welcome welcome!!!

I live in north OKC myself

first things first..........have you looked around over at the soil/compost forum regarding improving clay soil

do you already have flower beds or are you starting from scratch?

I have not yet checked out the soil forum regarding clay soil, but I will. Thanks!
Well, the flower beds here have been "established", but the plants here are few and far between and don't look like they will "weather" very much. Let's see...begonias, dianthus, and some others I can't identify with my novice eye. The soil looks like about a 5 inch layer of decent soil with more clay soil beneath. I am currently "weeding" the front bed of grass and all it's trailing roots, as the previous folks really let it go. I am doing this painstakingly foot by foot, all by hand while trying to prevent damage to what is already planted...in case they are worthwhile to keep. Am I nuts? Or is there an easier way other than starting completely over?? Thanks for your input! I will check out the forum on soil.
-Emily

Well, after scanning the soil forum I am somewhat enlightened! Two schools of thought for amending clay soil seem to be: sand or organic. Seems organic amending might be easier for me. What do you think?

Sand is good, but compost is the best. Also chicken manure added to the mix is great as well. I can relate to that painstaking weeding! Heehee. I weed all the time. In fact, seems like I spend more time with the weeds than I do the rest of the garden, my family, the cats, everything!

Welcome to Oklahoma, though. Yeah, eastern Texas is beautiful, and I remember camping out in southeastern Texas with those big ole pine trees!

Kind of hard to say what to plant until you know what you have growing.

Welcome to Oklahoma!

I'm a refugee from Texas myself and gave been here since 1999.

I agree with Susan that compost is best. In our climate, clay + sand = adobe brick. I add only organic material to my clay, not just compost and manure, but shredded leaves, finely shredded bark, halfway (or more) decomposed hay or straw, etc. I also add soft rock phosphate, lava sand, greensand and other minerals.

If you are familiar with Texas' Dirt Doctor, Howard Garrett, and his recommendations, just follow them. They have helped me turn some of my brick-red hard-as-a-rock clay soil into some pretty fine loam over the years.

The most important thing for you to figure out next is the pH of your soil. Soil pH in Oklahoma can vary quite a bit from one part of the state to the other, just like in Texas. I live in southern Love County, way down south near the Texas border, and our soil pH on our property is around 6.5 to 6.8. I think yours may end up being very similar.

Once you know your soil pH, you can begin figuring out what will grow well for you. You will find that many plants that grow well in central Texas to Northeastern and North-central Texas will grow well for you in Edmond. And, there are a few plants that grow better here because of our colder winter weather, like lilacs.

Once you know your approximate soil pH, we all can list plants that will do well in your soil. If you aren't ready to do a soil test, check with your county's agriculture extension agent to find out what your county's pH range tends to be.

Dawn

is your head spinning yet? ;) lol

Welcome to Oklahoma. It is different than Texas, but I think it will grow on you and you will love it here in no time! As for the weeding---sounds like you have bermuda grass in everything and if that is the case, hand weeding is the only way. One good thing I have found that loves clay soil is comfrey. It's leaves break down and make excellent compost material.

River22 - I'd never heard that and will have to try it. Thanks for the info. This is an old fashioned herb isn't it? I used to be really into herbs and still grow a few. Actually most herbs will do okay in poor soil and they can tolerate are bizarre temperature extremes, too.

YUCK - bermuda grass is the bane of my existence! Whoever thought it made for a nice lawn should be shot!

Susan

Thank you all for the info and support! My research is still in progress re: the soil pH, but after Googling some of the research papers/info online, I found a study of the median pH of all the counties of OK. It seems that OK county's median is 6.7, Logan county's (just north of me) is 5.7. More acidic than I thought. I still await more info from the Ag ext agent.
Well, now "river22" and Susan have gotten my wheels turning for all my favorite herbs...hmmm, maybe I can start some in a pot in the back yard!

Emily: This is actually a pretty good zone for growing things....cold enough to grow some things (peonies for one) and warm enough to grow others. We are a zone 7, so that will give you some idea when you are looking at plants.

Clay soil gets a bad rap. There are good sides to it...it holds water and will hold organic material. Sand has to be a much harder soil to work with.

I'm partial to flowers, so I can't really help with non-flowering ornamentals :) I'll attach a link to my pictures, you can see what I grow. I'm just a hair south of you in The Village (between Edmond and OKC). The main page is more up close shots, but the "Yard Shots" album will give you a more comprehensive look.

