained daytime temperatures are about 85 degrees F or above, and other species are losing their luster, crapemyrtles begin to produce flower buds for their summer show-off period," said Carl Whitcomb, PhD. and President of Lacebark, Inc., "Once flowering is triggered to begin, on many cultivars, it continues for 100 to 120 days or more." Unknown selection of pink crapemyrtle with Artemisia 'Silver King', maiden grass, pink perwinkles and 'Belinda's Dream' rose. The dry foliage in front are iris. It was too hot for them this summer. Crapemyrtle, Lagerstroemia indica, is a large flowering shrub or small tree native to China, but it...

Like some of the plants in these containers, I felt all prickly about my blog being hacked. It's all better now. The grass is 'Princess Molly.' I love that grass. Yesterday, my blog was hacked, and because of malware, it took down my blog host's entire system. Luckily, I have a wonderful technician who rebuilt the blog from scratch. It just came back online. Above are some of my containers filled with tropical plants. Tropicals are the way to go with plants in containers. Also, install a drip system like Bill and I did. I talk about it over at Lowe's website. Maybe a drip system for your containers would help you too. In weather news, the heat is stuck in the on position although I hear of cooler weather in our future. It's also back-to-school time again. My youngest went to a new middle school. My son is a...