Although I'm writing an article on deadline for Monday, I wanted to post some upcoming garden events in Oklahoma City. The first is the Oklahoma Gardening School, Saturday, March 1, 2008, sponsored by the Myriad Botanical Gardens. You can still sign up with a charge card by calling (405) 297-3995. To get through the automated phone system, press "0." The cost is $40.00. I've made my reservation. On Sunday, March 2, 2008, the Oklahoma Horticulture Society is having its annual meeting at the Oklahoma City Zoo in the Educational Building. The meeting starts at 1:00 p.m. In the same location, at 2:30 p.m., the Annual Oklahoma Horticultural Society Lecture Series presents author and lecturer, Cole Burrell. The cost for this is free. You can't beat free. On March 8, 2008, the Oklahoma Iris Society's Pollen Dauber Seminar presents Dave Niswonger of Cape Girardeau, Missouri. He will speak from 9:00 a.m....

Dave at The Home Garden asked us to share what we thought was our gardening niche. I'm good at a few things like: growing vegetables, roses, and daylilies, along with their supporting cast of perennials and annuals. However, that's not much of a niche. After some consideration, I would have to say that after forty-five years of living, I understand my climate. I know Oklahoma's fierce changes of weather; its strange soil that ranges from heavy clay to light red sand eroded from sandstone; its seeming moodiness at being neither the Southwest, the Midwest, the East Coast, nor the West. In national gardening magazines, which I love, I find that we fit nowhere. Instead, we seem to have a little bit of everyone's climate. At first, I found this confusing, but after twenty plus years of trial and error, I know what will grow here. And what won't. The list...

Ready to sow some seeds? It's almost time. I usually plant my cold crops the last week of February. In the meantime, head on over to Blotanical and check out some of the best garden blogging around. Created by Stuart Robinson, Blotanical is the place to find garden blogs all over the world. Among the best things about the site are the eight maps which show with a stickpin flower exactly where the bloggers strut their stuff. If you're starved for current photos, go to Indonesia, or South Africa, or check out Stuart's own blog, Garden Tips 'n' Ideas, in Australia. I kid you not. You can see what others plant in their climates. It's educational. It's fun. When I first started blogging, I looked to Blotanical's previous incarnation to find other bloggers in Oklahoma. I found three. Only three, but after contacting them, we all became friends who read...

HH and I took a little trip. We went with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law to the Big Apple for four wonderful days. It was my second time to visit, and HH's first. I loved what he said about it. "It's like they took the Oklahoma State Fair and dropped it right in the middle of town." I was afraid he wouldn't like the hustle and bustle, but he's ready to go back. Today. We saw two Broadway shows, Wicked and Young Frankenstein. The actors were true professionals and the stagecraft, from the sets to sound effects, was mesmerizing. It was exciting to travel the Brooklyn Bridge, and to ride the elevators to the top of the Empire State Building and 30 Rock. We also went to Ground Zero. For me, it was emotional, like Oklahoma City's own bombing, but on a super-devastation scale. The other time I visited was 1980,...