It has been a warm and mostly sunny week in central Oklahoma. We broke the record high temperature today and it will be 80 F° tomorrow. I did a favor for my boyfriend and he bought me a few plants to say thanks. I got two XXL Dahlias Nescio and Hapet Blue Eyes. I also got a Jackmanni clematis and a red trumpet honeysuckle to put on the trellises with the grapevines. We went to the farm on Friday and Saturday and got a lot of work done. My boyfriend mainly worked on expanding the driveway so we can get the mobile home in. I worked in the garden and pulled a lot of weeds. I did plant some seeds since it has been so warm. I planted green onions, chives, and garlic chives around the fruit trees. I hope the strong smell of these will repel some of the pests around the fruit trees. I also planted the honeysuckle vine on Friday. It should be able to handle it if there is a freeze since it is a native perennial. It looks like we have more warm weather in the forecast for now, though. We tried a new barbeque restaurant on Saturday in the small town near the farm. The price was high but the food was average. I also divided two of the established plants, the ajuga and the Shasta daisies. I got several clumps of ajuga and transplanted them into bare places on the hills. When I was digging up the ajuga, I discovered what Google identified as a spider egg sac. I only transplanted one clump of the daisies because it was getting late and we were preparing to leave. I could probably get several more from it as it is a quite large patch of Shasta daisies. I went walking around a bit to look for the early spring wildflower blooms. I saw the common stork’s-bill as well as a lovely wild pansy. I had never seen a wild pansy before so I didn’t realize that they are very small. We also found that our opossum friend had died and the vultures were circling. My boyfriend buried it in the small burrow it was next to. I also decided to move the Russian sage to a sunnier location since the spot where it had been was too shady. However I think I may have damaged the roots a bit when digging it up and I am not sure if it will do well. I also went to the Vietnamese shop to get a banh mi for my boyfriend. I saw many beautiful yellow chrysanthemums while I was there. They represent good fortune for the Lunar New Year. I have been reading The Encyclopedia of Watercolor Techniques by Hazel Harrison this week. I am liking it a lot so far although it doesn’t include tutorials just technique explanations. I have read one of her other books and I liked it as well. I didn’t have much time to draw this week but I did start on a panda sketch for my sister. I plan to finish it next week and will paint it with my new watercolors. I am preparing to cook a nice dinner for Valentine’s Day but I think my boyfriend is planning to take me out to a restaurant for dinner. I am having pretty good luck with my indoor seed starting so far. I think I am close to half germination already and I think that number will go up next week. The Seashells cosmos and Mexican sunflowers are doing especially well. I am looking forward to the Lunar New Year holiday next week as I will be off for a few days.
Lisa Ledbetter 