I water the vegetable garden with soaker hoses, and the sandburs have thrived in the fence line. Makes it interesting when I go in there to harvest. The grass is crunchy. Fires abound, and leaves are falling from the trees. Walking to get the mail at the end of the driveway has become an endurance test nearly worthy of the Olympics. We've been over 100F for awhile, but unlike last year, there are fewer days of hellish temperatures, and we're seeing a gradual cool down. Southern sandbur up close and personal. You can see why they hurt. To add to our misery, It is also goat head or southern sandbur season. Get our your knives, boots and heavy duty gloves. It's time to celebrate in the Sooner State. Yes,  Cenchrus echinatus L., the southern sandbur or goat head sticker, is making our lives even more miserable than the heat and drought combined. Add some...

In case you haven't noticed on the news, the weather people, at least those not living in the south central part of the U.S., keep pointing gleefully at the big "H" centered over Oklahoma. For me, the big "H" has outlasted his welcome because he was never welcome in the first place. No one can garden in weather of 112F. Even the agaves in the pots are gasping for a drink. Because my agua still comes from a well, I can water, and I do it carefully in dibs and dabs. I no longer have any gardening advice except hang in there. My mother used to have a saying, "Get glad in the same pants you got mad in." Since I'm a world-class cranky pants today, I'm going to go walk on the treadmill, watch the Olympics, and then get a massage. Take that heat dome, and fly off to...

Bees gathering pollen and nourishment from one of the sunflowers I planted in the vegetable garden. I wandered over to Hayefield today, and read Nan's post on her garden and personal journey. It made me consider my own garden, and how it's changed over the years. I bought an app today, Day One, so I could journal about which plants perform best along with their names. I'm lapse at keeping a print journal, and I'm constantly at the computer. It seemed a good fit. My garden was once very different. I was a different gardener. I was a collector of roses and daylilies, and I sometimes still fall into that mode especially when they bloom. I wish I were stronger, but resistance is futile. The red fountain that sits at the center of the vegetable garden known as the potager. I had a lot of "hates" in the garden, and...

Helianthus salicifolius 'Table Mountain' sunflower I found on the clearance rack at our local nursery. A couple of years ago, about this time in summer, on a rack way in the back of my local nursery, I found an interesting plant. It had coarse, willowy leaves, and I think it must hard to be both coarse and willowy. It had healthy foliage and was doing its best in a container so I felt a bit sorry for it and brought it home. Helianthus salicifolius 'Table Mountain' sunflower is a cultivar of two native, H. salicifolius so I still consider it a wildflower. From the Missouri Botanical Garden, "It is the result of a controlled cross-pollination that took place in Auckland, New Zealand in 1993 between Helianthus 'Golden Pyramid' (female) and Helianthus 'Autumn Queen' (male)." Table Mountain sunflower is a bit of a flopper, but it leans upon 'Wanda' phlox. Neither seems to mind the other....