Gardenig in state Oklahoma. Tips & Guides

Annual plants are a garden designer’s secret weapon. Endlessly versatile and extremely showy, annuals add nonstop color without a high price or a lot of work. They are perfect for gardeners who crave change—from year to year or from one season to the next. And they offer instant impact for filling in bare spots between slower-growing shrubs and perennials. Summer annuals brighten gardens with flowers and foliage, while cool-season annuals bring interest to the winter landscape.

Bluestars are in the genus Amsonia. There are at least twenty-two known species, and most are native to the Eastern United States. All are in the Apocynaceae (Dogbane) family, so named because the milky sap is slightly toxic to dogs. Due to the unpleasant taste of the sap, Bluestars are deer- and rabbit-resistant. There are no known serious insect or disease problems.

I grew up in the north, where my mother’s garden teemed with the intoxicating aromas of lilacs, sweet peas, and lily of the valley. When I moved to Oklahoma, I left these fragrant favorites behind and began the search for new plants to delight the senses. After trying southern classics like gardenia (Gardenia spp. and cvs., Zones 8–11) and summersweet (Clethera spp. and cvs., Zones 3–9) which don’t much care for the Oklahoma heat, I landed on several plants that fair well across many climates.

The Blackberries of North America and Europe are a mighty clan of innumerable species and hybrids that have taxed the efforts of botanists to classify them. The many species in North America have furnished varieties suitable for cultivation in most of the United States except the cold, dry Great Plains region, and for the milder portions of Canada. One European species, the Cut-leaved Blackberry, Rubus laciniatus, has run wild on the Pacific Coast where it is cultivated.

Happy New Year! It is your GPOD editor Joseph here, and today I’m sharing some of my New Year’s Resolutions… for my garden. Some things that I’m thinking I want do to in the garden this year.

The Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera bridgesii) is a low maintenance houseplant and a popular holiday gift beloved for its stunning blooms. Christmas cacti naturally flower following the rainy season in their native habitat, but we can trick our indoor plants to bloom by altering their growing environment. By adjusting temperatures and limiting the amount of light your Christmas cactus receives, you can encourage plants to bloom. And once you know how to make a Christmas cactus bloom, you can coax it into flowering at different times of the year.

It’s easy to feel helpless in the face of unprecedented drought, water restrictions, and soaring temperatures—but we gardeners are not powerless. With careful planning we can create beautiful, drought-resilient gardens that thrive no matter what the weather may bring. And by applying water-conservation techniques in our backyards, we not only lessen our dependency on supplemental water but also help to preserve and protect natural waterways downstream.  

Hi GPODers. This is Joseph, your GPOD editor. I recently took a trip to Stillwater, Oklahoma, and thought I’d share some of the beautiful garden scenes I got to enjoy while there.

Glass gem corn is a stunning heirloom variety that can be grown for both ornamental and practical purposes. These tiny gemstone-like corns are not only edible, but you can also use them in crafts, and if you have kids, this is the perfect crop to involve them in gardening.

Header image: TheOldBarnDoor/Shutterstock.com

Everyone loves falafel—it’s a year-round staple, and the frozen options at Trader Joe’s make it incredibly easy to prepare. But today, you should probably rid your freezer shelves of any Trader Joe’s falafel: In the company’s third food recall this week, on July 28 Trader Joe’s recalled its fan-favorite Fully Cooked Falafel after being informed by the supplier that rocks were found in the food.

“Something odd has to happen for hairworms to be on soil or vegetation, instead of in water, so at first when I got those calls I thought: It must be earthworms,” says Hanelt, a Research Assistant Professor with the Center for Evolutionary and Theoretical Immunology in the Department of Biology at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. “But I asked one caller to send me some—and lo and behold, they were hairworms.”It took years between the time Hanelt saw his first nematomorph, while on a survival-training hike in high school, until he actually knew what it was.“There they were out in the middle of the forest in winter, in a bucket of water,” he recalls. He saved the strange animal,

Each day in the garden reminds me that I am blessed, even when it is raining ping-ping balls of ice from on high, as in the video clip above. (Try watching it full screen by clicking the Vimeo logo; for perspective, it’s shot through a window and the pond in the distance is more than 25 feet from where I was standing, in awe.)BEFORE FIVE concurrent weather warnings converged overhead that afternoon to form the hailstones and, eerily, a small tornado, I had been thinking about Oklahomans, including the Shawnee garden club I’d lectured to in 1999. It was the first time I’d ever seen the formidable red clay up close—I think I actually said, “Is that soil?” before I got hold of myself and my manners. Also on my mind was Dee Nash, the “Red Dirt Ramblings” garden writer who always has a smile and a kind word. Even this last week; even among her tears.“After tornadoes

Echinaceas are real dazzlers in the late-summer border: sturdy daisies standing erect with flowers that resemble sets of spinning saucers. The colourful sun-ray petals surround bronzed, almost metallic cones. These prickly centres also give echinacea its name, for Ekhînos is Greek for hedgehog.

Echinaceas are real dazzlers in the late-summer border: sturdy daisies standing erect with flowers that resemble sets of spinning saucers. The colourful sun-ray petals surround bronzed, almost metallic cones. These prickly centres also give echinacea its name, for Ekhînos is Greek for hedgehog.

Nothing beats cannas for big, bold summer color. With flashy blooms and dramatic foliage that can reach 6 or more feet tall, this striking perennial is an eye-catching addition to your garden or patio containers. “Cannas bloom all season long and thrive even during the hottest parts of the summer,” says grower Nikki Snow ofHorn Canna Farm in Carnegie, Oklahoma. “They also do well in containers, so you can use them in pots as a living privacy screen along your patio.”

After a satisfying afternoon hard at work in the garden, you peel off your work gloves, brush yourself off, and give your hands a good wash to get rid of the stubborn dirt that managed to slip through. You and your green thumb are clean, but the garden tools that did all the dirty work are still too caked in soil to be allowed in the house. Don’t just throw them into storage dirty. Using dirty equipment next time you need them can lead to the spread of plant diseases.

Tall Canna Lily Varieties are a must have if you want to add a drama to the landscape. Keep on reading to choose the best type and also find details on How Tall Do Cana Lillies Grow!

Never underestimate the power of a little bit of year-round greenery. It can truly do wonders for walkways – and for your mind.When I lived in Oklahoma for two years, wintertime was difficult. There were few e

vitalkaka / Getty Images

There is a whole lot to love about redbuds. Who hasn’t been mesmerized by a tree crowned with a cloak of vibrant reddish-pink flowers? It’s a stunning sight.Even after the flowers fade, the glossy, heart-shaped leaves are an attractive additio

I adore the variety of the changing seasons, from the quiet blanket of snow in the winter to the blissful feeling of sun on my skin during the summer.But when Old Man Winter is on