It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. It's a beautiful day for a neighbor (come on, come on, sing along with me). Ok, enough silliness. Oh, who am I kidding, it can go on for a lot longer than that.

Well, I went out to lunch with my mom and my daughter Jill, with of course, Maddox. I went along because Jill doesn't think she can handle mom and Maddox at the same time. And we went cause mom wanted to take Jill out for her birthday. Yes I know, Jill's birthday is at the end of the month, but mom has got it in her head that it is the first of the month and since she gives cash for presents, Jill just lets her think that. Of course, if it were me I'd take the early present and then remind her later that my birthday was coming up and she if she would forget and give me more. Well, Jill's nicer than me. After lunch we went to Lowe's and found the swing mom wanted. Jill had her truck so it was easy to get the thing home. Of course, mom was shopping for kids shoes all morning (well, as early as my sister can make it anyway) and then we went to Lowe's and Sunday and Monday and Tuesday she was shopping all day, and she refuses to take her wheelchair because it's embarrassing, so she's having trouble with her balance, which embarrasses her, but I guess not as much as the wheelchair, AAAARRRRGGGGG. I think kids were easier, especially when my kids were small and you could beat them in public.

Well, anyway, when we got the swing to mom's house and I got it unloaded, then I was going to put it together (well, after Jill and Maddox left, Gotta have my Maddox time) but mom didn't want it put together today because it might rain so I can't hang it up and it will get wet if it rains even under the patio cover and if I put it in the garage it will be hard to get out and I don't know what the heck we're going to do with the thing whenever we do hang it. I guess we'll be babying the thing forever.

I was going to talk about the Oklahoma Proven plants for 2006, with pictures and everything but the pics I've been able to get are tiff documents (who knew tiff came in documents, I thought it was just grass) and apparently Blogger doesn't like tiffs. So I'll just write about them and give you the website so you can look at the pics if you want to.

First off let me tell you a little about the Oklahoma Proven label. There are several places in Oklahoma (OSU/OKC among them) that take new plants and plant them and pretty much take minimal care of them, OSU/OKC has students taking care of theirs, for heaven's sake. If the plants not only;y survive but thrive, they get the Oklahoma Proven label. These are some tough, beautiful plants. The first is the Prairiefire crabapple. Crabapples are beautiful but they have a lot of disease and pest problems, not to mention Oklahoma heat knocked some of the older varieties for a loop. Prairiefire is supposed to have solved all those problems. It is a beautiful small tree and when in bloom will take your breath away. Diabolo ninebark is the shrub selection for this year. Ninebark has always been a tough shrub but diabolo is also beautiful. Dark foliage, white flowers and red fruit in the fall, makes a really distinctive planting. The perennial choice for this year, is the golden jubilee hyssop. I've always loved anise hyssop. The foliage has a great scent (hence the common name 'anise' hyssop). It takes heat and is rarely seriously damaged by Oklahoma winters. The selling point for the golden jubilee is the chartreuse foliage. And not being a big fan of yellow plants, I'm not going to say any more. The annual choice is wishbone flowers of the Summer Wave series. As far as annuals go, several years ago they came out with wave petunias and they come in more than just blue shades. Ok, so I don't think ALL the Oklahoma Provens are great. I promise you, there is someone out there that will call me a liar and say these are the best crop of OP's ever released. The good thing about OP's is that they are tested and proven in Oklahoma and will stand up to our Summers. No small feat when you consider how weird this place is. Ok, the Oklahoma Proven website where you can find this year's choices as well as past years with pictures and more information go to http://okplanttrees.okstate.edu/images/2006press.pdf.

Shelly wanted to know what color the caladiums were and I realized I didn't give a whole lot of info in the last post. The caladiums are green with red centers and according to the picture is wonderful. Of course Shelly doesn't think that Susan would run me over either. Well, maybe not, but she would have to think about it long and hard, I tease her a lot you know.

We got the tropicals out on the front porch last Saturday. A little early, but once Kathy gets tired of them it is time for them to move! I like it because you can sit out on the porch and feel like you're in a jungle. We will probably end up getting a few more. Every year I tell myself that we don't need any more, and every year we find some we just can't do without. No, that isn't a royal we, Kathy is as bad as I am.

Well, speaking of the front porch, I think I'm going to go sit on it and watch the people walk by.

Find someone today that you can honestly tell them you love them, and then don't forget to tell them!

Wayne