Since my amaryllis and paperwhites didn't bloom for Christmas I'm now enjoying my indoor flower garden in January. This might be even better because the flowers don't have to compete with the Christmas tree and other decorations. Paperwhites and Hippeastrum 'Flamenco Queen' amaryllis are stars of my indoor flower garden. I love 'Flamenco.' Just look at that green throat. East and West sun Even though we live in a log cabin which can be kind of dark, my front door faces west so I get afternoon sun in these two windows while at the other end of my great room, the windows face east. In summer, I move most of the plants that remain inside into the east windows because of the heat. In winter, it doesn't matter so much. I also have room for plants in my bathroom which has windows that face both east and south. I garden...

I’m in my fifteenth year of writing this blog, and I hope you’re still interested in my new seeds for the new year. Carol and I are going to talk about our seed orders on the Gardenangelists next week, but if you want to listen to this week’s episode, it’s all about gardening stories. Now about those new seeds I'm excited about the dwarf sunflowers in the potager. I hope it works as I see it in my mind's eye. So far, I've ordered from three different places. Let's start with my Botanical Interests seed order. Carol Michel and I are affiliates of Botanical Interests, and I appreciate their business model. My seeds came very quickly too. 'Phyllis' marigolds are another happy flower I started from seed last year. My favorite plants from Botanical Interests last year were my 'Phyllis' marigolds. I saved seeds from these so I don't need...

I know soup and beans have very little to do with gardening, but with the cooler weather, I am soup and bean obsessed. Yes, it's warm and horribly windy in Oklahoma today, but that's because a cold front is trying its best to shove warm Gulf air out of our fair state. The cold air will win, so tomorrow, you might become soup and bean obsessed too. If so, you came to the right place. Ch ch changes . . . When our youngest daughter, Claire, moved out in August, I took a break from cooking from scratch for a few weeks. At the end of that break, I could no longer remember how to cook especially for only two people. It's been a learning curve not to make too much food. I felt like I lost my cooking mojo, and since cooking is a huge part of my creative...

Ever since we returned from Portugal last month, I've been swamped. December is a busy garden time of year. November is pretty busy too with Thanksgiving and such. Then, I caught a cold, and I'm finally recovered. Although my garden may not seem busy in December, it really is. Spring-blooming bulbs need to be planted sometime in December. I'm planting spring-blooming bulbs in the perennial beds and blowing out the oak leaves. We also work to get the leaves off of the front fescue lawnette. It's important to remove oak leaves from the garden because, unlike less fibrous tree leaves, oak leaves mat down when it rains, cover emerging plants, and suppress seed germination. I love using shredded oak leaves as mulch on top of my garden beds, but I have so many leaves I can't use them all. This is the sidewalk border. You'll see it with flowering bulbs...