All right so far. I planted Burpee burpless cucumber seeds in earthboxes and have two baby cucumbers. Tomato plants have blooms. The herbs are thriving as they do every year, except for basil. The seeds germinated, but after 45 days the plants are only about an inch high. I assume the weather has been too cool and perhaps they need fertilizer. Am growing all veggies and herbs in containers this year. This is my first year to grow lettuce in containers - Simpson in a long window box. It is beautiful, a bright lime green, and have enjoyed mixing it with romaine for dinner salads. And aren't the roses beautiful this spring?

Tomato plants have blooms. The herbs are thriving as they do every year, except for basil. The seeds germinated, but after 45 days the plants are only about an inch high. I assume the weather has been too cool and perhaps they need fertilizer. Am growing all veggies and herbs in containers this year. This is my first year to grow lettuce in containers

I do all my plants in containers... I found that lettuce will do well in container.. your tomatoes have flowers already? I'm jealous!

Still haven't planted mymelons, beans, or peas but everything else is going gangbusters! A few chiles are almost ready for picking. Tons of tomato blossoms and a few small maters here and there--can't wait for those to ripen!!

Oh, and had the baby yesterday. :-D Showed her the garden just a few hours after she arrived. LOL

Giggi - try purple basil! I have seedlings everywhere, and some are about 4-5" tall now. Grrr...... They self-seed everywhere.

I don't grow any veggies - not enough sun, except for the front yard, and I like my ornamentals there. I do grow herbs. I have perennial fennel (for my swallowtail caterpillars), bronze fennel, sage, pineapple mint, chocolate mint, tarragon, rosemary, lavendar, winter savory, chives, catnip, berries and cream mint, pennyroyal, lemon balm, rue (for the swallowtails), thyme, and tricolor sage. My lavendar is wonderful right now - about to burst into blooms. I planted a 2" pot last spring, and this year, it's about 3' tall and wide.

My shade garden is very nice this year. The cooler weather has been a boon for it. Most shade plants, in my opinion, like cooler temps. I just planted my rodgersia and astilboides (bog), crambe cordifolia, mahonia (pink blooms), alocasia wentii, tetrapanax, disporum 'Night Heron', podophyllum plieanthum, arisaema nepenthoides, epimedium wushanense hybrid, another gold meadow rue, lillium 'flora pleno', Jerusalam sage, verbascum 'Caribbean Crush', Elderberry, gold agastache, cynara cardunculus, hitchhiker elephant ear (remusatia vivipara), and still have to plant some others I bought at the herb festival.

Hydrangea 'Merritt's Pride' is about to bloom (hot pink), and 'Frau Reiko' (lacecap pink and white picotee), asiatic lilies 'Red Hot', and 'Oklahoma City', some daylily that came up this year that I planted 2 years ago (don't remember what they are, so I'll be interested to see), campanula takesimana 'Elizabeth' (strawberry crush-colored bells), lady bells (adenophora), acanthus mollis (Bear's Breeches), astilbes 'Vision in Pink', Visions, and a deep pink, I think is 'Rheinland pink'. I have tons of little hardy begonia seedlings - still need to give one to OKC1, if you still want. Blooming like crazy - Clematis 'jackmanii' - in two different locations in the back; campanula 'Beautiful Trust' (white butterfly-like blooms); achillea 'Moonshine' (yellow), nepeta 'Walker's Low', centranthus rubra, white valerian, achillea 'Oertel's Pink', itea 'Little Henry', and Hydrangea 'Nikko Blue'. Finished blooming - aquilegia 'Texas Red' and 'Nora Barlow'; old fashioned honeysuckle, iris 'Sierra Grande', dead nettle 'Hermann's Pride'. The Japanese anemone robustissima is getting bigger than ever. It is supposed to eventually get 3-4' high, and the foliage is beautiful - it blooms in late summer-autumn. Hosta 'Sum and Substance' is big, big, big, as is 'Blue Angel'.

I need to finish planting so I can get the mulch on the rest of the beds. Have a few more morning glory seeds to plant. Planted some and also Blue Ricinus. I think that is all I'm going to plant in seeds this year. I have no more SPACE! I just can hardly wait until my new lilies bloom. The orientals won't be blooming much this year - the cool weather cause tip burn and got some of the buds. But, I'll still get a few.

My actinidia kolomitka is not doing very well. I read not to cut back the branches, but it has only sprouted leaves from the ground up to about 2', and there is about 6' of bare stem from there on up. The calacanthus is doing a little better this year. It's still only about 18" tall, though, but has put out a few more stems. It's in its 3rd year.

