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...

Louise @ Home Is Where the Heart Is chose me for a book tag. I decided to make mine garden themed. I like this book tag because of the randomness of it, and you all know how random I am. The rules are: Pick up a book of at least 123 pages Open the book to page 123 Find the fifth sentence Post the next three sentences Tag five people Because I enjoyed it, and I met the author at the Spring Fling, I am choosing People With Dirty Hands, by Robin Chotzinoff. It also appears that Robin has started her own blog under the same name. "Besides, I'd been told by then that you can't plant tomatoes from seed in Colorado, especially not in April, before the last frost. Imagine my surprise in late September when I discovered a massive crop of medium round tomatoes crowded under a mat...

Every morning, during the school year, I drive down a certain highway. From the road, for about a month every spring, I see the top of a large tree clothed in nothing but light, buttercup, yellow blossoms, the color and texture of the finest cream. This spring, I decided to see the tree up close. I wanted to touch those petals which looked so delicate, but were actually tough and thick. I took only my camera and cell phone, but I also brought some questions. 'Butterflies' magnolia What else remained on this property, which was, twenty years ago, a garden nursery? What happened if the closure were final and quick like a death, and the plants remained? When HH and I first married, I bought plants from this nursery. I was a garden neophyte, and I still remember the young woman who took me around, trying to help me find...