'Bloodgood' Japanese maple Want some red in your yard? How about a Japanese maple like this? You can have one. I took this photo in a neighborhood in Edmond, Oklahoma. Although this is a great example of a mature 'Bloodgood' Japanese maple, which is one of the more common types of red Japanese maples available at the various garden centers, I would limb up some of the undergrowth to emphasize the beautiful crown. I don't own a 'Bloodgood', but I do grow two lovely Japanese maples. One, I've grown for three or four years. It is a very small, slow growing, cascading form called 'Crimson Queen' (Acer palmatum var. dissectum) and is shown with the angel below. This is an excellent time of year to plant trees and shrubs, especially since this spring is cool, rainy and slowly creeping toward summer. Some years we have drought and heat in April,...

Over the weekend, the Spring Flingers were profiled by Robin Chotzinoff in the Austin Statesman. Check it out, and you'll discover that Carol from May Dreams Gardens is a rock star among garden bloggers. (I thought we all just wanted her for our neighbor.) After I read the article, I had visions of gentle Carol playing a riff on Guitar Hero. Who knows? Maybe she plays in a rock band when she's not writing and gardening, or working at her full time job. MSS of Zanthan Gardens and Pam from Digging were quoted, along with yours truly. Pam's Digging and Tom Spencer's Soul of the Garden were also part of the article sidebar. May I say that MSS looked really cute writing on her laptop in her garden? Seriously, Robin put forth some good questions about blogging in general. She questioned whether we should try to make money with our...

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...