Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

This fight is for everything.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Let’s finish the job.

You are here: Home / Garden Chats / Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Oklahoma (Spring), Okay!

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Oklahoma (Spring), Okay!

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Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Oklahoma, Okay!

From commentor JAM:

Top pic: Most plant sellers will tell you that cats don’t really like catmint.

Below: Pictures of the tomatoes and peppers I planted on 4/27. That’s actually a few weeks later than usual because of the weird cold (and dry) spring we’ve had this year.

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Oklahoma Spring, Okay! 1

The other bed has lettuces and radishes now, and hopefully cucumbers, beans, melons and squash later this summer. My husband helped me salvage and downsize the remains of a neighbor’s gazebo tent that was destroyed by high winds a few years back. It already has handy hooks along the top for hanging mosquito netting that I will be using for trellis netting.

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Oklahoma Spring, Okay!

I’ve also included a picture of cornflowers in my cottage garden bed, along with just-emerging perennials, annual seedlings and a lot of weeds. This in in zone 7, near Tulsa OK.

Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Oklahoma Spring, Okay! 2

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When we bought this place, catmint flourished all over the long-neglected patches of dirt. As I started gradually cleaning out the beds and improving the soil, I was careful to leave some clumps flourishing every spring, because they were just about the first blooms and the local bumblebees appreciated them. Alas, now that much of our soil is ‘sweeter’ (not to mention the Spousal Unit’s encroaching vinca armadas), I don’t see many of those brave lavendar volunteers any more…

What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?

Reader Interactions

61Comments

  1. 1.

    Spanky

    “Vinca armadas”. Ain’t that the truth. I used the cool moist April days to yank as much of it as I could from under our Dr. Van Fleet climber. Have had to follow up – a lot – but I seem to have turned the tide.

    The plus is that the rose now has some room to breathe and looks much better. The downside is that we’ve lost the purple complement to the rose’s pink.

  2. 2.

    MazeDancer

    It will be a month before the nepeta in my yard looks like that. Minus the kitty, of course. My cats don’t like it much, alas.

    I am going to divide it this year, Also some yarrow. Never divided anything. Wish me luck.

  3. 3.

    Obvious Russian Troll

    The neighborhood cats lie in our catmint all the time.

    I guess it depends on what you consider “liking” it.

  5. 5.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Our big news is the Orioles are back. For a week or 2 anyway. Then they’ll move down into the valleys and get on with the serious business of nesting. But for now, we get to enjoy their glorious plumage as they refuel at our hummingbird feeders.

    We missed them last year as we must have been in the Black Hills when they came thru. “Missed” them, that’s putting it lightly. I had no idea how much until I saw the first one 4 days ago.

  6. 6.

    Spanky

    @Obvious Russian Troll: I made the mistake many years ago of planting catnip in an outdoor bed. That didn’t last very long, and the neighborhood cats were testy during their withdrawal.

    Catmint, otoh, seems to get a much lighter reaction. Not to the point of destroying entire plants.

  8. 8.

    JAM

    @MazeDancer: I need to divide mine, too.  I read that you can just sort of slice down into it like cake, but I haven’t tried it yet.  I have only been planting the offsets.  (There are actually two kitties, Pierre and Enzo;)

  9. 9.

    JAM

    @Spanky: I tried planting some catnip out back, but unfortunately the seedlings didn’t survive being discovered by those two.  Now I’m trying to start some in pots to see if bigger plants can survive them.

  11. 11.

    WereBear

    I sprouted catnip seeds once. My cat Chip plotted for days. Found a chance to grab the swollen peat pot off the windowsill and take it to the chain link cat patio.

    Rescue was pointless. Though I did laugh at the successful heist and his puzzlement that THIS was what all the fuss was about :)

  12. 12.

    Lapassionara

    Yesterday was our first sunny day in a while. I’m trying to focus on weed control, but it seems to be a losing battle.

    And the “vinca armada” is definitely a problem in my yard.

  14. 14.

    WereBear

    My own cats like mints of all kinds, but not cray-cray like The Nip. There’s also other plants they enjoy, like honeysuckle and valerian.

  15. 15.

    Nancy

    @Spanky:

    Vinca Armada–ahoy, argggh.

    I had no experience with this aspect of vinca. Ten years ago, upon moving into the new (old) house we currently live in, saw a few scraggly bits of vinca.  I brought in good soil and compost, little anticipating the results of encouragement.

    I’ve decided to surrender. I’m moving a few plants because digging out the vinca around them is futile. I’m coming to terms with the fact that soon part of the yard will be a vinca bed. It’s easy and I do like easy gardening.

