It has been another extremely windy week here in central Oklahoma. The temperature has been going up and down, but mostly up. There’s still some possibility of a freeze here for a few more weeks but we did some planting on Friday at the farm anyway. We planted both grapes, the blue girl rose, the summer crush hydrangea, the Turk’s cap, and the coral honeysuckle. I also planted some seeds around the new plants, mostly ground covers to keep weeds away. The garden is starting to wake up and it looks like most things will come back. I think we lost three of four rosemary and the catmint over the winter. The Russian sage also doesn’t seem to have liked the transplant and I am not sure if it is alive. Many flowers are blooming already. We have some beautiful replete daffodils and red triumph tulips blooming. I also saw two Fox’s Grape Fritillary blooming in the bulb garden. They have a really interesting look and I would like to draw them sometime. I saw some wallflowers blooming and many unripe strawberries. Unfortunately, our watering system had a leak so part of it should be replaced. The asparagus were a little over watered but I think they will be fine. We are a little afraid to see the water bill this month. I also saw a lot of Southern dewberry in flower. These are edible berries but I haven’t tried them yet. Speaking of berries, I was pleased to see that the beautyberry is returning. These are not edible berries. The phlox is flowering profusely and so is the ajuga. I think the garden will look great this year. Next Saturday is the library’s annual seed and plant exchange. I’m looking forward to attending it if I can. I did a drawing for my nephew of a new Pokemon character. I also did a bargue plate of a hand in my art class. I received my final birthday gift card this week, so of course I bought art supplies. I bought a tan sketchbook this week but haven’t used it yet. I also got a cold pressed watercolor block from Fuumuui. I will test out these two next week. I did swatches of the watercolors from the brand Tobio’s. These watercolors were more grainy than the ones I got from Mungyo. They didn’t blend well. The pigment numbers were not included on the packaging. I also tried to paint some blueberries to test out the paints. The forest green color was my favorite of the set. Next week, I will continue to draw more flowers. I’m continuing to harden off my seedlings and will plant them in mid-April.
Lisa Ledbetter 