If you decide to do flowers and want to be frugal...check into Winter Sowing. There's a forum for it, look on the main forum page down near the bottom.

Lisa

Here is a link that might be useful: Lisa's Gardens

Geez Lisa.

Your photos are awsome. You've really turned your home into something really gorgeous with all those flowers.

And speaking of soil amendments just where would a city boy get a load of chicken manure or spoilt hay?

I'm wondering if it's time to start doing more with the beds I've already started or if that would be biting off more than I can chew. I have two beds 2' X 20' along the east and west fences of my backyard that I put soaking wet cardboard over months ago. Don't have funds to buy the rest of the layers though right now either. This layered gardening is OK though. Have had a few weeds sprout up but nothing that isn't easily managed.

Hank

Hank: Thanks :)

One thing the city has that the country doesn't is Starbucks! They give away their coffee grounds. Also...grass clippings...if you catch it before it sets seed!

I have bought manure at Lowes if I was really desperate. I also really like Back to Earth (composted cotton burrs). Mostly I just make compost out of grass, weeds and kitchen scraps.

Lisa

Horn's at NW Expressway and Classen sells 40-lb bags of chicken manure for $5. A little goes a long way, because you need less of it than cow manure, and has more phosphorus and potassium than cow manure. A lady in Mississippi turned me on to it because we butterfly garden, so we're always looking for something to "beef up" our host plants and nectar plants. I think she has everyone on the forum using it now! LOL!

I mix it in with my clay soil and things just grow, grow, grow. I top dress my plants every month or so with more of it and water it in. It's great stuff.

Hank, I hear ya! I have newspaper laying around on various portions of my front yard (not the very, very front, but between the house and the sidewalk. Sure works. My next purchase will be mulch and edging material.

Susan

My compost bin is just one cubic yard. I about filled it with grass clippings with two cuttings of just my backyard. I've been throwing my own coffee grounds and egg shells into it but it is by far (90%) grass clippings. So now I just wait, right?

If my garden is 4' X 20', how much chicken manure should I use Lisa?

Susan, how much coffee grounds do you get from Starbucks and how often do you get them?

Hank

O.T. ----- OK you guys. I have been thinking that I need to start composting, mowing the lawn three times a week would overload my trash bins and I just don't know what else to do with the clippings. I've been bagging then mulching, so that I can try to return some of the nitrogen to the lawn, but if I decide to wait a day, or if it rains, the grass to too tall for mulching.

I've read the Composting forum, but they don't offer much info for beginners. Does anyone have a good website or book that they could recommend?

Emily, I recently moved here from SoCal, and the people on this forum are AWESOME!!! They have guided me through a few tough decisions as well as been a great place to chat when it was raining.

DH and I were really depressed when we got here in Sep/Oct and everything was BROWN!!! We hired a landscaper, with only one requirement, we wanted stuff that stays green, and we don't want pine tree or yews. We chose a few Foster Hollies for our foundation beds, as well as boxwood and a few other things. I lean towards English Cottage "design" with lots of flowers everywhere, (organized chaos is what DH calls it). I still miss the various types of plam trees and all the tropicals, but the variety that OK offers is enough to keep my head spinning. THe people on this forum are really good at keeping it from spinning out of control!!

Good Luck -

Courtney

Well, now I honestly feel as though I have gotten in way over my head! Mainly because I am trying to entertain my 6 month old as I research all this info on the net. Thank you all so much for your input and advice! I continue to appreciate the encouragement and ideas! I contacted the County Ext office via email and the only suggestion he had was to get a soil sample. Well, duh! I guess I was just hoping for a quick and dirty start with just a nice "average" pH such as DAWN suggested.
Honestly, since I am such a novice, I think I will go with the median pH's I have seen in the research for this area--which is also similar to what DAWN spoke of.
I also feel a little to inexperienced in all of this to actually start a compost pile...but I do appreciate the idea of chicken manure from SUSAN. 40# for $5 --just my speed.
Thanks for your suggestions and encouragement, LISA! The pics are beautiful!! Your other indulgent hobby must be photography!
Thanks for your suggestions, too, Courtney! I agree, I seem to be in a catch-22 because I dislike pines, but miss that "evergreen-ness" from home. Anyhoo, I am loving Oklahoma so far. The people, including you all, are GREAT!

Welcome to Oklahoma, Emily. You'll get a lot of useful advice from this forum. Nice, friendly people here...

I second Lisa's suggestion to check out the Winter Sowing Forum this winter. It is great fun to garden all winter, and you'll have so many flowers next spring that you won't be able to give them all away.