    Happy Spring–and Mother’s Day to those who celebrate.

  16. 16.

    satby

    @Betty Cracker: Nice!

    My tomato and eggplant starters from Burpee arrived Friday, have been hardening off on the porch for two days, and will be going into their special grow bags today. I think my previous pots have been adequate but not really big enough, so trying a deeper bag type I got on clearance this year. Only 6 plants total, we’ll see how it goes.

  18. 18.

    Nancy

    Betty Cracker and spousal tomatoes are in a league beyond my gardening skills. Farmers’ Markets will help me survive.
    Nice photos.

  21. 21.

    satby

    I’m a vinca hater, so I guess it’s a blessing there’s none around my yard. My mid-season spring bulbs have started to bloom, finally (cold and damp, gray days really stretched out spring this year), the fruit trees are in bloom, and my shrubs are leafing out. I’m in that happy place where the weather is mild and enjoyable and gardening still is too. By August it will be miserably hot and humid and the garden will be on it’s own ?

  22. 22.

    WereBear

    Yesterday was a good day. My @WayofCats twitter feed was followed by… animal activist Liam Neeson! The real guy!

    And, bonus, I’m a big fan :)

  26. 26.

    Pete Mack

    @Spanky: 
    Oh yeah. I have spent untold hours trying to pull that horrible stuff. Plus its waxy leaves and infinite runners make it is amazingly hard to kill with herbicide.

  29. 29.

    R-Jud

    Hyacinths are done for the year, bluebells are peaking, and the awkwardly sited wisteria my landlords planted is just opening. Lola digs it.

  30. 30.

    WereBear

    @OzarkHillbilly: I really do wonder at people who so determinedly avoid reality.

    But then I remember reading that DKos anti-vaxxer thread… and I know where they wind up. It’s terrible.

    But it’s worse when they are seemingly unaware the world has other people in it.

  32. 32.

    PAM Dirac

    Here in MD it kind of feels like Spring isn’t fully committed to the task. We’ve had some stretches of highs in the 70s, but the lows would be still in the 40s and then we’d get hit with some highs in the 40s and lows at or near freezing. Was a pretty mild winter (never got below 10) and I guess it evens out as bud break in the vineyard happened pretty much at the usual time. I was hoping for a little earlier or later as normal bloom and fruit set is last week in May/first week in June and this year we will finally be taking a COVID delayed European trip during that time. Bloom and fruit set is a really critical time and for a high quality crop you really need to be diligent with sprays and other anti-fungal measures. Hoping for a really nice dry spell and hoping that the vines (and our dog) aren’t too mad at us for abandoning them.

  33. 33.

    Ladyracterinok

    My mom from 1950 to the early 90s, when she moved to assisted living, raised many flowers and vegetables in her backyard in the middle of Tulsa

    I’ve never been a gardener but her yard was just fantastic!

  35. 35.

    opiejeanne

    @Betty Cracker: That’s a wonderful haul of tomatoes! We haven’t been able to produce them in such abundance since we left Southern California.

  36. 36.

    Gin & Tonic

    Hasn’t risen even to 50 degrees here in New England the last couple of days, and gusty winds are making it feel even colder, so not really in a gardening mood. Although I bought an apricot tree last week , and am deciding where to put it. A late frost nipped it a bit, so the nursery sold it to me for half-price, but it’s starting to look better.

  37. 37.

    Gvg

    Garden looks nice now mainly because I tried something new to me and started some queen Ann’s lace and then planted the large number of seedlings all over to find out where they would grow. They are huge and filling in between all the other plants making the more colorful kinds of flowers look better. A kind of filler. Just large umbrels of white lacy flowers. Friday night I cut a lot of the leaners and mad a huge bouquet of just white lace and took it to my mother. I thought she would like it as filler as she gardens for cutting flowers but she refuses to put anything with it and says it’s perfect as it is. White Shasta daisys are also in bloom. Roses are mostly past first flush and rebuilding for next bloom but some still open. Purple majesty salvia, cleome seorita and blue lobelia are doing well. Rudibekia are about to start.

    The problem is spring is very dry here and things are beginning to crisp in spite of watering. Summer rains should start soon hopefully. We are a lot further along than most of the country. Florida is starting summer. I have even had a rain lily bloom and a crinum.

    The local master gardener sale is next weekend and I hope to snag some real prizes. They all contribute from their own yards and grow them bigger as a group for fundraising. Since they are all plant addicts, they end up offering some really rare stuff at bargain prices. I usually help my mother by digging out divisions from hers and propagating cuttings for her to donate. She loves being a master gardener.

