Oklahoma is cloudy and wet on this December Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day hosted each month by Carol Michel at May Dreams Gardens. Cold is supposed to return tomorrow. Oh joy. Each morning for the last two weeks, I woke to mostly gray skies and fog. This advection fog is an unusual phenomenon for this time of year caused by a warm and moist air mass moving over the cooling earth. Yesterday, thunderstorms rolled across the state, and even a couple of small tornadoes touched down in open fields. No one was injured, and no property damaged. Think a moment about what I just wrote. Thunderstorms, tornadoes and fog--does this sound like winter in the central South? Do you remember last year? The only place that was warm was the greenhouse. Narcissus 'White Nir' and 'Ariel' paperwhites aren't as highly scented as 'Ziva' which is sold nearly everywhere. Still, the calendar says December, and I...

I'm honored that Fran Sorin asked RDR to be part of her cyber book party and giveaway for the 10th Anniversary and re-release of her ground-breaking book, Digging Deep. We have prizes galore for this book party. Last week, I gave away Haven Brand manure tea--also part of this party as you'll see below--an amaryllis bulb, and now even more great prizes. I am such a party animal lately. Digging Deep Giveaway In preparation for its updated release and my endorsement, I read Digging Deep: Unearthing Your Creative Roots Through Gardening many months ago. It touched me deeply. My endorsement is below and in the praise section at the beginning of the book. I joined several other authors because I think we need Fran's updated release more than ever in our technological world. Not only that, but many American gardening books are all about results and how-tos. Gardening is a reflective process, and we Americans could certainly...

Wondering what gift to buy your gardener for Christmas this year? I have some great gift book ideas for you. This was a banner year for garden books, so I'm writing this post and a second British edition later next week. Of the books sent to me this year, these are my American favorites. Some were published by my publisher, St. Lynn's Press, while others were published by Storey Publishing, LLC and Timber Press. Cover of Five-Plant Gardens by Nancy Ondra. Excerpted from Five-Plant Gardens (c) Nancy J. Ondra. Illustrations by Beverly Duncan. Photography by (c) Rob Cardillo. Used with permission of Storey Publishing. First up is Five-Plant Gardens: 52 Ways to Grow a Perennial Garden with Just Five Plants (Storey Publishing 2015), by Nan Ondra. I would buy and read anything Nan wrote. I own most of her books and re-read them in winter for inspiration. There is no one who...

I like hippeastrum. What are hippeastrum you ask? We know them as amaryllis. When I write that I like them, I mean I'm a hipp-aholic. They brighten my house with their stately blooms before Christmas and after. Growing amaryllis is easy, and I want you to grow them too. Plus, thanks to Longfield Gardens, I get to give one of my readers a 'Red Lion' amaryllis bulb of your very own. If you're in a hurry and want to bypass the drawing, here's a link to their bestselling amaryllis. Robin Haglund of Garden Mentors and Kylee Baumle of Our Little Acre are joining me in this fun giveaway. It was actually Robin's idea. We're all sharing our personal experiences growing these easy and fun bulbs. Plus, we're giving away a three-pack of Annie Haven's manure tea as fertilizer. If you didn't win in my last contest, here's another chance. A red amaryllis I...