Most of Oklahoma got rain night before last. The rain-soaked garden woke up yesterday morning to singing birds, crawling caterpillars and me stalking it with my camera. There is nothing more pleasurable than spring in an Oklahoma garden, except, maybe fall, but spring is being extra good to us this year. I almost always approach the back garden from the French doors leading out onto my deck. I'm getting ready to skip down the stairs and out onto the gravel paths. This week I got all of my pots planted except one that held a blueberry bush. I was waiting to see if it was alive. Blueberries often go dormant here, but it definitely looks dead. I'll replace it with something from Bustani Plant Farm on Monday. Rain in Oklahoma is cause for celebration, and it looks like we're in a stormy pattern for the next week or so. We need...

After returning home from Italy last week, I found the garden in better shape than I expected. Ornamental gardens are forgiving. In spring, my garden is always covered in leaves and debris. I live at the axis of the shortgrass prairie and the beginning of the deciduous forest in the hills of east central Oklahoma after all. In the back garden, we removed the surrounding chicken wire fence and blew the leaves out into the lower pasture. The entire garden, including the back beds, is way ahead of last year. We will replace the worn out chicken wire with flat cattle panels cut in half to make it easier to weed-eat around the garden's border while keeping bunnies at bay. Front flower beds before cleanup yesterday and today. Yesterday, after a few days recovering from jetlag, I went outside and worked on the last two beds in disarray. I cut...

I've been away for a couple of weeks on a beautiful Catholic pilgrimage in Assisi. It's always been our dream to visit Rome and Assisi. Everything aligned, and Bill, Claire and I went for ten days with Fr. Cory Stanley and the good people of Prince of Peace Parish in Altus and St. Helen in Frederick, Oklahoma. Fr. Stanley lived in Rome for several years, and he was a great spiritual guide, who could also speak Italian. Fr. Joseph Schwarz was our other wonderful spiritual guide. Our main tour guide was Alessandro Pietro Gaj. He and Luciano, our fantastic, amazing bus driver, made our trip the best it could be. The tour company is 206 Tours, and they specialize in pilgrimages. I can't say enough nice things about this company. Bill and Claire on the plane to Assisi and Rome. We were very excited even if they don't look like...

Guess what! I'm doing another book giveaway with the help of Chronicle Books and Erin Benzakein of Floret Farm.  I love Erin's work. Don't know Erin? Well, where have you been? She's an extremely popular flower farmer, cut-flower style setter, mother, seed purveyor, and so much more. Erin's Instagram account boasts 389,000 + followers. Can you say, "Wow!? I was so happy to help out with her blog book tour. I mean, just looking at these photos is like taking a vacation to Skagit Valley, Washington, one of my favorite places on Earth. “I have found tremendous joy in growing and sharing seasonal flowers and foliage. My hope is that my book will help others discover this joy and provide practical information to grow the garden of their dreams.” Photo courtesy of Chronicle Books and Erin Benzakein. Since my blog is very photo driven, I asked for a photo essay, and Chronicle Books sent...