Welcome to our family, Graham Milo.

Graham Milo Stoker was born June 29 in Sacramento.  A few weeks later he jumped in the car with his family and drove to his new home in Norman, OK. His Dad started his residency program, and his other Grandparents helped unpack. Grandma Kerry left Thursday, I came in as the second shift on Friday. I was amazed at how organized everything was when I arrived. Good thing, too, because 4 kids age 5 and under is no joke. Jacob and Alexa are wonderful parents with beautiful intelligent children, but these beautiful intelligent children have some needs, and it takes about 3 adults to meet them, especially when one of them is a wee little babe who loves his mama.

We had some fun adventures: July 25th was Pioneer Day. This celebration is usually held on July 24th, but you do what you can under the circumstances.  We went on a Pioneer walk with a picnic. We played "Button, button," "Pick-up Sticks" and "Drop the clothes pin into the Mason jar."

On another day we went to a very fine doughnut store with unicorn doughnuts, Captain America doughnuts, pink sprinkle and cake doughnuts, chocolate and maple bars. These delicious pastries were enjoyed on our road trip to check out the Oklahoma City temple. We had a little moment on the OK tollway (which we were trying to avoid, but Siri wouldn't comply) where we discovered that one must have exact change to satisfy the requirement. We traded a five dollar bill with the neighboring car in hopes of getting change. They only had 1's but were very kind and made the trade. I thought we could just over pay, but when the sign says exact change, they mean, "Quarters only, Ma'am." Alexa called the number on the machine and played her "new to the state" card. They were merciful, and we were educated. When driving in the car with 4 little tinies, obstacles like this can feel monumental, but we perservered and made it to our lovely destination.

On other days we played games, made lots of necklaces, swung on the awesome backyard swing, colored leaf pictures, and picked tomatoes from the garden. It was fun and hard and delightful and crazy and overwhelming and terrific. One night, after the kids were in bed, I got to watch Hamilton. I may or may not have slept through part of it, but I'd been wanting to see it and wasn't disappointed. Thanks for sharing your Disney Plus. I love you, cute family, I'm excited about your new Oklahoma adventures. Until we meet again. oxoxox

Garden notes 2020

I always thought of hats and bandanas as a fashion statement. Turns out, they are vital protection in summer's heat. My little Nike sports hat proved ineffective as I have become a literal redneck. My mom gave me permission to use this perfect hat which is what my dad wore when he was in the garden. It makes me feel special, like I'm carrying on an important garden legacy.

Something amazing happened to my garden this year. Because I took my mom to the nursery to buy flowers, a few conversations later, I am now working at the nursery for plants. Do you know how many years I've been poring over plant catalogs all winter long, dreaming of what I would purchase if I had the resources? Not only do I have the blessing of spending hours every day caring for and talking about plants, I get to take them home.

My garden life has always had ups and downs, but one of this season's ups is that my husband is on board. He heroically pulled out 80 ft. of old, ugly juniper hedge. I got a landscape plan for new shrubs from work which was thrilling. What was not thrilling is that each shrub needed a large hole dug, a large hole dug through a serious root system. Backyard forest problems. Guess who dug the holes? My husband. <3


I'm now ready to share what I've planted, what I've learned, what I love, and what I don't love yet, so I can watch my garden grow and me along with it.

When we moved into our home in Fayetteville, GA 10 years ago, there were already a lot of nice shrubs along the foundation of the house. We had a cleyera, rose of sharon-purple and white, Knock out roses-red, holly, soft touch holly, azalea, gardenia, nandina and a crape myrtle. It was orderly and symmetrical. I added my own touch of random chaos with plantings of annuals and perennials hither and yon following the survival of the fittest method. And the winner is mexican heather which is deer proof, rabbit proof and self seeding. Lantana made a strong showing as did rosemary, guara, oregano and thyme. There have been many losers-vinca, petunia, viola to name a few. I planted a little red Nancy and creeping Jenny, sometimes known as red Jenny, as a ground cover. I'm proud of them for living.

On the right you see my husband's sod patch he planted for erosion control. Seems like one more thing to mow to me. It works out though. He does the lawn. I do the plants.

On the shady side of the front beds I have fought the good fight by covering my Mother's Day Hydrangea and Camellia with chicken wire. Sorry, deer.  Eat the weeds, would ya? New shady perennials are Hellebore/Lenten Rose and a sickly little coral bell, called Heukera around these parts, that has revived and is thriving compared to how it looked when I planted it. The real reason the front of my house looks good, is that my husband has done an excellent job trimming the bushes. Thanks so much.

So this one time I was feeling a little down and did some plant retail therapy with bare root plants from Sam's club in early spring. I planted a couple of lilacs that didn't do anything, so I forgot about them. Now I have one growing in the back of my front bed. and one in the middle of my roses and blueberries. They're not blooming, just growing. I'm not even sure they're lilacs. They don't look like any lilacs I've ever seen. I'm giving them one more year and then...

This little Vitex tree was introduced to me by a friend at the nursery and it was on sale, no kidding, right? If he lives he'll grow into a beautiful purple blooming specimen that screams southern.

It's now time to talk about Mandevilla vine. No, the pink flowers are wave petunias. Last year I had Mandevilla in my pots. In the winter, I just put the pots on the garage side of the house and forgot about them.  When I went to empty and replant I saw little green signs of life. I had to give them a chance. Well, the vine on the right is tall and pretty. The vine on the left is small and pretty, but no flowers. Just in case you were wondering if Mandevilla vines are perennial, no.

