We're almost at the end of May. The roses bloomed in April signifying it's time for late spring garden chores. If you're feeling behind the eight ball, I'm not surprised. I always feel like there's too much to do in late spring, but this year is wetter than usual, bringing more weeds. Still, the garden has never looked more lush. The beautiful 'Annabelle' hydrangeas in front of my arbor. I love this view. Weed first. Then lay mulch. Yesterday, I spent the entire day working on weeding the borders at the front of the house, and my friend who was helping me, worked on the main shade border. We weeded, planted some sun coleus--which can be grown in sun or shade--and mulched. I didn't take any photos of the front of the house. Below are the shady spots where we worked in the back garden. There were so many weeds!...

Gardening with Alpha-gal syndrome might not be on your mind when you're initially diagnosed. At first, you're simply trying to figure out how to navigate what to eat and probably what to wear, not to mention your medications. Many of our medications in the U.S. have mammal in them, and we can be very allergic to some ingredients. Alpha-gal syndrome, courtesy of Alph-gal Information's website. But, if you're a gardener, trying to garden with Alpha-gal syndrome will soon become important to you. As I explained to the Two Alpha Gals on an episode of their In the Tall Grass podcast, I can't stop gardening. Gardening is my life. To learn more about this tick-borne disease, here's another recent article about Alpha-gal syndrome by Sage Scott. Also, look at Alpha-gal Information, a project of Alpha-gal Alliance. Spoiler: Alpha-gal is becoming an epidemic. Adult female Lonestar tick, Amblyomma americium. Photo courtesy of...

Dear Spring Garden, I love you. You are having a banner spring. I took a few photos and recorded you for posterity because heavy rain is supposed to fall this weekend. These pink irises were from my mother-in-law's garden. I've had them since I married Bill. They were being smothered in the lower garden, and they are much happier in the kitchen border. Irises and Center Glow ninebark and Peaches and Cream Japanese maple. Does the spring garden get any prettier? Another dark purple beauty. The beard is almost dark blue. I like dark irises a lot. I like irises, but it never fails. We have a giant rainstorm every time they bloom. Well, this year, I took photos for posterity beforehand. Dark and handsome iris. That's not its name, but it's what I call him. We need the rain. We always need rain even if irises and peonies don't...

Last year, I wrote my container garden tutorial, but I neglected to post the information about easy plants for your containers. Let's remedy that, shall we? These are some of my favorite easy plants for containers. Many people like subtle monochromatic pairings, but I'm a bold kind of girl. There is trailing verbena, calibrochoa, sun coleus, gaillardia (not tropical, but works great in containers because of good drainage), and an agastache. Consider this my Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day post. Carol Michel hosts GBBD each month on the 15th at May Dreams Gardens. Tropical plants are the easiest ones to grow in summer containers. Tropical plants are the easiest plants to grow in containers in Oklahoma and other hot places. You can also grow perennials and shrubs, but tropical plants are more forgiving than others. In fact, tropical plants are a summer garden's best friend. Here are a few I try...