Hyacinths 'Delft Blue' I forced this fall and winter. For those who read this blog regularly, you know I often force bulbs in winter to keep my gardening chops alive and kicking. Who am I kidding? I start bulbs in winter to keep from losing my ever-loving mind. Most of January 2019, was cloudy, and February started out the same with the addition of a sleet and ice storm for a bright red cherry on top of the winter sundae. My hyacinths on the windowsill bring me happiness and joy. In August, I received my hyacinth bulbs from Van Engelen. I usually buy their exhibition collection because the bulbs are quite large with more blooming power. In years past, I've forced them in a variety of ways. In Oklahoma, you never know what the weather will bring, whether winter will be cold or warm, so it's hard to force bulbs,...

Red fountain in the potager At night when I can't sleep, I engage in a bit of garden dreaming. Instead of counting sheep, I wander through the everlasting garden in my mind. While meandering, I push away thoughts of garden work because just the images of all I need to do in spring might keep me up all night. This is about joy, not work. One of the places I often go is down the main walk of the garden where I sit for a while in the purple chairs. [bctt tweet="As J.M. Barrie wrote in A Window in Thrums, God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December. " username="reddirtramblin"] The two beds facing the street in the middle of summer. When I close my eyes, I see my garden as it was last spring, summer, and fall. The seasons are fluid and usually feature whichever part of the garden...

Hippeastrum 'Marquis' double amaryllis makes quite a statement blooming on the mantel. It's the New Year, and while I'm excited and grateful about a new page turning, I'm also sad because today is the first anniversary of my sister's death. Over the holidays, I've been thinking about a lot of things, about how life is measured in its smaller moments. Better writers than I have pondered these same questions. Alas, I'm only me so I'm going to give you a few of my thoughts too. Hunker down and read on, or not. That's the great thing about the Internet and also, its curse. You can click on and off of anything you want in a millisecond. The Internet is like some crazy person at the party, who talks too loudly and wears clothes that are too bright. Maybe he or she also has a flashing lampshade on his/her head, and...

Paperwhites and amaryllis make great Christmas decor, and they go on after the holidays are over. I grow a variety of flower bulbs indoors, but my favorites in December and January are amaryllis (Hippeastrum sp.) and paperwhites (Narcissus tazetta.) After all, it's always been my contention on this blog that blooming plants beat the winter blues. Some bulbs, like hyacinths and tulips, need a cooling period before you can coax them into flower. The method is called forcing. Other bulbs like most paperwhites and amaryllis only require potting up and watering. For this post, I'm not going to discuss forcing. Maybe I'll do a separate post on it later. I've written about my process with hyacinths before. I made a little video for Instagram to show how to grow an amaryllis from a kit as shown above. Although I know it's a simple activity for experienced gardeners, I think it can...