Can this only be March 15 and Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day? The temperature feels like late April, but before you run to the nursery and get tender plants, please don't. This weekend, Oklahoma is forecasted to get down to 34°F which is too cold for tender tropicals--the basis of our summer gardens. We may still get a freeze too. Remember, April 20 is our last average freeze date.  You've been warned. If you simply must, bring those flats home and let them sit in the house for a couple of weeks. You can move them in and out everyday. Doesn't that sound fun? I can't tell you how many times I've done that over the years. Helleborus x hyb. Ballerina Mix that's grown in my front bed for years. It's now really strutting its stuff. Alternatively, you can go buy yourself a new hellebore. That will help stave off spring fever for a week or...

After last week's beautiful summer foliage post, I promised you another entry devoted entirely to coleus. I'm crazy 'bout coleus, and I think you will be too when you consider all the summer gardening possibilities. As I've written before, tropical plants are a summer garden's best friend. That's not to say I don't like flowers. You know I love flowers, and gardens definitely need flowers in spring, summer and fall to stock your pollinator buffet. Coleus 'Golden Dreams' and 'Fishnet Stockings' seen at CAST. Note in Oklahoma's climate, 'Fishnet Stockings' needs some shade to perform at its best. I don't know about 'Golden Dreams.' There was a time when I didn't think much about coleus. Sure, they were pretty, but you could only grow them in the shade, and they took tons of water. I don't have that much shade. I never have, and I felt there were plenty of shade plants...

'Trailing Plum Brocade' coleus would look great spilling over a wall or a container. A garden without beautiful foliage is boring especially in the middle of a hot summer. Except in Oklahoma's most temperate years, most flowers slow down or even stop. That's why roses in my part of the country are spring and fall performers. They hang on through summer petulant and miserable as only queens can. Since Oklahoma is rarely temperate I've come to rely upon beautiful foliage plants, both perennial and tropical, to carry my garden into fall. Black elephant ear that can handle the sun. It does burn, but you can't see it. I bought my plant at Bustani Plant Farm. Then, if it gets too hot in July and August, I go on vacation leaving the garden to fend for itself for a couple of weeks. Because I have a watering system, I can do that. I gardened for twenty plus...

Before I mustered the courage to leap into the blogosphere on October 7, 2007, I read other blogs, especially those focused upon my passion for gardening. I spent months swooning over landscapes built by people I admired all over the U.S., and later, the world. Some of my favorite blogs live in Texas. One blog I never missed was Pam Penick's, Digging. Pam inspired me with her agaves and other Texas-loving plants. I admired how in 2011 she managed to keep her garden going in spite of terrible conditions. You do remember 2011, the summer from hell, don't you? In 2013, Pam authored her very popular book, Lawn Gone!: Low-Maintenance, Sustainable, Attractive Alternatives for Your Yard. Now, she's written another book that expands upon the subject of sustainability, The Water-Saving Garden: How to Grow a Gorgeous Garden with a Lot Less Water. I think all of us could do a better job of gardening while conserving water....