It's Bloom Day again, that once a month miracle hosted by Carol of May Dreams Gardens. I don't have much to show, but signs that some things are gearing up for spring are there. Some of the garden remains green like Rosa 'Cl. Old Blush' above. Except during the harshest winters, it stays green until January. Then, we get a cold snap like the one last week, and its leaves also turn a soft brown. Brown is everywhere I look, but I turn my head and ignore it, instead focusing on what's indoors. I have a few blooming Hippeastrum, bulbs formerly known as amaryllis. A little name swap-a-roo not unline the artist formerly known as Prince, who became the woman/man symbol for awhile and when it didn't suit him, became Prince again. It's all so confusing. No matter what they're called, the Hippeastrum put on quite the show this season....

It won't be long now. We're over halfway there.

One of our sets of bookshelves. I think we have seven altogether. Before I wrote for magazines, I wrote novels, and nope, you can't buy one. They didn't sell. I have the prerequisite three bad books in my desk drawer. Perhaps, one day, I'll write another once the publishing industry calms down, but maybe not. I like writing online for Fiskars and Lowe's and for magazines like Oklahoma Gardener, and I'm grateful I have a steady paycheck. (Thanks Patsy Bell for your words of encouragement years ago). Still, what I learned in the School of Journalism at Oklahoma University, holds true no matter whom I write for, nor the subject. As I worked today on a complicated garden article on color, several writing tips came to mind, and I thought I'd share them with you. Gardeners and gluten free eaters, if you're bored, please come back later, and I'll have...

Sugar Snaps and Strawberries is the cutest title I've seen for a gardening book in a long time. It bucks a marketing idea which floats regularly around the web:  you must always mention your brand everywhere, in your book title, in every conversation, etc. Although a good concept, such repetition can also be boring. I'm glad Adrea Bellamy bucked the trend. You go girl. Andrea covers the basics in her first effort, and it is a good read for those just getting into gardening. I think I'll pass my copy on to my NGBF Aimee because she says she's going to garden this spring. She's all fired up about it in fact. She'll need a good book to help her. I also dig the rock n roll vibe Andrea creates with her talk of guerilla gardening, but what else would you expect of someone who named her blog, Heavy Petal? ...