Dawna

Here is a link that might be useful: Winter Sowing Forum

Emily: Congrats on the baby. :)

Emily and Courtney: Don't let the idea of composting boggle your mind...honestly it's just a pile of biodegradable items. The Soil Forum can help those who want to be all scientific about it, but I just throw everything into a pile and let it sit there. As I have kitchen scraps, I dig a spot in the center and toss in the scraps and cover them over.

My only true advice, if you have a LOT of grass clipping start with a wide base on your pile. Grass clippings can get really stinky if they are too deep.

I have a mulching mower, so normally I don't bag the grass, but this year I can't keep up with the mowing, so the compost pile is a grateful recipient!

Hank...I have no idea about the chicken manure :) My dad has offered to haul a load from Colorado for me, but I told him it wasn't necessary! I don't use Starbucks now, but I did when I was making a new bed several years ago. I had a ton of wood chips that I laid out to use as a base (probably two feet deep). I put all the coffee grounds I could get on there and anything else I could scavenge and topped it off with a layer of top soil. It made a really nice bed. It's the bed I put everything in that needs "well drained" soil.

I have a small confession....I don't actually USE a lot of compost. I make it because I can and because I think it is better than tossing that stuff in the landfill. I harvest a couple five gallon buckets a year from it. One bucket goes to a friend because she donates most of the kitchen scraps :) The remaining buckets I spread around, but it doesn't go far with all the beds I have. I occasionally buy Back to Earth too. I use alfalfa tea around my roses. That's it, that's about all I do :)

Lisa

Lisa,
You make it all sound so easy! I feel I still have so much to learn.
Em

Emily...it gets easier. There are so many wonderful people sharing their knowledge every day that it just seeps into you!

I've been hanging around GW since the mid 90's, every year I learn something new or become interested in a new thing. The last two years has been antique roses and daylilies....and that led to growing daylilies from seeds. I haven't hybridized any of my own yet, just bought seeds, but that will come in time!

Lurking in new forums can be hazardous to your pocketbook :)

Lisa

Hi Emily,

I would bet your pH is somewhere in the 6's. Keep in mind that the soil pH research in Oklahoma is based on surveys of commercially farmed land only, and excludes samples from home landscapes and gardens. Most ag land has had a lot of fertilizer applied over the years and its' pH will run a little lower than the pH in a home landscape that has not had excessive fertilization.

Our pH on our property is roughly one point higher than the surveyed ag land in our county. Although our land was once farmed, it has been fallow since the 1970s.

An easy way to think of what your soil pH probably is would be to remember that the farther west you go in Oklahoma, the more alkaline the soil and the further east, the more acidic. Since you are near the middle of the state, your soil pH is probably somewhere in the middle too, so probably is pretty close to neutral, but slightly acidic, which is a good thing.

I wouldn't make any heroic attempts to change the pH, because your water pH will constantly work against you to change the pH back to what is 'normal' in your area.

You ought to be able to grow almost anything, as long as you aren't going for plants like azaleas or blueberries which prefer highly acidic soil. And, of course, you can grow them too if you are willing to do heroic soil amending and fertilizing.

The most important thing you can do is make sure your beds drain well. Most plants will do quite well in clay soil as long as it is well-drained. If it is poorly drained, you will have to go with only plants that can handle standing water for a period of days after heavy rainfall.

Courtney,

Composting is easy. Just pile up the stuff and let it decompose. Some people try to make it too scientific and too difficut. The most important thing is to have a good balance of green material for its nitrogen and brown material for its carbon.

My main compost pile is huge, about 8' by 10' at this point, and about 5' tall, so I can't turn it by hand anymore. Thus, it is a slow-cooking pile and only in the winter do I remove the finished compost and use it. Then I spend the winter/spring renewing and rebuilding that pile.

In the summer months, I put compostables in a smaller pile I can turn and keep that pile running hot. It breaks down very quickly.

Just remember--the mix is important. If you put only greens like grass clippings, the whole thing turns into a black slimey mess. If you put only browns like shredded leaves, the whole thing cooks way too slowly.

My favorite compostables include chopped, shredded leaves, grass clippings, old hay or straw bedding from the chicken and guinea coops with manure mixed into it by the birds, egg shells, any vegetables or fruits including the peels, rinds and seeds, rabbit or any other available manures, coffee grounds, shredded tree trimmings, etc. Be REALLY careful about putting any bermuda grass with stolons or roots into the pile because it will sprout and take over your pile. The same is true of weeds that have gone to seed.

