I always think it's interesting that the beautiful genus of Coreopsis is commonly referred to as tickseed. Frankly, it unnerves me although I know it is only because the seeds are so small thus resembling seed ticks. Coreopsis tinctoria is an annual and grows in ditches throughout Oklahoma and much of the U.S. especially the south. It also grows as a volunteer in my garden, and I like the sunny discs with their red centers. I also enjoy their delicate foliage. This little plant is a pretty addition to the front of the border or in a meadow setting. Coreopsis tinctoria goes by many common names like calliopsis, golden coreopsis, annual coreopsis, and plains coreopsis. It is part of the Asteraceae/Compositae (aster or daisy family), and, according to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Native Plant Database has ". . . daisy-like flower heads with yellow rays surrounding a reddish-purple...

Dear Carol, Mary Ann and all of other friends, I'm hot, and yesterday, the water well broke in the middle of my shower. It's 8:00 a.m., and the temp is already 81F with today promising to be another scorcher above 100F. From the weather map, I see most of the continental U.S. is in the same shape. As long as the air conditioner holds steady, we'll be fine. The guys from the water well company will be here soon to fix the well, and I'll celebrate with a shower and watering the garden. The well didn't have any problems for 40 years, but, in the past six months, they've replaced the pump, fixed a fuse, and now a broken pipe. In spite of all of this mayhem, the potager is pumping out the vegetables. Without me to squish them, the squash bugs were victorious after I returned from Buffalo, but...

The rains have come and gone throughout most of the spring and now well into summer. The garden looks overblown and flousy like a middle-aged woman in a flowery housecoat. Going to St. Louis and Buffalo has left her with her roots showing, and it's now up to me to get her a pedicure and maybe even a massage. Spent daylily scapes have turned brown in the sun and stand like skeletons waiting for me to put them in the compost pile. A lot of talk in St. Louis was about daylily rust, but I don't have any in my garden this year. Luckily for most of Oklahoma, the fungus, Puccinia hemerocallidis, still dies during our winters. Therefore, I'm not worried about recycling spent scapes. The vegetable garden is full of very tiny blooms on parsley, dill and fennel. I let these bloom so that the smallest of the pollinators...

Okay, so Russelia equisetiformis, commonly known as firecracker plant or coral plant, isn't native to the United States. It is, however, a transplant from Mexico and other tropical climes. When the summer sun tries to do its worst, this little plant (in Oklahoma anyway) laughs and then really turns on her own heat with tangerine or yellow bells hummingbirds and butterflies can't resist. In the middle of summer, as I stand on the deck sweating while watering the containers, Russelia equisetiformis always makes me feel a bit more cheerful. She doesn't ask for much, just good soil and drainage and enough water.  Then, she blooms and blooms until colder temps shut her down. Hardy in zones 9 through 12, firecracker plant is a small shrub in places like Florida. Further north like my Oklahoma home, it is most often grown as an annual, but this fall I think I'll bring...