Susan

My garden is doing as well as can be expected, considering the lack of rainfall in southern Oklahoma! (We did have rain last week, which brings us up to about 6" or 6.5" for the whole year. Yippee! Obviously we need more!)

FLOWERS: Lots of stuff in bloom, including hollyhocks, roses, larkspur, daylilies, sweet alyssum, petunias, veronica, salvia, dianthus, honeysuckle, pink evening primrose, carnation-type poppies, cleome, red corn poppies, ornamental beans (scarlet runner beans and painted lady runner beans), nasturtiums and some sunflowers. I have 3 new vines this year and 2 have bloomed already and will re-bloom all summer--Pandora Vine and Snail Vine. The other one is a cinnamon vine I got at the swap from Orchid trader, and I love it! Lots of wildflowers in bloom, so won't list them all. Many more flowers to come throughout the spring and summer.

FRUIT: Have peaches and plums although not as many as last year. This will be the first year we get fruit from our still-small Mexican plum tree, and I'm looking forward to making jam or jelly from them. The persimmons just finished blooming.

VEGGIES: Where to begin? First ripe tomato (a Better Boy) was on May 14th. Other tomato plants covered in fruit and flowers. Have about 120 plants in the ground and about 75 different types. Mostly heirlooms. I've lost count. They range in size from about 1' tall for recently planted ones, to 4' tall, for the ones planted outside in March. Lots of pepper plants blooming. A couple with small fruit. One with almost ripe chile peppers. I don't know why it is so early compared to the others. First picking of beans will be about Sunday or Monday. Lettuce and cilantro are finished...bolting due to our near 90 degree days lately. Swiss chard and rhubard are huge. The early corn just tassled. Onions are huge. The mid-season corn is about 8" tall, and I hope to get the late corn into the ground tomorrow. Watermelons, cantaloupes, muskmelons, summer squash, pumpkins and winter squash are mostly in the ground. Zukes are blooming but cukes are not yet! I still have a little bit (two flats!) of winter squash to plant as soon as I get out the tiller and make a spot for it! Still haven't planted okra, black-eyed peas or sweet potatoes, but hope to have them in by the end of the weekend. Herbs are doing OK. Chives and chamomile have been blooming like crazy, but the dill is just sitting there. I got some of the herbs in late, but am sure they will be fine.

LAWN: Why is is that I still have to mow every week even though it is not raining? Shouldn't the bermuda grass just go dormant? Oh, well....the grass doesn't look as good as it usually does, so guess I'll have to drag out the sprinkler if tomorrow's rain doesn't fall as forecast!

CONTAINERS: I have old-fashioned heirloom petunias in the hanging baskets on my wrap-around porch, and they just started blooming recently. On the covered porch that is on the east side of the barn I have about 12 containers planted with a mix of tropicals, coleus, ornamental sweet potatoes, perilla "Magilla", etc. They are starting to fill in and look good.

Guess that's about it.

Dawn

It would be easy to get discouraged looking at these wonderful lists, but I have to keep saying to myself "I'm in zone 6b."

I have peas, I noticed this morning - and strawberries, if I could get to them before the roley polies. Need to work on getting the straw up around them better this weekend.

This is year two for my asparagus, and it has sent up towering ferns along the fence, along with the 2nd year parsley that I am letting go to seed. Beautiful flowers to attract those beneficials.

My spinach is about to start bolting, so I'll try to get one more cutting tomorrow. The arugula has bloomed, too, so it's finished. I may plant some more in a container in the shade, just to see if I can keep some going.

My fava beans have very interesting black and white flowers all over them. I have never grown them before, so don't know what to watch for. Some of the flowers have turned black and withered, but I'm not seeing any beans so far. I know they don't like hot weather, and that's about to hit. Anyone ever tried them? I don't know when to call it quits with them and pull them out. I need the space for other stuff if they're not going to produce.

I put my tomatoes in late, so I'm not expecting much from them for awhile. Made a new bed in the middle of my backyard - primo sunny space in my mostly shadey yard. Planted eggplants and okra and some squash. Everything looks OK so far.

The calla lilies are up and, finally, the cannas. Mexican marigold has come back. My basil is just starting to sprout. I may replant, because I'm afraid the seed might have been old. Elephant ears have also finally come up throught the mulch.

Gaillardia in the side yard is huge and about to bloom. Monarda is everywhere but no signs of blooms yet. This is year two for it. I have wave petunias in a basket that are really starting to take off. The ones I put in the ground are getting chewed on by something, though.

Oh, and I got my first lily blooms this week - yellow orientals.

