But it's not. They are the stars of the May beauty parade though with their big, beautiful blooms, and their as of now, mostly clean foliage.  Like all good Divas, who could blame them for wanting all of the spotlight for themselves. At the OHS meeting with Mike Shoup, a woman behind me said I should absolutely own 'Valentine.'  I think she was right.  I ordered one this year, and of the three new roses, I bought, 'Valentine' is doing the best.  You can see just the smallest amount of blackspot at the bottom of her leaves, but well, that's life. I think this is one of the prettiest parts of the garden.   The Heucheras and hostas were already there, but this year I added the black mondo grass to the mix.  I like the way the blooms of the Coral bells echo off of the black of the grass. ...

Carol from May Dreams Gardens (Zone 5), Mary Ann from Idaho Gardener (Zone 6) and I decided to create our own 1,000 mile garden project.  This gardening season, we’ll be exchanging letters with each other about our vegetable gardens, and we’re now in week ten.  We hope you’ll enjoy our travels around three different hardiness zones.  I garden in Zone 7a. Dear Carol and Mary Ann, Sorry I'm so late to the party, but it's been a busy week.  As you know, I had a rain chain giveaway, and it was also Mother's Day on Sunday.  It's a big, busy holiday for our family. Last week, I wrote about edible flowers, but this week's report concerns beans and salad days.  All of my green, purple and yellow beans are barely up and growing on their tripod.  Even the 'Lazy Housewife' decided to make an appearance.  We've had several wonderful salads...

Oh my gosh!!  According the random number generator on random.org, the winner is Frances from Fairegarden.  Congratulations Frances! I want to thank everyone who commented and told me how they would use the rain chain if they won.  It made for some sweet reading.  I'm sorry I couldn't reply to everyone, but with 58 comments, I was stunned. Frances, dear, I hope you enjoy your new rain chain.  You'll have to take photos and show us. Thanks also go to Teak, Wicker and More who made this contest possible.  By the way, it's still raining in beautiful and very green Oklahoma, but I'd like to see the sun.

Yesterday, I was pondering out loud about what to write, and Bear said, "Why don't you write about mothers?" I shrugged and said instead, I would tell a story. Once upon a time there was a small girl, who lived in a small house at the end of a small street in a small city.  She had plain, straight, cocoa brown hair and wore cat-eye glasses which always slid down her nose.  Her homemade dresses were adorned with ric-rac ribbon across the hem, and her knees were always skinned from playing outdoors.  In the 1960s, girls didn't wear blue jeans.  Only boys did.  For that and so many other reasons, she wanted to be a boy. She also desperately wanted a bicycle, but her parents were very young and had no money for anything but necessities like food and shelter.  The bicycle would have to wait. Her mother's name was...