Last week, my family celebrated spring's arrival with a St. Patrick's Day party. We do this every year, and it's one of my favorite get togethers. I decided I wanted to showcase my glassybaby collection (small that it is) with flow blue china. Bill gives me a piece of flow blue for nearly every holiday, but especially at Christmas. I don't collect a particular pattern, but I like older pieces, especially Devon, Dahlia and Touraine. As for glassybaby, show me one I don't like. I think their appeal is the blown glass, and the fact that the company gives ten percent of every purchase to charity. I'm into the greens now probably because it's spring. I bought hidden moss yesterday. I can only afford them in ones and twos. The ones shown below are hide & seek with cherish on the far right. I planted violas in a flow blue china...

Gardens don't have to be expensive. Here are several flowers to grow from seed. All can be sown directly outdoors too. Many of them come from cottage gardens or your grandmother's garden, and there's a good reason. They are almost all self-sowing and easy to grow. If you have decent soil and can scratch a little of it away to plant your seeds, they're that easy. If you want to know more about starting seeds indoors, please visit my other blog, The 20-30 Something Garden Guide because I've posted a lot about indoor seed sowing there. These seeds are in no particular order as to favorites. I like them all and plant them every year. These flowers are also high in nectar and pollen if you plant older varieties. That means your garden will be full of butterflies and other pollinators too. Is there any more complicated flower structure than...

Iris reticulata 'Harmony'--sometimes seeing a flower from above or below gives you a completely different perspective. Welcome to Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, March 2014. From 2012, I can see we are behind schedule. I guess I didn't write a post for March 2013. Is anyone surprised we're moving in slow motion after the winter we had? Snow, snow and more snow. Our weather is only now cooperating, and we have a lot of spring to get through before we can declare ourselves frost/freeze free by April 20 or so. So, hang in there folks, enjoy each day as it comes and try not to worry about your peach crop and apple trees let alone the roses. Oh, about the roses, go ahead and prune and feed them. It's time, a little past actually, but don't feel bad . . . I'm right there with you. Narcissus 'Tete-a-tete' with small violas...

The beautiful Myriad Botanical Gardens in downtown Oklahoma City. Have you heard? Each year, the Myriad Botanical Gardens holds an Oklahoma Gardening School in the center of downtown Oklahoma City. This year's theme is "From Chard to Chickens: Rethinking the American Kitchen Garden." Sounds like a 20-30 Something event to me. I took all of these pictures of the Myriad Botanical Gardens last June when I wrote an article for Oklahoma Gardener magazine about three Oklahoma botanical gardens. Another shot of the Myriad Botanical Gardens in June. This year's school starts on Friday with a course on urban chickens from Noon to 1:30 p.m. This is ironic since Oklahoma City recently decided to veto chickens in urban backyards--a decision that makes me sad. However, I have news for the city. Chickens are thriving everywhere within its borders. I see and occasionally hear them as I drive my daughter to school. Oklahoma...