We are at the cusp of rose bloom. Tiny buds reach for the sunlight, but not many petals have unfurled during this chilly spring. Yesterday, a few blooms braved our roller coaster temperatures, starting to open. I still need to put alfalfa pellets around the bushes to give them a boost, but these blossoms won't wait. 'Archduke Charles' in the photos (left and below) is a China rose. Chinas are credited with giving modern roses remontant (repeat) flowering. Before the Chinas became part of rose parentage and history, roses only bloomed once a season. I have several of these one-time Grand Dames, but they are still in bud and will be until May. The Chinas in my gardens begin blooming first, and usually close out the last of summer. The bottom photo isn't a very good one because it shows both mottling on the open flower from cooler temps and...

I kept passing by the asparagus bed last week. Each time I frowned because this is what I saw. This may not look bad to you, but this patch normally produces more asparagus than my family can eat. Do you see those spindly spears? At first, I thought it just needed manure. Asparagus is a heavy feeder, eating almost as much as my roses. The day I saw this I didn't have time to spread manure, so I walked on by. A few days later, I decided to weed the bed before I amended the soil. We have lots of chicken manure, but, at present, no chickens. Our girls are all clucking in the great, green meadow in the sky. I almost bought new chicks this spring, but we want to travel some with the red dirt kids. Traveling and chickens don't mix. I took my angle weeder and began...

In the last two weeks, I've received an E for Excellence award from three awesome bloggers. They are awesome in their own right and not just because they each gave me an "E." Although, a girl always likes it when someone says she's "done good." The bloggers in question are: Brenda from The Brenda Blog, who was the first to give me a gold star. I met Brenda through blogging. She's a former Okie who's moved to Texas. Curtiss Ann Matlock, who is an accomplished writer (published over 30 books) and has been my friend for the last twenty years, gave me the second one. She's kinda new to the blogging scene. If you get a chance, please welcome her. Debi from Aunt Debbi's Garden always makes me smile with her monkeys' antics, and she gave me the third one. Shannon from The Mommy Project originally started this award to...

Bustani, which I'm told means garden in Swahili, is the name Steve and Ruth Owens gave to their small farm just south of Stillwater, Oklahoma. Steve is the former host of the popular PBS gardening show, Oklahoma Gardening. After he spoke at the Oklahoma Horticulture Society meeting last month, I decided I needed to make the trek north. My garden friend, Katie, who is the brains behind Sister B.J.'s Pantry garden in Oklahoma City, came with me. There is no one more fun to travel to plant sales with. Katie is at least as enthusiastic about plants as I am. She was buying for both her own garden and that of Sister's. Warned by a friend to get there early, Katie arrived at my house at 7:45 a.m. We grabbed a couple of hot teas and bottled water and headed out map in hand. We got lost once, but after...