So much to do this weekend. I can't wait.

OKprairie,

I thought of you and your zone 6b garden this weekend when we hit 100 degrees for two consecutive days here in zone 7b! I sure hope it was cooler there than it was here!

Your garden sounds absolutely lovely. Like you, I let 2nd year parsley (and other things too) go to seed for the beneficial insects. I'm not having a good basil year either. Most years mine self-sows everywhere, but this year it didn't and I started a lot from seed--but started them late and am not getting good germination. Will keep trying though.

I don't know anyone who has ever tried fava beans. Guess YOU are the trend setter!!! Since they love cool weather, I'm betting they are about done? Since they have flowered, I am surprised they aren't making beans though. Maybe it is the heat.

I didn't get anything done in the garden this weekend to speak of. Too much heat and too much other stuff going on.

I hope to get outside in a few minutes and try to achieve something before the heat kicks in.

Dawn

We got the hot weather, too, Dawn. I don't know how hot it got here, but I only worked in the garden for a few hours Saturday morning before it got too hot - and my daughter showed up from Tulsa wanting to hang out. I didn't get out at all yesterday because of the heat.

I did find a few pods on the fava beans, but I think I'm going to pull the plants out. I'm sure yesterday was too hot. I guess we just can't grow them here. I tried last fall, too, without any luck.

Last weekend I bought a buddleia on sale and put that in the ground. The flowers are the prettiest deep purple. It was an impulse buy, but I'm really taken with it now. HOpe it makes it. I think they're pretty hearty, aren't they? I have one area in my west facing front yard that isn't shaded by my pecan tree and the neighbor's magnolia tree. I think it will get enough sun there.

Caladium is finally showing itself.

This is my first year to garden on our property that we bought two years ago. I had a pretty blank canvas to work with. I've made an azalea bed that is doing great and my shade gardens are doing wonderful. The hydrangea blossoms are beginning to show a little pink. My blue purple petunias are thriving and blooming beautifully. Two of my new hostas I transplanted that someone gave me is showing rust color on the leaves and I am not sure whats up with that. I put in an herb bed and it's doing really good. The camomille is blooming and so are many of the herbs. The basil I started from seed is growing very slowly but I am sure it will take off soon. I picked a lot of caterpillars off the catnip and took them way out to the back of the property. My grapes are growing well and look very healthy. We transplanted about 15 trees so far that we let grow in the flower beds for the past two years and they are doing great. We put them in the pasture as I am trying to create a woodland area. The pasture is full of wildflowers. I planted bird house gourds on the back of the pasture fence and I water them 3 times a day and I am hoping to see their green leaves pop up soon. I transplanted day lillies from the shade to a bed I made for them in the sun. The shasta daisy seeds I planted among them have sprouted. Impatiens are blooming in the shade garden. My elephant ears are up and doing well. The cannas I got at the plant exchange are doing ok but seem to be suffering a little from the strong winds. I've started a lot of seed in pots and most of them have sprouted. I am pretty new at gardening in Oklahoma but I am sure I will be learning a lot from all of you.

I want to plant some peach trees in the fall. Can someone advise me on which varieties to purchase for my area? I would also like to put in a few cherry trees. I also need to know the variety that does well here. My sister in law has one that is on the property she bought recently and it is full of cherries, however, I don't know what variety it is. I wish you all success with your gardens.

Shelia

OKPrairie: I hate it when the spring weather abuptly turns hot much too early and causes the cool season plants to give up and poop out just when they might have been about to produce!

I believe that Buddleia is supposed to be winter-hardy IF it has good drainage. I tried it when we first moved here, but don't think my clay soil drains well enough and it didn't come back for me. I hope it comes back for you!
Your caladiums sure did make you wait a LONG TIME to see them this year, didn't they?? I'm glad they came back. I was starting to wonder if they were going to.

Sheila: I've give anything to have enough shade to grow shade-loving plants. On the hostas, if you post a question about your leaves, I bet Susan will see it and have an answer for you. She's our hosta expert! (There may be others too.) I can grow hostas, but don't, 'cause around here the hostas just serve as "Deer Chow".

My gourds are just now popping up too. I guess they were waiting for the heat.

We built our house in the middle of a pasture and have planted trees like crazy, trying to create a woodland too.
We transplanted TINY trees from our wooded areas to the area around the house. They were maybe 12" to 18" tall, so we mulched around them to keep the grass away from their root zones, and put small wire cages around them so we wouldn't mow them down accidentally. That was 4 or 5 years ago, and some of those trees are 10 to 12' feet tall now, with the smallest being only 7' or 8' tall. Mostly Shumard or bur oaks. They are doing really well.

