Seed starting is easy really if you have enough light and don't overwater. Time to start tomato seeds in Oklahoma. I want to set my plants out toward the end of April. A bit early perhaps, but if I must, I'll use row covers for a week or two, or coffee cans to hold in heat while foiling cutworms. I'm trying to get an early start on the tomatoes because, well . . . you remember last summer. It got so hot so early, I hardly got any fruit. We gardeners are always trying to find a way to beat the system aren't we? So, indoors, in my seed-starting station, and at my potting bench--a/k/a my kitchen sink--I am sowing seeds. With warm weather crops like tomatoes, eggplant and peppers, it's important to have a warming pad beneath the trays to get the best germination. I bought Hydrofarm MT10006 9-by-19-1/2-Inch...

February, you gray month of mournful passing, what has come over you? Light snow, a smidge of rain . . . do you think you're April or May? Mossy stone in my front garden. The moss is especially pretty right after a rain. Well, even if you are confused, I thank and hail thee well, February my former foe, but now, friend. For flowers are popping up everywhere cheered by warmer temperatures and gentle raindrops falling on their petals. Viola F1 'Rocky™ Violet Blue, pretty thing isn't it? Flowers can tell the rest of the tale here at Red Dirt Ranch. Most hellebores are still in bud, but 'Red Lady' protected by some stones in the front garden is already in full, nodding form. She is an exquisite beauty as belies her name. Helleborus x hybridus 'Red Lady' Even from far away, Hamamelis x intermedia 'Diane' glows beneath cloudy skies....

Birches, chamaecyparis and confers of all types mixed with red-twigged dogwoods, hellebores and hamamelis (witch hazels) artfully blended to create scenes of Great Northwest fantasy. I heard several friends were going to the Northwest Flower and Garden Show. Tired of brown Bermuda and trees without snow, I decided to use some of my points, fly across the country and join them. While I strolled through indoor-wrought scenes of garden and patio life, several friends asked if I were speaking at the show. No, not this time. I just wanted to come and see what a garden show could be. I know these pictures are large and probably taking a bit to load, but I wanted you to see the show as I did. These were full-sized trees artfully arranged. Our Oklahoma Home and Garden Show replete with aluminum siding and gutter guards pales in comparison. In fact, it should be...

This time last year, our red dirt world was covered in snow due to a blizzard of epic proportions. Oklahomans aren't used to twelve inches of the white stuff, and so much frozen precip ground the state to a halt. I enjoyed it, but Bill, who had a snow contract, worked really, really hard. So did all of his employees. After removing a mountain of snow, they got the city moving again. In 2010, it snowed in early February too. We're told we may get rain or snow this weekend, and still parched from last summer, we will be glad for it. We'll even take snow. A touch of snow would be our first seasonable weather this winter. Odd isn't it? I think this has been the nicest winter of my lifetime thus far. I have small crocus popping up out of the soil and other bulbs can hardly contain...