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...

I mentioned in a previous post that Iseli Nursery gave us five dwarf conifers to take home.  If you'd like to see what I did with part of mine, please head on over to Oklahoma Examiner.com. I don't know if I mentioned it, but I now write as the Oklahoma Gardening Examiner three times a week.  I try not to repeat myself, so the material you read on there should be somewhat different.  Also, those articles have a different voice than my writing on here, which is more about my personal garden journey. Thanks for reading, and I'll try to have a new post up on RDR in a day or two.  HH and I are going to the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve tomorrow.  Can't wait to tell you all about it. Meanwhile, I'm headed outside on this most beautiful of fall days to eat my lunch. Want to join me? ...

How about some 'Tomato Soup' with that 'Mac 'n Cheese'? I had so many photos and thoughts yesterday that I've decided another Terra Nova post is in order.  Cindy from My Corner of Katy's comment about her bad luck with certain Echinacea cultivars made me think about something Dan Heims said about the orange, yellow, red or peach Echinaceas.  He said that those which have E. paradoxa parentage have a tendency to bloom so hard they simply bloom themselves to death.  He suggested cutting the first blooms of these cultivars and using them as cut flowers, so that the plants develop basal shoots and ensure their continued growth.  I wanted to be clear on this so I contacted Janet Egger at Terra Nova, and she wrote "This will reduce the stress on the plant, and it will put more energy into the root system rather than trying to make seeds."...

After Iseli, we boarded our buses for Terra Nova Nurseries in Canby, Oregon.  If you've ever purchased an unusual Heuchera like 'Mahogany' or an Echinacea like 'Pink Double Delight' (both favorites in my garden) you've probably bought one hybridized by Terra Nova.  While we were there, the botanists/biologists explained how they create the test tube babies which become such unique varieties.  It was quite a flow chart. The nursery is way out in the country, but still located on a very busy street.  One of the employees joked that traversing it was a trial before employment.  If you made it across, you were in.  We all laughed as we jogged through traffic to get to the display gardens.  In the photo above, you can just see the road behind Echinacea 'Tomato Soup' which is behind Coreopsis 'Autumn Blush'.  Courtesy of Terra Nova, here is a closeup of 'Tomato Soup' which...