Putting the frame back into the hive. My first season of beekeeping. Several people have asked about my bees and my first season of beekeeping so I thought I would share some photos my daughter, Claire, took of a hive inspection yesterday. When I'm working alone, I don't have enough hands to take photos very easily, and I haven't yet created a setup like some beekeepers to take video. Maybe I will someday, but now, I'm doing good to hold the frames, smoke the hive and watch out for the small insects. They don't always take kindly to being disturbed. Lighting my smoker. Beekeeping has its own language. The first thing I had to learn was all the different beekeeping terminology. Just like gardening, beekeeping has its own language. I may mention one or more of these terms throughout this post so I want to explain them as best I can. Hives are...

Newby Hall's long herbaceous borders, replanted by Lucinda Compton. The borders were the original gardens at the house. One of my favorite gardens we visited on our Yorkshire Garden Trip was Newby Hall. Newby Hall was built for William Weddell, but the first home wasn't like the stately one now standing. The main part of the current house was designed by Sir Christopher Wren for Sir Edward Blackett. Sir Blackett must have had some pull to get Wren who also designed St. Paul's Cathedral and many other buildings after the Great Fire of London in 1666. Newby Hall's Proud History. The Weddell family eventually acquired the land and the home and set about making it theirs. They made improvements and employed architects to enlarge the house. If you loved the television show, Downton Abbey, as I did, you'll be happy to know that a real Lord Grantham lived in the home at one...

This morning, I was outside watering the containers on the deck and those next to the potager and greenhouse. We had very hot temperatures in Oklahoma last week. One day we topped out at 108° and another, 110°F. We are now back down to the normal mid to low-90s, but Oklahoma's extreme summer weather proved which were the best plants for summer containers. Containers on the back deck surrounding the chairs. I think if I had to live again in an apartment, I would be ok if I had a place for lots of containers. Behind the chair is Pennisetum purpureum 'Princess Caroline' and next to it is P. purpureum 'Fireworks.' I love the way grasses sway in the breeze no matter how hot things get. Drip irrigation works Here's my rundown, but before we start, note that my containers are--for the most part--on drip irrigation. I did plant a...

Rosa 'The Poet's Wife' with a shorter variety of phlox. The name of the phlox is long gone. I like it though. Good morning campers! It's the 15th of the month so, you know that means Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day hosted by the splendid Carol of May Dreams Gardens. I went out last night and took some photos. Because we had popup showers all day, and my son mowed the grass, which is still surprisingly green, everything sparkled. Let's go check out the blooms at our Little Cedar Garden, shall we? Click on the photos in the galleries to increase the size of the pictures and read the captions. I took these yesterday evening after I worked in the garden all day. It was cloudy, and we had intermittent showers so the weather was humid, but not too hot. I would say that's Oklahoma's summer song this year, and in the...