Our dock in the high water of our pond after the rains. We're supposed to get more rain tonight. I hope that doesn't happen. Two days before Monday, Oklahomans were warned it was going to be a bad day, a "high risk" weather day. That afternoon, I was recording this week's Gardenangelists podcast on clematis, aggressive vs. invasive plants and vegetable gardening with Carol Michel of May Dreams Garden and had turned my phone to do not disturb. Suddenly, my Apple Watch tapped me with a message. It was my son overriding my do not disturb with a text about a tornado warning in Logan County. I left off Skyping with Carol and turned on the weather coverage. Fortunately, the storms were forming along a dry line north of me outside of Mulhall and later Perry. That meant those tornadoes wouldn't hit here. How did I know? I live in...

American wisteria 'Amethyst Falls' and 'Tamukeyama' Japanese maple (1 of 1) Come, step into my garden and take a walk with me. Ah May, I'm so glad you're here. It seemed like the weather would never get warm, and the rain would never stop falling. The front of our house with fescue lawn. We had visitors this week, and everyone kept asking what kind of fescue we planted. Just a normal Pennington mix. It's all about water and fertilizer. Fescue likes both, and we've had so much rain. I'm not complaining mind you, not about the rain anyway. Oklahomans never complain about rain. In some years, it can be so dry here that's it's all I can do to get things to live and grow. The green chairs in the front fescue lawn. I don't remember the grass ever looking this good. I've barely watered it. Mother Nature has done...

If you came across Red Dirt Ramblings because of a Google search, you're probably thinking about growing your first garden, and you might be interested in container gardening. Why? Because container gardening is a great way to begin. Honestly, this grape tomato is planted in too small a container. Still, it did fine. So, let's begin at the beginning. Growing a garden, vegetable, ornamental or a mixture of the two, is easy in containers. You usually don't even need to weed! 'Carmen' peppers, they're so dark red they're almost black. Peppers are easy to grow in containers. For vegetables, Smart Pots are wonderful and can be packed away once the gardening season is over. I grow potatoes, squash, and tomatoes in Smart Pots. You can too. Just pick the right-sized pot for what you're trying to grow. Here's a hint: Tomatoes and squash like pots in the five-gallon size or...

I have fallen crazy in love with Crazytunia Moonstruck, a Proven Winners selection. I am really behind on my April garden chores, and after the last couple of days, rain and abundant sun is making the cultivated plants and weeds grow. I would love to tell you I'm all sage and wisdom about my garden chores, but I am not. Quite frankly, I am trying not to panic. Part of the back garden in the middle of April. This looks good, but I have so much more to do. So, to keep us both on track, here are garden chores I'm performing in my garden for the last two weeks of this month. Keep cutting back ornamental grasses. Try not to cut any green growth, but if you cut some, it's okay. Don't cut back Mexican feather grass or carex. They may not recover. You comb them instead. For me,...