"Old garden roses have a lot of nuances of fragrance and diversity of  form.  This gives you, the artist and gardener, a palette of plants to grow," said Mike Shoup, owner of Antique Rose Emporium,  "Fragrance is the emotional tie you will have to that plant forever." Sunday, Shoup spoke as part of the Oklahoma Horticulture Society's Annual Winter Lecture Series.  I thought I would share some of what I found most interesting. Shoup told a story about a friend who used a film empty camera to capture his small daughter as she smelled roses in his garden.   The idea was to have her sniff blossom after blossom and retain the memory of her father and his flowers.   He knew that whenever she smelled the same scent it would bring her back to him.  (For the young people reading this blog, this was before the days of digital cameras...

A collage for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day hosted each month by Carol of May Dreams Garden.  From left to right, top row:  Hamamelis x intermedia 'Arnold Promise,' Helleborus 'Blue Lady,' Ilex x mondo 'Little Rascal' with a lichen covered rock, and a blue pansy; bottom row and middle:  the first crocus growing in the lawn, Helloborus 'Red Lady', a sprout and an orange viola. Just the beginning, a taste of what's to come.

After I posted about my landscaping adventure, several people wrote in and asked for better and larger photos.  I had some time today to take a few.  I hope you enjoy them. A shot from the driveway. In the foreground is the deciduous 'Jane' Magnolia.  It will soon have large purple flowers.   Behind it are the Ilex x 'Patriot' (hollies) which will eventually cover up the heat and air unit.  That was one of our primary goals.  You can also see in this photo the Cornus florida 'Cherokee Brave' (dogwood's) bare branches and several Nandinas both 'Gulfstream' and 'Firepower' along with Prunus laurocerasus 'Otto Luyken' (English laurels).  The laurels will have white flower spikes in the spring.  I can't wait to see all those blooms. Same garden, different angle This is another shot of the same garden from the front sidewalk.  Although she isn't a natural feature like the boulders,...

It began innocently enough.  I was out in the lower garden trying to find a spot or two to incorporate the spring vegetables.   HH offered to simply make me a new spot, but I know my limitations.  That would mean new soil, new fencing, a new raised bed.  Someday I will be old, and I won't want to take care of all this "new."  So, I was standing in the middle of one of the rectangular beds next to Rosa 'New Dawn'.  Her rampant growth looked pretty, but it had eaten the entire back fence causing it to lean.  Because of her tremendous size, she was also shading the very beds I want for my spinach, lettuce, beets, carrots, potatoes, pole beans, etc.  I took a step, and she snagged my ankle with one of her long canes making it bleed. That tore it.  I thought "Wench, you're going down."...