DEAR March, come in! How glad I am! I looked for you before. Put down your hat— You must have walked— How out of breath you are! Dear March, how are you? And the rest? Did you leave Nature well? Oh, March, come right upstairs with me, I have so much to tell! I got your letter, and the bird’s; The maples never knew That you were coming,—I declare, How red their faces grew! But, March, forgive me— And all those hills You left for me to hue; There was no purple suitable, You took it all with you. Who knocks? That April! Lock the door! I will not be pursued! He stayed away a year, to call When I am occupied. But trifles look so trivial As soon as you have come, That blame is just as dear as praise And praise as mere as blame. By:  Emily Dickinson...

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...