All the Dirt on Gardening

These are adult painted Lady butterflies dining on orange slices. Double click on the photo to make it larger and look at the plant leaf on the left where the just hatched caterpillars are eating the hollyhock leaf. Then look at the tiny black dots on the paper towel and the plate - that's how small the caterpillars are the day after they hatch out of their blue eggs. Muskogee is celebrating Earth Day for the first time this year on April 21st. The celebration will be part of the opening of the Muskogee Farmer's Market in its new location at the Civic Center on Okmulgee St . My small part of Earth Day is that I am raising butterflies to make kits for a giveaway. Five weeks ago I received 30-painted lady butterfly caterpillars from an education/science company. They grew over two weeks into a size that we recognize as a caterpillar. Then they stopped eating, made chrysalis and emerged as butterflies. The adults mated and laid eggs on the plants in their box and now the cycle ...

Asiatic Lilies emerging Consider joining some clubs that are focused on gardens, gardening or specific plants that interest you. Muskogee Garden Club is affordable for most enthusiasts at $15 a year. Tulsa Garden Center's membership is $25 and includes a newsletter. Most associations and societies have a website rich with growing tips, enthusiastic gardeners to chat with and meeting notices. Here are a few other possibilities to consider: Alpine Garden Society, American Association of Amateur Arborists , Azalea Society of America, American Bonsai Society, American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta , International Bulb Society, American Clematis Society, American Daffodil Society, American Horticultural Society, North American Cottage Garden Society, Perennial Plant Association, American Iris Society, North American Rock Garden Society, Saxifrage Society, The Violet Society or maybe the Weed Science Society of America.

The photo is Larkspur coming up from the plants I let go to seed last summer. Carson Borovetz Greenhouses on North Street in Muskogee is open and tomato plants are 3 for a dollar. I bought Jet Star this year because Pete Carson said they were the best seller of all the kinds he grows. I will confess to being a person who likes to know a lot of stuff. A few years ago in the vegetable section of Lowe's I was looking at tomato plants. As is my custom, I asked the women there what kinds of tomato plants they were buying. The shortest of them, a woman who looked like she had planted many gardens in her life, looked up at me and said, "Don't you know nuthin ?" I skipped a breath, blinked and thought of all those years I attended college and sat in offices and what a waste all of it would seem in her eyes. It is easy for me to confess ignorance so I did just that. With that same gruffness, she told me to buy an Arkansas Traveler tomato and to plant it twice as deep as it w...

There is a vining variegated euphorbia on one of the fences that I plan to propagate this week. Spring is the right time to take cuttings and make new plants out of them because you want to use wood from this year's growth that is firm, not soft. Other plants that are easy to propagate include geranium, roses, blackberries, mums and pentas. You will need a sterile potting medium such as vermiculite or sand, a clean container and clean scissors or knife. Take the cuttings from the top 4-inches of the growing tips or cut a side shoot from a healthy plant. Just as with pruning, the cut should be at a slight angle. A node is the place where a leaf emerges and the cut should be made below the node because you will remove the leaves and those are the places where the roots of your new plant will emerge. Carefully remove any leaves or flower buds that will be on the planted part of the stem but leave a few leaves on the tip so the plant can gather energy. Not everyone uses a planting hor...

These red tulips are planted in clusters across the front of our yard and have come back three years now. They are a visual treat every time. The spring this year is great compared with last year! Remember that we had already experienced drought and record breaking heat by this time last year. The lack of rain is worrisome, though. In addition to the usual sprinkling of the seed beds, we have started watering the flowering fruit trees to make sure they have enough moisture to produce fruit. If your thoughts are turning to water-wise plants, take a look at the High Country Gardens online catalog for some beautiful xeriscape ideas. Xeriscape sometimes implies that you have a desert garden in Phoenix or Albuquerque, but even water-wise gardens in Oklahoma do well with these types of plants. Waterwise plants include sage, salvia , asters, agastache , achillea , grasses, penstemon . It is important to group these low-water plants together. If they are mixed in the same bed with thirsty ...

When we have worn ourselves out gardening, it's time to do something else. Clicking around the Internet can be a great non-television way to relax and rest. If you plan to go to the opening of Moonshadow Herb Farm this weekend, here's a link to a blog about scented geraniums - check out Geranium Blog before you go to Moonshadow to buy Sharon Owen's selections. The photo is native plum blossoms. Are you a tree lover and hugger or just in the market for tree-talk? Here is a blog that waxes poetic about trees and has photos of trees so you can see what they look like. Click here for the link to " A Tree Grower's Diary " with writing and photos by Julie Walton Shaver. And, since it is time to start working on the lawn, click on the Lawn Care blog for an expert's advice. Earth Friendly Gardening is a writer's blog that is focused on sustainable gardening for a healthy planet. An acknowledged expert in treading lightly on the earth, Henry David Thoreau ...

Johnny's Selected Seeds has a new product that looks like it would work for several situations. It's a 4-inch round, paper disc, full of seeds. Right now they offer only chives, parsley, thyme, arugula, cilantro and basil. The parsley disc contains 46 seeds and sells for a dollar per disc in a 5-disc pack. Today's garden photo is the spring wind blowing daffodil blossoms. I hope your early spring vegetables and flower seeds are coming up and that your perennials are letting you know they are still alive. There is plenty to do - digging compost into beds, mowing, transplanting and dividing. Take time to enjoy the view while you are out there working. Last but not least, here's a fun link to Dragoo's Skunk Page , Dragoo Institute for the Betterment of Skunks and Skunk Reputations. Skunks, the Mephitidae family, superfamily Musteloidea , do not live in Europe anymore, though they did live in Germany about 11-12 million years ago. In the Musteloidea family:...