I add literally hundreds of trash bags of leaves to my compost pile and to my beds in the fall. Leaves are the most valuable soil-building material I can obtain for zero dollars. If you shred them with a leaf vac that shreds, a hopper-fed type chipper/shredder, your lawn mower blade (esp. if it is a mulching blade), etc. you can put the leaves right on top of your beds as mulch and they will break down and feed the soil AND attract earthworms. You also can put them on your compost pile.

To compost leaves over winter, you can shred the leaves so they will break down quickly, put them into black garbage bags, poke the bags full of holes to allow water and rainfall to get into them, and pile up the bags in some out of the way place, like between your garden shed and a wooden privacy fence or whatever. By spring the volume inside the bags will be greatly reduced and you will have leaf mold compost to put wherever you want.

I also like to do sheet composting. Sheet composting is the older form of what has now been popularized as lasagna gardening in Pat Lanza's wonderful books. I start all new beds these days via sheet composting. Just remove the grass and other vegetation from the new bed area, lay down cardboard or newspaper to prevent grass regrowth while the bed is being built, pile up your layers of compostables, and let them decompose in place. You can plant directly into the stuff once it has decomposed some. I like to start a new bed in summer/fall and sheet compost for a few months, planting into that bed in early winter or spring.

Another way to sheet compost is to put down alternating layers of green material and brown material in your garden pathways. I do this in both the veggie garden and rose garden. The layers of materials are added to throughout the growing season. They decompose right there in place. In the winter time, I lift that mostly-already-decomposed material from the pathways into the adjacent beds to add it to the soil as topdressing. You don't have to till it into the soil, as Mother Nature (esp. her rainfall and earth worms) will work it into the soil over time. Then you just start putting shredded tree trimmings/shredded leaves/grass clippings, etc. into the pathways again to form the next batch of sheet compost. It is simple, easy and efficient because you will add the finished compost to the adjacent beds instead of having to haul it all over the place.

Long ago I read an article on a highly-managed (some might say micro-managed) form of composting that had you going out and buying all kinds of ingredients like peat moss, bone meal, blood meal, etc. and piling it up in layers to form a fast-cooking compost pile. While it would give you a fast-cooking compost pile, it is an expensive way to do it. If you are going to purchase stuff, you might as well purchase bags of composted cotton seed hulls, mushroom compost, Black Kow 100% cow manure etc. and add them directly to the soil.

There are a lot of great composting books. These are my all-time favorites. They are considered 'classics' in the composting world.

LET IT ROT by Stu Campbell, published by Story Books. I think I read the first addition when it came out in the mid to late 1970s. It is now in its third edition, published in 1998.

RODALE'S BOOK OF COMPOSTING by Grace Gershuny and Deborah Martin. This is a very large and thorough book--almost 300 pages of info.

WORMS EAT MY GARBAGE by Mary Appelhof. This is the classic book on how to vermi-compost using worms and worm bins.

I've linked a good online compost resource below.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: How To Compost

Thanks for the extensive info, Dawn!
I have some ideas to run with, now. Just think...all of this knowledge I'm gaining, assuming I was just going to get a short list of plant ideas from a disinterested forum member with my first entry! Well, I will start putting some of this info into action and ready these beds. Meanwhile, I am waiting for a dry day or two in a row so that I am not weeding in mud.

EVERYONE, now that I am in progress of getting my beds ready...hoping my pH, like Dawn said, is pretty neutral to slightly acidic...let me know your thoughts on some year round color for my beds. I truly appreciate all of your time spent sharing!

-Em-

Hi Em,

I came in from the garden to eat a little lunch and look at the weather rader online.

This evening after I have exhausted myself in the garden, I promise to post a list of plants for you. I am sure others will list suggested plants as well.

Many, many plants grow well here, so the problem you will have most likely will be that you will want to grow more plants than you have room for. :)

Dawn

Oklahoma is a state of extremes. Feast or famine, or drought or deluge. Hot and cold fluctuations in temps. It can be 70* one day and 10* the next. One just never knows, and neither do the weather forecasters.

One thing I've learned in Oklahoma - expect the unexpected and don't get too upset about it, one way or the other. Appreciate the good days and accept that there will be bad days. Some plants will be winners and others will not. Some people can grow some plants but not everyone can grow all plants. There is no perfect solution to problems and we can only share our experiences and encouragement.

