Awww.. look at that cute baby! She looks like a pup, not 12! Alright, well maybe the grey on her muzzle gives it a way a wee bit, but only because I know what I am looking for! :o) Oh, yeah, the flowers! Lovely photos... I am REALLY diggin' Metaphysical Moment! I keep meaning to put more Lambertsons in my garden, but $$ only goes so far! Maybe now that my plants are getting big, I can start trading, won't that be fun!

Sorry it has taken me a while to get back and check in. I was out of town for work and just got home. Thanks so much everyone for the compliments. It makes me feel good, I must admit. I always seem to see what needs to be done, and sometimes forget to look at what it is! I will try to answer everyone's questions. Hope I don't miss any. In no particular order... The lilies in the "big" picture are almost all daylilies. The lilies in the close-up pictures I am not sure. Just some bulbs I picked up, probably at a big box store or the local garden center? Sorry I don't have their names. The rose pictured in the 4th picture is Morden Belle. There are actually 3 bushes planted in that bed. I hope that is the rose you meant? Yes, I do have the courtyard of roses and yes they are blooming. However, many of the roses on the fence were taken down this year due to RRD. I have planted bittersweet in their place. Won't be the beautiful flowers, but will provide privacy that won't get RRD. As you can see from the picture below, the fence is now pretty bare looking on the side. I have decided that I will try to keep the roses on the fence across the end and around the corner. The need for privacy there is not so great, as the Wine and Roses weigela in the island bed does screen most of the garden from that end. Again, thank you everyone! I am so glad you enjoyed the pictures. It does help to make the aches and pains feel better! :-) Marylu

Hi Owie! I know. The mesonet data is depressing. Just click on anything for south-central Oklahoma and the red lights start flashing and a voice from a loadspeaker starts yelling "drought! drought! drought!" Seriously though, my "winter/spring" seasonal pond which catches the overflow from the big pond is completely empty. My big (supposedly year-round) pond is now tiny and has less than a foot of water in it. My tiny wildlife pond by my veggie garden has only a few inches of water in it. My lily pond between the house and garage does have water, but only because I filled it up with the hose so I could keep the plants in it alive. And all my lovely springs are drying up. The swamp is about to turn into a desert. My ground is cracking. My WEEDS are turning yellow and dying, which isn't so bad. I've watered the veg. garden several times already. Looks like a long, hard summer unless May turns into a monsoon. I'm just thankful that the whole gardening thing I do is for us, and not for commercial purposes. If I had to depend on rainfall to make a crop that I was expecting to support us financially, we'd be in trouble! One of these days I'm going to look at your rainfall over there on the Mesonet, but I'm afraid I'll be so jealous I'll turn green with envy! Dawn, who obviously didn't consider rainfall OR soil when selecting a little homesite in the country

Great pics! Looks like another beautiful day by you and the plants are really liking the mild weather! Those irises have a lot of nice color to them and I always like to see a cactus in bloom! The palms look great also. The waggie is making a nice comeback! Really happy to hear that the T. nanus survived the winter and is making a recovery from its fall spear pull! Everything looks like its getting a great start to summer! Today was supposed to be average (about 70F) and sunny, but instead its completely overcast and so far struggling to make 60F. Its also the 5th day in a row that some rain has fallen! Im getting so tired of this weather and I dont trust the forecast since every day is always cloudier and colder than forecasted lately (and the forecast isnt that warm to begin with!). What this cold weather does make me notice though is that while some plants like bananas hate the cold, other tropicals like Mandevillas, dracaeneas, majesty palms, and all my shade loving tropicals, actually dont mind the cooler weather! And at least the night temperatures have been pretty good! Thanks for sharing -Alex