Let me think about the peach trees and cherry trees that are recommended for zone 7 (and my own experiences with them) and I'll post a separate thread listing them. The peaches will be easy, and the cherries a bit harder.

Dawn

Dawn, Thanks for your response. I'm thinking the fall would be the best time to plant the fruit trees so I still have time to find them. I'll look forward to your post about them. So far the trees we have transplanted are: Willow, Sycamore, Poplar, elm, mulberry, Redwood, Maple, and Mimosa and several of each. I started the Willow from a cutting two years ago and it is 10 foot tall now. We also bought a small pine two years ago and it is now 6 foot tall.

We are putting the woodland to the front of the pasture which faces South as I want to keep the back area for my future vegetable gardens and fruit grove. Last year I started fig cuttings from my mother's fig tree which is in South Texas. That fig tree has been there since I can remember and it just keeps on producing every year. She uses the figs for jellies, cakes, canning, freezing and many other things. I mainly want them for the birds. The cuttings are a year old and they are about 2 foot tall now. I am going to wait until next year to transplant them. Do you know if fig trees do well in Oklahoma City? Most all the trees we transplanted are over 4 foot tall now and this is our second year to transplant. The flower bed next to the back of the house is still full of Mimosa, Mulberry, and Elm. I really want the woodland to have a variety of trees but the trees in the flower bed has to come out so they are going to the pasture. I hope to intersperse with trees of other varieties when I can acquire them. A friend gave me a small purple plum but she cut the root too badly as she was digging and it didn't make it. I am anxious to get a few ornamental trees. My sister lives in East Texas and she is on the lookout for me for a reasonably priced Japanese Maple, Magnolia, and flowering Dogwood.

Shelia

Sheila,

I don't grow figs (yet!) but intend to plant some. I understand they are supposed to grow quite well here if you plant them where they have some winter protection

When I get around to planting some, I will probably plant 'Celeste' as it is the most cold-hardy or "Brown Turkey", which grew like crazy for my childhood next-door neighbor in Fort Worth. I'd like to have "Alma" but it grows best within 200 or so miles of the Gulf Coast, so guess I won't try it here! I would generally try closed-eyes figs in this climate, not the open-eyed ones.

Figs can be damaged at temps below 10 degrees, but we usually go no lower than the 20s here in southern OK, with only a rare dip down to 10 or 12 degrees. Y'all may be slightly colder in OKC? But, you know, I bet you could create a microclimate that would shelter figs from the cold--maybe on the south side of a fence or wall?

We have lots of "surprise" trees popping up in the garden and lawn all the time, planted, I suppose by the birds or suirrels. My favorite surprises have been a couple of Shumard Red Oaks that I kept right where they sprouted and some cottonwoods that came up in the veg garden and were moved to an area west of (and far from) the house. Willows pop up in the ponds all the time.

For "fun" this year I have planted a Mexican buckeye, a mimosa for the hummers, a chinaberry 'cause I love the purple flowers, and a green-trunked Chinese Parasol Tree. Most of my "serious" trees are the various oaks. I also have a chaste tree (vitex agnus-castus) which wants to grow shrub-form, but which I am pruning to be tree-form; and a Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis) which has the loveliest flowers (and is neither a tree from the desert nor a willow!).

I've been encouraging some little elms to grow into big elms near our new garage/barn so it will someday have shade.
The mulberries keep popping up underneath the holly shrubs, so I think the birds are planting them, and I keep yanking them out. I have them growing wild all over the woods though.

We've spent a million and a half hours removing the terribly invasive cedar trees that are taking over southern Okalahoma. We haven't entirely rid our property of them, but we've taken out almost all the ones within 300 or 400 feet of the house. If wildfires get going, those cedars (actually they are junipers, but we all call them cedars) are firebombs, so I don't want them near the house.

Our friends' land caught fire (it backs up to the interstate, and unfortunately gets set afire by careless motorists every other year or so) a year or two ago, and you can't even put out the fire if it gets up into the cedars. They will burn forever, and explode eventually, sending hot fluid (resin or sap, I guess) flying everywhere. Some of those trees smouldered for days.

I started a new post on cherry and peach trees and hope others will add to it and tell us what they grow! I have struggled to get the chilling hours right for our part of the state, but Oklahoma weather is so erratic, that sometimes it doesn't always guarantee success even if you carefully select the right chilling hours for your area.

Dawn

Ihave a problem my pepper plant started bloming,I have peppers but some of then started to turn brown.Need some adviced.