There are folks here who can grow larkspur, but I cannot. But, I can grow some things that others cannot. So, it is equitable in many respects that I can admire photos of someone else's plants that just don't work for me. It's a personal experience.

Hey, you guys - did you hear on the news that we have had like 11 days of rain out of the last 13? That has to be a record for Oklahoma. If it was winter, I'd have an ice rink in the backyard! I always wanted a pond......

What's amazing to me, is how fast it will all dry out once the heat sets in.

Susan

Hey Em,

One thing to keep in mind is the maintance requirements for the plants that you select. I know as Mommy to a 3 year old, that I just can't spend all day everyday outside, trimming, weeding, mulching, etc. I like things that I stick in the ground a let them go. As much as I would LOVE for that to be the only task to do everyday, my little man would definately be neglected. He is sharing the gardens with me now, and loves to pick flowers and water the plants. I haven't tried to teach him how to pull weeds yet becuase I'm afraid he'd pull out everything that's green! Gardening is an awesome teaching/learning experience for the little ones, and it's great fun when your little one gets an ornery look in their eye and then turns the hose on you!!

Dawn and Susan really got me interested in organic gardening becuse it seems like a little preparation in the beginning makes the job so much easier in the long run, as well as cheaper. You're putting things in the right order by coming here first. The experts on the forum will help guide you through anything and everything that you might run into.

The only info that I can share is the OU Police Dept link to poisonous plants. There were a few suprises for me on this list! This is just always good info to have when you have children around (or hubby's that act like children ~ just kidding!)

Courtney

Here is a link that might be useful: OU Poisonous Plants List

Susan,

I would like to fire all of the professional weather guessers right now!

On Sunday, our forecasters were saying that we'd have rain on Sunday night/Monday morning, and then we'd be dry for ten days or so. They REALLY got my hopes up.

Then, something in the jet stream changed, a low pressure dome settled over parts of Oklahoma and Texas, and now rain is in the forecast for the next ten days, and it has already rained here every day since Saturday. For the fire dept., rain is almost as bad as drought, except you have lots of flash flooding, auto accidents and lightning-ignited house fires instead of wildfires. So, rain is just making life crazy this year!!!

Courtney,

The OU Poisonous Plants List is great, and I want to add one thing. Not only are many plants poisonous to humans, but also to pets, so be careful what you plant within reach of a pet.

Also, it is best to teach your kids to NEVER, EVER eat anything until they show it to you first and then wash it. This is especially important when they are very young, say about 8 and under. As they are older, they do develop the judgement to know that blackberries are good, for example, and yaupon holly berries are bad. Younger kids, though, will try anything once. This may seem overly cautious, but by teaching them this, you may prevent problems later on. Also, teach them that fruits and veggies are good when they are full-grown and RIPE. When we lived in Fort Worth and my son and nieces and nephews were small, I had to watch them carefully to make sure they didn't pick and eat green plums or tiny green tomatoes, for example. To young children, green plums and green tomatoes can look just like grapes!

Another good thing to know about poisonous plants is that, in general, one would have to ingest a LOT of that plant in order to become ill, and most of the plants reportedly taste bad, so it is doubtful a child would eat enough to hurt themself.

Still, it pays to plant carefully and to be vigilant!

Emily,

Bad weather kept me off the computer last night, so I am going to post a list of plants for you today on a separate thread, so it can be found easily by anyone doing a search on this forum at some point down the road.

Dawn

Welcome to OK Emily!
I have a basic composting article on my web site if anyone wants to do some reading on it.

Lynn

Here is a link that might be useful: Composting 101

Lynn,
I checked out the Composting 101 link...it's very informative and easy to understand. Thanks!

Lisa,
Thanks for the suggestion of winter sowing!

and Dawna,
Thanks for the link to the Winter Sowing forum...I've been reading a bit of it and it looks like I will one day hate myself for spending money on potted plants. I saw one thread with lots of follow-up posts that had quite a few people planning on selling some of their starters off the side of the road because they had so many! Sounds intriguing!

You all are great!

-Em-

Emily: Now check out the Seed Exchange Forum (evil grin).... Seed Exchanging and Winter Sowing go hand in hand...and both are highly addictive :)

If you don't have any seeds you can save for trading, usually there's a few posters who will say: for SASE, which means, if you will send a bubble envelope and postage they will send you back seeds.

I'm already saving seeds...I'll be happy to pass on some to you if you are interested in flowers. As the season goes on I should have a lot more.

