If my garden could talk, she'd probably say, "Don't hate me because I'm English cottage garden style." Unlike the woman at the center of the recent outrage in the press, my lovely English cottage style garden, isn't being coy. She is always lovely, but the weather has conspired to give us great temperatures and just the right amount of rain. When I started thinking about this post, I was actually remembering an old Pantene commercial from the 1980s not recent headlines. I was out planting a few new perennials, and I thought back to a conversation I had the other day with a garden designer/friend. He's elderly and can't visit my garden. He'd asked me about it before, and since the club had some copies of Oklahoma Gardener magazine from last year that featured my garden, I showed them to him before the meeting. He gave them a passing glance...

In between rain showers and sky-pounding thunder, I went out to explore and take some photographs. There is nothing prettier than a plant with raindrops etched across its surface. While walking around, the gravel crunching under my feet, I considered what to write about this morning. I'm in the midst of my fifth year of writing Red Dirt Ramblings. Plus, I already write regularly for Fiskars, Lowe's, Oklahoma Gardener magazine and Proven Winners so there's a lot of "me" out there. I don't want to bore you. One difference between writing this blog and writing for other publications and companies is that they have specified parameters, categories and content. There are also schedules, so I may be writing about vines and tools in the middle of winter. RDR, on the other hand, is all about the "now." The present, or indeed, what's happening at any given moment. Today, the lilacs...

Helen Weis, a landscape designer who is my awesome friend, came over yesterday to bring me more Back to Nature compost. She and I exchange plants and BTN like baseball trading cards. While she was here, she took photos of my garden. Just so you know . . . she uses a Nikon COOLPIX L120 camera. We're both big fans of the Nikkor lenses. I have the Nikon D90. She sent me several photos, and said I could share them with you. It's always interesting to see your garden through another person's eyes. Because she and her daughter didn't stay very long, she only took pics of the front beds and the one next to the garage. She asked me how many bulbs I planted last year, and off the top of my head, I said 600 or so. Later, I looked back at Get Your Bulb on parts I...

The drought has ended in Oklahoma. Praise God. We had five to six inches of rain at our house, and it rained off and on all day. I worked in the rose bed which I'll write about later, but I wanted to show you the Easter eggs which have shown up early throughout the garden. Ignore the weeds please. I still have so many and probably will have some until winter. I do my best, but I'm not perfect, and neither is my garden. It is, however, beautiful. Where are the Easter eggs you ask? Look! They're here, there and everywhere. My tulips and daffodils, planted for Easter have arisen already. Not what I'd planned, but you know what happens when you make plans, don't you? God laughs. I hope everyone is having a beautiful spring, and that cold weather, which is always a threat until mid-April, stays far, far...