First, bear with me while I indulge in a bit of history. When I began to garden, I was nineteen years old, married and living outside Del City, Oklahoma (near Tinker Air Force Base) in a mobile home.  At the local Wal-Mart, I bought three rosebushes, their bare roots encased in plastic (ugh).  Because I didn't know any better, I planted R. 'Tiffany', R. 'Double Delight' and the grandiflora 'Queen Elizabeth' in a straight row in a bed next to the sidewalk, surrounded them with other plants, watered and waited. In spite of my lack of rose know-how, they flourished, and I loved them. I was also in college at Oklahoma University studying to be the next Great American Writer, and since I had 200 pages of a novel due my senior year, gardening was probably the furthest thing from my mind.  However, shopping one day, I saw Barbara Damrosch's...

Carol from May Dreams Gardens (Zone 5), Mary Ann from Gardens of the Wild, Wild West (Zone 6) and I decided, last year, to exchange letters from our vegetable gardens.  We had so much fun we're continuing the tradition this spring and summer.  We hope to give everyone  an idea of how gardens grow in three different USDA hardiness zones. I garden in Zone 7a, where it’s surprisingly chilly. Hi girls!!! It's been a wonderful week in the garden, and I can't tell you how much different this spring is from last year's.  All the flowers are going gangbusters, and the fruits and veggies are right on schedule. In the potager and veggie garden, I was worried the irrigation guys had really buried my seeds when they dug up the soil.  So, I replanted some of the basil, green beans and squash.  A couple of days ago I noticed my...

A little rain stirs magic in a garden.  There is no doubt that ozone and rainwater are much better than an irrigation system no matter how good.  That's why all garden magazines are in love with Portland, Oregon and parts of Washington State.  Who could blame them?  Plants glow from within.  It's why Ireland always looks so lush and green.  I've visited Oregon and Washington, and they're beautiful, but I don't think I could live there (I'm allergic to mold).  I'm still vying for that visit to Ireland.  One day I'll get to the land of my forefathers, but in the meantime, I'll just enjoy where I'm planted. With such weather, as I weed, I occasionally glance over my shoulder expecting . . . fairies?  Or, will it be one of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth elves gliding around the arbor?  Splendid weather inspires such fancies.   I shake my head and...

So, do you live in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, or one of its nearby suburbs?  Are you wanting something new for the garden or a container?  Something nobody else in your neighborhood has? My friend, do I ever have the nurseries for you.  A friend of mine, Sharon B., who belongs to the Garden Writers Association and the Oklahoma Horticulture Society clued me in on a new-to-me nursery.  If you have a chance, pack a lunch and go out there. It's Whispering Springs Greenhouse, at 12647 South 104th Street in Mustang, Oklahoma.  I know, it's way out in the country, but heck, no one can afford to own a large nursery in town anymore.  David Yates, who owns it, gets his business via word of mouth, and finally the word got to me.  He and his sister (I believe her name was Janice) create the most wonderful hanging baskets,...