Weird and wonderful weather continues. We are getting rain this weekend, and although it may spoil spring break for many kids, I see a trip to the bookstore in our future. Temperatures in the 80s with humidity. What month is this anyway? It feels like June without roses and daylilies. Species and smaller tulips like 'Lady Jane' are melting as my friend Gail from Clay and Limestone says, but I'm still glad we haven't had a freeze. So far. With Oklahoma, you just never know. Don't plant your tomatoes outside yet. Please? It will just make you feel unsuccessful if they freeze, and you'll think you have a brown thumb which you do not. All of us can have green thumbs and even hands. All the bulbs I planted are coming up, and it's fun to greet old favorites and meet new favorites-to-be. Spring always makes me believe there is...

More people don't plant hellebores? I can't imagine a spring without hellebores. They cheer me by blooming early and laughing at rain and snow. Gray skies don't make them gloomy, and sunshine back lights them with an inner glow. Why aren't people racing to buy a plant which blooms from February through the beginning of April and sometimes beyond? Is it because you must stand on your head to take a photo or two? That's still not a good excuse. Now, there are even hellebores for you more finicky photographers and gardeners too. They stand up tall with blooms held high as if to say, "Bring it." So, why don't you? The last two photos are from the Brandywine seed strain which can be bought locally at TLC Nursery. By the way, I never get a single, blessed, free thing from TLC, but they are about the only hellebore show...

Your stats go into the clinker. Well, sometimes "real life" needs to ride shotgun in the pickup truck. Last weekend, I met some wonderful women bloggers from Oklahoma. I drove all the way out to the Lazy W Ranch way over on the other side of central, rural Oklahoma. If you visit the other bloggers listed below, you'll see that the star of the meeting was M.I.A., a Toulouse goose who had a thing for Rose. However, I was all about the chickens and the baby buffalo. Only in Oklahoma would a blogger meeting also feature a buffalo. Seriously. I don't know what I was expecting, but it was energizing. We had all ages and ranges from the blogosphere, and I loved talking to Oklahoma women because, honestly, I miss my Red Dirt Sisters. Working full time writing, I don't get out as much as I once did. If I'm...

Well, you know how much I love spring-blooming bulbs right? My front garden is a kaleidoscope come Easter. A few years ago, I also discovered I have a penchant for summer bulbs. After I had such good luck with 'Atomic'  and Byzantine glads and G. callianthus, Abyssinian glads, I can no longer see my garden without summer bulbs. The bright red of 'Atomic' a/k/a  'Atom' glads or 'Bishop of Llandaff' dahlias really make a summer border. I don't try to grow the dinner plate dahlias anymore. Our heat makes them not want to bloom, and the insects make a light lunch of them. However, the smaller, more branching dahlias perform very well here. I found the gorgeous red 'Bishop of Llandaff' dahlias along with the yellow w/chocolate button-eyed 'Lolo' and pink and orange 'Pablo' at my local nursery. You can also find many of these diverse summer bulbs at Old House Gardens or Brent...