I have:

Rose Campion (White)
Rose Campion (dark pink)
dwarf coreopsis (could be early sunrise)
a mix of May Night Salvia and Blue Hills Salvia

I usually have an overabundance of poppies and larkspur, but this year the rain rotted all my plants before they could set seed. I'm going to have to head to the Seed Exchange myself :)

Lisa

Sounds lovely, Lisa, thanks for the thought. I am embarrassed to admit that I would not know what to do with them until I get these silly beds ready...are they "dry" seeds? Just inform me on how to care for them until the planting time comes for them, and I would be more than happy to take you up on your offer!
Without a clue,
Emily

You can winter sow the seeds that Lisa mentioned, so you won't have to worry about it right away, Emily. I think most of them require cold, moist stratification anyway, which is what winter sowing will provide these seeds.

I winter sow a ton, just an absolute ton of stuff every year. It's a great way to get plants that you may not find in local nurseries, to start plant that you would like a lot of, and a fun way to spend the dreary winter.

Seed catalogs usually start arriving in late December. If you are interested, I'd go to some websites like Pinetree Garden Seeds, Prairie Moon Nursery, Park's, etc., and sign up to receive their catalogs. That way, you'll have lots of surprises in the mail in December.

Susan

Susan,

The arrival of the seed catalogs in December is as exciting for me as Christmas!

Dawn

Lynn,

Thanks for the Link to the composting article. Boy, sure takes the anexity out of making compost!! Thank you also for the fennel at the plant swap. A Black Swallowtail laid it's eggs on it! I have added to the herb garden now so that all the little cats will have food. Thank you for providing this plant, without your generosity, I never would have witnessed something so amazing!

Dawna - Winter sowing????? Having lived in NE most of my life, such a thing was impossible! You'd have to dig through a foot of snow before you'd see dirt, and then you'd need a jackhammer because it was frozen solid!! In CA, we didn't have winter :))) This really IS a cool zone to live in! I'm starting to like the idea of winter again, so I can plant the 1000's of seeds that I bought on sale the last couple weeks! :))

Courtney

Emily, Susan is right, all those seeds work wonderfully with Winter Sowing...'cause that's how they came about in my yard!

I have dried the seeds, and I usually put them in a tiny ziplock bag. They are fine in there until I need to dump them out to plant them around Jan/Feb. I don't give them any special storage.

This is just the beginning of the seed saving season! I'll have more as the summer moves along. Well, I will if it will stop raining and rotting my plants!

You know, feel free to email me if you ever want to stop by and see my gardens. I'll be happy to give you a mini tour.

Lisa

Courtney, you could still winter sow with all that snow and ice. In fact, it's better! The snow and ice insulate the containers. A lot of people have photos of their containers completely buried in snow and ice and yet, miracle of miracles, it is great for the seeds! In fact, winter sowing probably works a little better for those in zones 5 and 6 than it does in Oklahoma. Our problem here is the temperature fluctuations. We may have a few days of 50s and 60s, and then plummet into the teens. That can be worse for the seeds and seedlings than consistently cold temps.

But, I always get a ton of things from winter sowing so I can't really complain a lot. Two years ago I winter sowed some seed of Arisaema sikokianum (Snow Rice Cake Plant). This year, they came back up, so I'm hoping in the next year or two they will produce blooms. I attached a photo link to it. To purchase it, it's $28.00! I cannot afford that, so a guy was offering seed on the Aroid Forum and I took him up on it! This is just one example of how rewarding and money-saving winter sowing can be.

Susan

Here is a link that might be useful: Arisaema sikokianum

Hi Emily,

I am pretty new to the forum here but wanted you to know I live in Edmond as well - welcome! We lived here a couple years ago (for a couple years), moved to Aspen, CO for a year (for my husband's job) and now we're back and just love it here. I am trying to figure out what grows best here too. You may or may not have heard of this nursery, but I have had a lot of luck with the nursery here in town called TLC. They also have a website with lots of great info. too (tlcgarden.com) and if you go to TLC you can get a wealth of information from any one of the people who work there - they are all great. In addition to that, there is a weekly show TLC puts on at 8AM on Saturday's (I record it every week on my DVR) - it's on KWTV (channel 10 here on our cable). It gives a lot of great info. too.

Just some thoughts for you. I love, love, love this forum. It's the great people like the ones who posted messages helping you out that have helped me as well with a lot of other things.

It's new to me, but thanks to the great advice on this forum, I am trying my hand at rose propogation (along with other propogating). Good luck finding some beautiful things for your new garden.

Julie