I didn't make it to the party on Garden Bloggers Bloom Day or Foliage Followup due to an overwhelming week, but I can now share what's going on in my garden. It's been a week full of wonders as our temperatures have fluctuated all seven days. Today is supposed to be warm after two cold days, and we don't have snow like Seattle. Thank goodness. Rain is forecast for later in the week. We shall see. It's been so warm and dry this winter I feel like I'm in south Texas, not Oklahoma. We need rain. Desperately. Plants are budded out and ready to bloom. Hamamelis and hellebores are poised and ready, even peeking out a bit. I keep hoping they will hold off, but you can't stop spring even if it is two months too early. "What happened to winter?" I ask the plants as I walk about the...

Perhaps the wind is still howling round your house, but . . . hallelujah, seed catalogs are also stuffing the mailbox. So, let's talk lettuce. If this is your first season gardening, or your twenty-millionth, lettuce is one of those plants you should definitely try. Whether it's going to be in a container on your patio or deck, or in-ground, lettuce is super easy to sow. It's also music to a tired gardener's soul. Along with radishes, I don't think there is anything easier. As you know, it gets really hot here quickly, so if you want, you can start your lettuce indoors. I usually just sow mine outside and thin it after it comes up when it's about the stage in this picture. Lettuce, sown this way, must be thinned, or this is all you'll get. Lettuce seeds are tiny, and there are tools you can use to make...

I was working on an article, and I found these lovely photos while I was on a search for something which worked with my piece. Since we are getting ready to have the Mother of all cold fronts, gaze upon these beauties. First, is the gorgeous agave Helen Weis and I saw when we visited the Dallas Arboretum. It was faboo, and Helen recently reminded me that I had to work very hard to get this photograph going around behind the bed to get the right angle. The second photo is of the bulbs I forced this fall. They are now large and beginning to bloom, but I liked them best at this stage when they were full of expectation and opportunity. Some of them worked, and others were an epic fail. Still, they've given us months of enjoyment. You can't beat that. I wrote about forcing bulbs and other...