Pink vs. Red Shirley Poppies

I thought I had so carefully selected and scattered only the pink poppies seeds in the

west border.  Lovely as they are, the red poppies clash with the pink, white and purple color scheme...

of the Gertrude Jekyll rose and the pink peonies of the exact same hue. 

And the predominantly pink foxglove, dianthus, and clematis.

As inarguably color-popping as the red ones are...

they just don't jive with the more delicate hues of pink shades that are everywhere in my mid-May garden.

And it really messes with my head. Because they really are so dear...and it's not THEIR fault they don't fit into my garden scheme.

 To pull, or not to pull...

the cheery, red poppies?  Off with their pretty little heads, and
out with their stems?

In the name of harmony and  garden design?

Do help me out here.  As I recall, I had this same dilemma last spring.


What would YOU do?

if you were me?

Orchids for Mother's Day

Please join me and Linda Cavanaugh tomorrow on News Channel 4 at 4:30. We'll be talking about selecting and caring for orchids, a perfect Mother's Day gift idea!

A Brief Love Affair

 

Shirley Pink Poppies

 The many faces of Shirley.

A  p o t a g e r pink poppy parfait for

 your pleasure. 

Before and After

This is a busy time in our gardens.  Spring always is. Life always is.  With so much still to do.  With so little time --- or so we imagine.

Sometimes, I have to remind myself, during crazed moments (or months) when I feel there is still so much to do...

that it is important to reflect on... and enjoy

how much has already been done.

Brightening Up Dark Spots in Your Garden

Need some ideas to brighten up the dark spots in your garden and landscape?

Join me and Linda Cavanaugh today at 4:30 on NewsChannel 4.

Find Your Safe Spot

We Oklahomans are always being told to

'take shelter' and 'find our safe spot' by local weather men and women.

We hunker down and nestle in to protect ourselves from 

all sorts of meteorological shenanigans.

Many of which are threatening us for the next couple of days.

Take your pick of severe weather for these first three May Days in Oklahoma:  

severe thunderstorms with possible hail, lightening, and high wind...maybe with a tornado or two...or three.

One never knows.

To mix things up a bit, throw in a possible light or hard freeze, flash flood, or a dusting of snow.

Shake (or stir) with a possible earthquake or two...or three,

and you have just another run-of-the-mill day on the Oklahoma prairie.

Good luck braving the storm in your neck of woods...

Caddo Maples From My House to Yours

What can a girl do to acknowledge something truly wonderful in a person's life?

(Wonderful being such an inadequate word in this instance...)

Incredible, miraculous, amazing...simply splendid! (yes, I have been reading a British novel...) 

All inadequate.

After thinking about it for a while...

I came up with this revised question.

What can a person do to acknowledge something wonderfully transformative in a person's life?

An acknowledgment that is humble by comparison, and symbolic in intent

A gesture understood by giver and receiver to commemorate something...of the past, and of the future. 

Representing a connection between places and people and plans for this future...

of beauty and meaning, growth,

and yes, transformation.

Last Tulip Standing

I have lived at this address for over twenty years... it has only been in the last three or four that hail has been such a problem. (Hail is the new tornado in OK.)

I had indeed planned to work in the garden yesterday. I was almost finished with the major things, and was looking forward to the minor ones.  The ever so pleasant piddling and puttering ones.  

Instead, I swept and raked and blowed and mowed and pruned and cut back...for six hours, no less...after Friday night's most recent hail storm.

The scent of rich, wet, sticky chloryphyl is still in my nose and on my skin. Probably will be for days.

Can you find it? Look closely. To the left of the birdbath...

But it could have been worse. No car or roof damage. The bulbs and phlox were about finished any way...tulips ready to be pulled up and relegated to the compost pile...

except one.  I give you:

The tortoise tulip of spring. Cagey and clever to have waited so long to bloom; defiant, solitary, and brave.

The winner in my tulips' game of musical chairs.

Enjoying much more attention now...in her isolated glory

than she ever would have received as just another bloom amongst the masses.

Still erect and proud after the storm...stately without relying on the others for support or visual reinforcement.

She will now command all of my respect, admiration and 
attention.  She is

the Last Tulip Standing.