It's good and bad when seed catalogs show up in our mail boxes just before Christmas. The good part is they give gardeners something to do when everything outdoors is brown and gray. If you're lucky and live where you get snow, at least it's pretty. Here, everything is rather ugly this time of year. Even our grass is brown until April or May. Don't believe me? Winter potager and greenhouse Still don't? Another view of the winter landscape in the back garden. The only green thing is that stupid Eastern redcedar that my husband insists on keeping, but that's a subject for another day. I get sassy in winter when there's no sun for days on end. Now, back to our regularly scheduled program: buying seeds. The bad part? I probably don't need to belabor it, but.... Since we gardeners are feverishly waiting for spring, our eyes can overwhelm our pocketbooks. Does...

Good morning friends. It's 18F degrees outside, but in my log cabin, all is cozy and warm. I hope that all of you are doing well in this brand new year. By the way, doesn't Tap look like king of all he surveys? I caught him gazing off in the distance yesterday. My family is changing again. With children, it seems that the teens and twenties are all about rapid life changes. Getting driver's licenses; moving out; going to college; moving back in again--you get the picture. Bear--I still protect her name on the blog as she's not yet grown--is now driving with me as her navigator every morning on the way to school. She must travel a long way in morning traffic, and we want her fully ready for this big step when she turns sixteen in the spring. The children, Ashley, Megan, Bear and Brennan. Can you believe Bear will be sixteen? Remember when I...

In much of Oklahoma, we woke up to a surprise snowfall this morning. The weather forecasters thought we would get rain. It may be rain, but it's frozen. All the better to show off red birds in the snow against dark branches. Male cardinals on the arbor gate to the back garden. Can you see the girl amongst her suitors? Traffic was slow going, and accidents were shown on television as they happened on bridges and overpasses in Oklahoma City. Further north, we enjoyed the warmth indoors while I shot photos of Cardinals and other birds enjoying the bird feeder. Although it's not a red bird in the snow, I liked this photo so much of a bird on the wire I included it. I hope all of you had a Merry Christmas and will have a Happy New Year. I have a touch of a cold, not that bad, but...

British garden books are a whole different flavor from American ones. I think the ones below would make great gifts for any gardener on your list. These books are my current British favorites. Some I was sent through the American arm of their publisher while others I purchased for myself. As I looked over all the books this year, I kept wondering how the British are able to afford to publish such big, beautiful tomes in these days of cutting publishing expenses. Perhaps, it's because they are a nation of gardeners, and gardening books sell better there. I don't know, but I will bask in the richness of their photography and page length. Cover of Virginia Woolf's garden. Photography © 2013 Caroline Arber Although my first choice is titled Virginia Woolf's Garden, (Jacqui Small, LLP 2013), by Caroline Zoob, and photographed by Caroline Arber, it's really about Virginia's husband, Leonard, who was the hands-on gardener....