If you search perennial gardening in Oklahoma this time of year, you might want to know what flowers in fall. Magical closeup of sneezeweed, Helenium autumnale, still flowering. The light was just right. Well, here I am, your ever-helpful guide. I'll be glad to share which plants flower in my fall garden. A painted lady or American lady butterfly on Truffula Pink™  gomphrena which is still blooming. Butterfly experts are welcome to weigh in. Native and non-native asters flower in fall. Asters make garden magic in fall, but they do take some care. You have to cut them back in spring to keep them tidy, and some, like the aromatic asters, seem bent on garden takeover. These are not the asters you see flowering in big box stores at the end of September. I found most of my asters online and at Bustani Plant Farm over the years. The natives...

Hello!! I'm here for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day today! Not a day late. Not a day early, but on time. 'Tightwad Red' crapemyrtles really shine with Chinese maiden grass, Miscanthus sinensis 'Morning Light.' Unknown giant salvia which leaves similar to the S. farinacea group, 'Baby Joe' Joe pye weed, a shorter version of tall garden phlox and four o'clocks in the kitchen border. 'Truffula Pink' gomphrena is one of my favorite plants. I like it better than 'Fireworks.' I know. It never happens. I planted a lot of perennials this morning, and I met with four garden coaching clients this week, so let's get going before I'm too tired to post. Click on the photos in the galleries to make them larger if you'd like. On this Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, I'll feature some beauties and some sneaky plants I can't get rid of, like Verbesina alternifolia, no matter how...

Wave® Gardening asked me to write about my experience growing Wave® petunias this summer. My husband, Bill, loves petunias so I always incorporate several varieties in my containers and elsewhere in the garden.

Remember my cut flower garden plans last spring? I thought I would give you a cut flower garden update in the middle of the hottest week in Oklahoma this summer. My very hot but beautiful cut flower garden as I look north from the kitchen border. Gardening is hot sweaty work. Why? Because we all need to see that gardening isn't all rainbows, filmy dresses and unicorns. It is hot, sweaty, and quite dirty, and this time of year, the entire garden, including the cut flower beds, is full of disease and biting and stinging insects. The stinging ones usually won't hurt you unless you accidentally squish them. They're too busy trying to fill their tanks before fall. African blue basil is a pollinator magnet. I love the photo of this bee. Look at that fierce face. Pollinators like this bee love African blue basil. I planted these in my...