    I have plans to start rooting some cuttings this weekend. I have a mist area set up for propagation and most of my spring projects are planted out. I have room to start more stuff for summer. Salvias, phlox etc. I also want to start more zinnia seeds.

    Work is very busy and intense right now so I need my stress relief.

  45. 45.

    Obvious Russian Troll

    @Spanky: I shudder to think about what would happen if we planted catnip. My neighborhood has a huge number of outdoor cats.

    They all like to hang out either in the catmint patch or on the front porch to say hello to my indoor cats and to watch for my neighbor (who puts out food for them).

  47. 47.

    Anyway

    @WaterGirl:

    We had 48 hours of non-stop rains, gusty winds, sub-60 temps. Rain’s s’posed to stop soon. I am bummed as I had hoped to prepare some beds, plant flowers, maybe get some tomatoes in….

  48. 48.

    JeanneT

    It’s tulip time here in west Michigan.  Also time for the first mowing of the front lawn.   I’m not looking forward to the hot weather later in the week, but today should be a good day to mow!

  51. 51.

    kmax

    We have a Wisteria in the back yard (yes it is too close to the house).

    The last 2-3 years it was wiped out by frost just before it would bloom.. Bummer.

    Well this year we dodged the bullet on April 27th (34 degrees) and now it is LOADED with blossoms…  the bees are happy.

    Otherwise my wife is working on rose beds and pots.  She has over 100 rose bushes so there is always maintenance.

  52. 52.

    oldgold

    @WaterGirl: (Why can’t we have spring for a little while???)

    Last week I defined the exceedingly brief Spring experienced here in the Twilight Hardy Zone as the period of time that elapses from the moment I slowly rise from my over-stuffed leather chair, shuffle across the hardwood floor to the thermostat, turn-off the furnace and turn-on the AC.

    Still sitting in my over-stuffed leather chair listening to the furnace humming, but the forecast is for a high of 90 degrees on Tuesday. So, our aphoristic Spring will soon arrive in this wild, wondrous, wind-swept land near the intersection of dreams and nightmares. 

  53. 53.

    RA

    I always thought it was named catmint because it smells like old cat pee and cat’s don’t like it.

  54. 54.

    StringOnAStick

    @MazeDancer: I dug up a catmint to move it and discovered one side had lawn grass in it, so I chopped off that 2/3 of it and figured “oh well, I’ll try to plant the remainder and see what happens” .  I don’t think it even wilted and is growing happily now, so don’t worry.  I did it awhile ago and I am sure the moderate temperatures then helped a lot to move it along without heat stress while rebuilding it’s root system.  Just monitor the moisture while it gets reestablished and it should be no problem.

  55. 55.

    StringOnAStick

    @RA: No, cats do like it though the rumour where I grew up was that you planted it around your veg garden to keep the deer out.  Continue reading once you’ve stopped laughing.

    The trick with catmint is some varieties are aggressive self seeding, and some are sterile and much better behaved.  Walkers Low is much better and rarely makes new seedlings.

  57. 57.

    JR in WV

    We have a ton of at least 4 or 5 different amphibians’ tadpoles in the tiny pond.

    It rained so much day before yesterday that the pond overflow ran down the stone steps like a loonngg waterfall. Sedum in bloom, wild geraniums in bloom, ajuga in bloom, ferns coming up with vinca growing below the much taller autumn ferns, ostrich ferns up as giant fiddleheads, native hostas in full growth, will bloom much later.

    White violets are doing well, plants I don’t know the names of are doing well too, white blooms along the ground beside the steps…

    Ramps beginning to yellow and die back, they are spreading well and establishing thick beds all along the hillside where I planted some years ago.

    Wife is doing well, recovering from her surgery, follow-up appointment with neurosurgeon Monday morning. I’m pretty pooped myself…

  58. 58.

    jnfr

    I’m finally feeling confident enough about the weather that I’m keeping all the plants outside, even overnight. I’ll plant out the warm weather plants this week.

    Looks like my flowering perennials all survived the winter. They’re all up and growing now, and so is the bindweed. So much to do.

  59. 59.

    JaneE

    Catmint is one of the few plants I have put in that seems to thrive here, so far.  Cat, however, is totally indifferent.  Catnip will interest her a little, but not like any of her predecessors who went bananas for it.

    I try to please her, but she is the archetype of finicky.

  60. 60.

    trollhattan

    @kmax: Wisteria is a good thing that one week/year when it blooms, which is just amazing. I shall not address the other fifty-one.

  61. 61.

    JAM

    @MazeDancer: The variety in the picture is Walker’s Low, which is a place in England and not a description of the plant. It rarely reseeds, it just expands.

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