The other day I was driving through Edmond, a suburb of Oklahoma City. With kids, I'm always driving here, there and everywhere. I passed Ace Hardware on Broadway and 15th, and I casually glanced over. Out front, I caught a glimpse of bulb boxes on display. I didn't have much hope there would be anything worth buying this late in the season, but what the heck, I thought as I pulled into the parking lot. Surprise, surprise, there were all kinds of wonderful bulbs you usually don't see in retail stands in Oklahoma. Not only that, but a sign showed they were half price. I stocked up and decided to do the lower garden in a mix of these. Instead of the scatter method, I dug big holes and dropped the larger tulips and daffodils within. I tucked them in with a bit of soil and then added the smaller...

See these boxes and bags? They must be planted. All eleventy thousand of my bulbs have arrived except for a late order from Brent & Becky's. I hope it's a beautiful day because I'm going out to plant. How do I do it? Easy peasy. Take your sweet time and don't hurry your sweet self. If it takes a day or more, don't worry, but make sure you tag or mark the spot where you've planted something so you don't dig it up on day two. I know this from experience. Just remember to plant the little darlings in a natural way--unless you're into the Holland bulb field look--all nice, straight rows. Place them pointy side up and three times as deep as the size of bulb. In some spots this fall I'm using the scatter method popularized by Jacqueline van der Kloet, a Dutch garden designer. I saw a segment...

About this time each year we watch Monarch butterflies float about our gardens and reflect on their silent beauty. They are in the midst of their migration down Mexico way, and they are very, very hungry. We congratulate ourselves for providing plenty of nectar plants like asters, Joe-Pye weed and goldenrods, but have we considered their offspring? Although fall is when Monarchs show their full-grown faces in my part of the world, we should also be thinking of them in spring and plant various milkweeds for egg laying. You see, being queenly butterflies, little Monarch princes and princesses want to feast upon only one type of food, milkweeds, and this food source is disappearing throughout the United States due to land cultivation and changing times. Monarch larvae, like all members of the family Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies in the subfamily, Danainae, eat only milkweeds. So, what does that mean to gardeners...

This time of year blog writing is all about color. Trees, bronzed and burnished by the sun, are semi-permanent fixtures of this autumnal show, but how often do you really look at trees other times of the year? When trees are showcased in the media, it's their ability to resuscitate our damaged atmosphere most often highlighted. I'm a child of the 60s and 70s, and I remember ecology, a word which has evolved into other terms like sustainability or "being green." For our own breath of life, trees are our most important resource, but humans cut down old-growth forests in record numbers throughout the world unabated for a time. Over my lifetime, I've noticed much of the clear cutting has slowed, and there is a renewed respect for trees on much of the planet. In the last four decades we've developed an appreciation for how trees help us breathe, but...