I worked all week on a Power Point presentation for last night's Central Oklahoma Hemerocallis Society meeting; so, if you don't mind, I'm going to post the following article I wrote for the Oklahoma Horticulture Society's newsletter last  month. Cover the Summer Garden with a Blanket of Color Previously published in Horticulture Horizons Aug./Sept./Oct. 2008 In planning your garden next spring, don’t slight the humble Blanket Flower, a/k/a Indian Blanket, Gaillardia species. Not only is G. pulchella Oklahoma’s State Wildflower, and therefore should be included for that reason alone, its relatives now come in varieties other than the standard orange and yellow. A genus of the sunflower family (Asteraceae,) Gaillardia was named after M. Gaillard de Charentonneau, an 18th century French magistrate who was a patron of botany. Blanket Flowers can be planted as container specimens or by seed. Seeds take awhile to become established, so you may want to...

It's October, and it doesn't feel like fall.  We're still having late summer temperatures, so everything continues to grow and bloom in spite of the shorter days.  I wish Pennisetum purpureum 'Prince', growing behind the red Salvia, would overwinter here, but it won't because it's only hardy to USDA Zone 8a.  Bummer. However, my darling Rosa 'The Fairy' will, and she's a trooper with constant bloom from spring until frost.  What more could you ask for?  Scent?  Boy, you guys want everything.  Her scent is very, very light.  As you can see from the photo, her blossoms are now speckled with raspberry caused by weather changes. I grew Mexican Flame Vine, Pseudogynoxys chenopodioides (a/k/a Senecio confusus) this year, but I'm not that impressed.  I expected it to cover the back fence during the summer.  It did not.  Perhaps, it didn't get enough sun because it was planted next to my...

Yesterday afternoon, I took my iced tea and a cookie out to the garden.  When I opened the back door, I was surprised. Everything was perfectly still. Now, as you all know, I live in the country.  During the week, when the rest of humanity is at work, my world is pretty quiet.  There are no city sirens and no street noise.  However, it's the kind of quiet which really isn't.  There is constant activity in the garden with birds chirping and fighting, bees buzzing and butterflies flitting to and fro. This day was different. Not a sound could be heard.  No leaf or flower moved in the breeze, and the air was heavy with expectation.  I felt as though I'd walked into a party unannounced; my underwear was showing, and everyone was waiting for me to notice.  I nearly dropped my plate of gluten free, almond biscotti as I...

Tell me true, have you ever seen anything more beautiful than golden, red, Big Bluestem against a clear blue sky? This morning, after I dropped the red dirt kids off at their respective schools, I swung by Starbucks and armed myself with an extra-hot, soy, chai tea and a coffee, black.  At home, HH leaned against the truck, cell phone to his ear, waiting for me.  I handed him his coffee, grabbed my trusty camera, and we were off on our adventure to the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve. We crossed the Arkansas River on U.S. Highway 64 on this bridge.  I have a thing for iron trestle bridges.  These magnificent structures are slowly being replaced throughout the state with their newer, but boring concrete counterparts. On the two and half hour trip, we talked about work, the kids, scenery and friends, all the things we can't discuss without constant interruption at...