I've mentioned my awesome, but unattractive, electric fence on the side terrace that protects my roses and edibles. My husband extended it to give me more room for vegetables. I call it my electric garden. My most beloved plant, the pomegranate, lives there. I was rejoicing in the spring when my tree produced dozens of brilliant orange flowers. I had 2 cuttings in potting soil that were leafing, and I planted another variety-Wonderful. I was in pomegranate heaven. Then my little orange fruits started to disappear one by one. The tree looks healthy enough, but no fruit. I didn't see that any had fallen on the ground. This leads me to believe I have a thief. I haven't decided if it's a squirrel or a bird, but I'm hoppin mad. I'll spend the winter devising ways to foil my foe. On the bright side, I still have my new little pomegranates to plant. I hope they like netting.

My fig tree lives on this same terrace. I got it from a friend, and I think of her every day.  The deer munched on it the first couple of years. Last year they didn't seem as interested, or so I thought, because one day I found it trampled with it's little trunk split. I thought it was a goner, but it has come back strong. A few months ago I decided it needed to be moved to a new location. Bad idea. I couldn't dig that sucker up. Yesterday I read that once established, the roots on figs run deep. "Be not moved" as demonstrated. Where it stands is perfect apparently.

On the bottom terrace I have a raised bed that has yielded meager crops in times past. 2 years ago I moved my black raspberries to this location. This year that stickery little plant really produced. I planted thornless blackberries and 3 varieties of red raspberries in other places, because I really don't love the thorns, but the black raspberries did their job, so we win.

Speaking of the black raspberry location, this sweet little white pumpkin has snuck down from the electric garden and found a home suspended in black raspberry canes. I love it.

On this lower level there is a horrible little strip of dirt between the retaining wall and cement that is wet all the time. Weeds grow there so I experimented and threw a couple Sam's Club bare root hydrangeas in. They lived, so I planted a nice lace cap from the nursery. It's still alive so maybe it's a fit.

 So now for the new border plants in the back yard. As I said before, my husband removed the juniper hedge that was intended for erosion control. We got rid of the lacrosse goal and discovered it's actually kind of pretty back there. I planted dwarf blueberries and drift roses in the sun, azaleas and agapanthus in part shade and pulmonaria and columbine in even more part shade.

At the bottom of the slope where the water seems to run during the storms I planted perennial hibiscus with their 1 day plate sized blooms and any hydrangea I could get my hands on. Some I bought, some I saved from the dump. I have this affinity for trying to save the little starving plants. I love to see them flourish with proper care.

In back of the fire pit on the edge of the forest I attempted to civilize the wild a bit. This may be impossible. The underplants don't seem to get much rain, and I realize I'm bringing the food to the deer, but I really wanted to try. I planted 3 jade distillium, 2 fatsia-the deer love 'em, 1 lorapetalum, a sunshine ligustrum and a tea olive for screen. I also planted a pittisporum that was headed to the dumpster, emphasis on pity. It may not make it. If it doesn't, I'm saving my hours for a viburnum bush.

Well, this (pity)sporum bit the dust. Instead, I planted a ruby spice clethra. I didn't even know about that bush until it came in to the nursery. It's lovely and smells so nice. 

The juniper hedge was replaced with radicans gardenia, boxwood, Shi Shi Camellia, Encore azalea, Florida sunshine anise, native azalea, and pink frost anise. There is one little spot right under my mom's window. Her favorite color is yellow so I planted Happy Returns daylily, false indigo and Italian jasmine.

Florida Sunshine Anise-I love 'em. They are doing well in shade and they really brighten the area.

Pink frost Anise-the leaves smell delicious

Perennials and some annuals that were in the dump.

Mom's window view

On the deck are my plants that I need to keep a close watch on and my mom's containers. I have this year's Mother's Day hydrangea which I darned near killed by planting it in the wrong spot. I rescued it and am hoping for recovery. My goal is to plant it in the ground on my birthday in September. I am trying to propagate some rose of sharon in a bucket of water. (I saw it on Youtube) I actually have some roots.

 Mom planted a tomato, pepper, zinnias, marigolds and petunias and the amazing Sunpatiens. It's like a New Guinea impatiens. I highly recommend this annual. It has been blooming strong all summer in part sun. The other annual I recommend is the Supertunia. It is self cleaning, with so stinkin many little flowers-pure happiness.I have them bordering the Autumn Ember Azaleas on the Pomegranate terrace.

Mom's containers. Sunpatiens on the right.

I have one Geranium in a container because that increases my chance that I can smell the flowers. My gerbera daisies have been returning and my wild flower seeds are wimpily trying to grow. Maybe they need more sun--babies.

My tomato is not nearly as productive as Mom's cherry tomato. It has given me 3 fruits. I'm thankful, and I made some lovely salsa, but really, is that all? My basil is growing smashingly from seed. I keep my new roses on the deck to keep my eye on them. Somehow, I think I can hide them from the Japanese beetles if they're away from the other roses.

And if all goes well, I should get some pine straw mulch this week and life will be perfect.

Like everyone, Covid-19 has taken me out of my regular life and brought me to a smaller circle and space-closer to my heart and mind. The opportunity to be in the sunshine and dirt enjoying the beauty of God's creations has been a joyful experience. I'm learning about trying and failing, the importance of light and water and nourishment. I'm figuring out that the way I plant matters. Take time to do it right in the beginning to increase the quality of life.  I'm also beginning to understand the power of God and his mercy in letting us play a small part in His plan. Knowing and keeping His laws is paramount in the creative process. At times it seems to limit, but in actuality it frees us to reach new heights. I'm a blessed girl.