My front garden in the spring of 2015, now featured on the cover and inside story of the Jan/Feb 2016 issue of GARDEN GATE magazine. Subscribe here .
In February of last year an editor from GARDEN GATE MAGAZINE contacted me about helping them scout and shoot some gardens in Oklahoma City. She found my blog while doing research on Oklahoma gardens... the magazine is out of Des Moines, Iowa... and they had not been to Oklahoma before or visited any of our homes and landscapes. Since I am always happy to promote OK gardening and our state in any way possible, I was more than happy to oblige and we scheduled
their visit during the height of tulip season here. They spent almost a week in our city, visiting about six or seven gardens I thought they might enjoy. One of them was mine, and I am thrilled to let you know that my Spring Show for 2015 now graces the cover of their Jan/Feb 2016 issue (on newsstands now. Find it at BARNES AND NOBLE Bookstores, or subscribe here).
Our fickle OK weather cooperated and they got some amazing shots of what Okie gardeners can grow in early spring, in contrast to their Iowa landscape, still frigid and cold in the first days of the season.
I produced a long ago 'before' image of the front for them to see... a picture I have shared on this blog many times before. Consequently, they focused on a before and after theme, and even I was startled to see the juxtaposition of the two images... and the transformation...laid out on the magazine page.
They also included images of some of my favorite tulips and why I am so fond of them.
I have shared these varieties on p o t a g e r before, go here or here for more images, sources, and ideas.) And of course, pick up a copy of this month's GARDEN GATE...this blog is just a tease
for the issue itself. I think you will find it a pleasant distraction ... as we slog through the dull months of winter... trying to shift our gaze from the mounds of ice-casualty tree debris and worn out Christmas trees along the sides of the road...as we drive from here to there in the cold and gray.
So pick up a copy and treat yourself to a heavy dose of spring color, a cup of hot tea...
and maybe an idea or two.
(* Note: in the magazine, the golden mounds are incorrectly identified as Black-Seeded Simpson lettuce (which I also grow in the front bed). Frequent visitors to my garden will
recognize it as golden feverfew, one of my favorite plants of all time.)