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Hi, I'm Charlotte Ekker Wiggins and I write Gardening to Distraction an online blog and weekly newspaper column.

The name comes from a local newspaper writer who wrote a profile and noticed all my many green friends.

I've been playing with plants since I was 2 yrs old and poked coffee beans into my mother's favorite orchid.

I can blame it only partly on genetics.

Our family goes back 600 yrs to farming in Hungary, then immigrated to Louisiana to grow strawberries and make strawberry wine.

It does explain why my brother once said baking a strawberry pie was a waste of a perfectly good pie crust - we inhale strawberries!

Over the years, my chemical-free, 1-acre Missouri garden has become not only inspiration for a business and a weekly newspaper column, but a sanctuary for Missouri nature.

I'll confess, I have a messy garden; vegetables planted among flowers, Missouri wildflowers allowed to take over without being invited, birds and birdhouses everywhere; several small ponds full of wildlife, including snakes.  Two honeybee hives keep my garden company, and I don't believe in grass. Nothing personal, I just prefer spending my time in the garden doing something other than mowing.

I became a Phelps County Master Gardener in 2010 so I now have more people I can share my passion for gardening and ask for help!

In this blog, I also share personal gardening experience focused on USDA Zone 5, recently-changed to zone 6; Missouri nature adventures;  occasional trips to area gardens, as well as my adventure with a Missouri traditional - I call it a toy - vegetable garden.  

Why yes, I do like to garden!

Charlotte

Gardening to Distraction on a MO Hill

Sunday was a relatively cool day in mid-Missouri. I spent a little time working in the garden before fixing a salad for lunch.

Humidity was low so I also let the cats on the fenced-in deck and turned to the refrigerator for a glass of lemonade.

When I turned back to the center island where I left the salad, a cat was depositing a very live frog IN my plate. I did think about grabbing the camera first but the frog wasn't staying put, and neither was the cat!

Later that afternoon, I went on deck "frog" patrol to make sure the coast was clear to let the cats back out. Hmm, this little southern leopard frog looks vaguely familiar.

You've met my cat Margaret, a white Siamese mix who likes to sometimes keep me company in my garden; always at my computer.

Margaret's buddy is Bob, a 20 lbs gray/black and white cat who sits at windows and lets me know when there's something interesting in the garden, especially when Cousin George the raccoon is on the deck drinking out of hummingbird feeders.

Bob was a tottering teenage cat when he ran up to me at a neighboring town's park, long skinny legs and huge ears, all covered in ticks, grateful for anything to eat but wary of any and all contact.

Several flea baths later, some bland food every couple of hrs and a huge dose of patience and love over the months - Bob at first suction-cupped himself to the under carriage of my car - and lots and lots and lots of fresh catnip, Bob now seems happy living the inside life. He prefers it, sitting at an open door to an enclosed deck, most often choosing to stay inside close to his favorite blue ribbon and blanket. He'll venture out next to me as long as nothing else moves too fast.

A Bob sighting is fodder for conversation for days. Several pet sitters have never actually seen him; one still contends he doesn't exist. A relative spent part of his vacation working through my closets trying to find where a "big cat" might hide.

Any inferences to majestic cats, wild cousins or referring to him as "Bobcat," as my vet relishes reminding me, is miss-marketing. The only thing wild about this cat is when he has to go to the vet for a check up. After madly wrestling the cat carrier, he hides under my arm howling in a soul-searing wail.

Bob may be a handful for anyone else but he trusts me implicitly. It's a gift I cherish every time he pats my nose with his big white mitten of a paw.

I wish I could show you how beautiful he is, but you'll have to settle for what everyone else gets to see. If they're lucky.

Charlotte

Gardening to Distraction on a MO Hill

My gardening blog, and garden, wouldn't be the same without Margaret.

Found as a kitten in a cardboard box with paws duct taped together, she was a rescue taken to the local animal shelter slated for early euthanasia after she figured out how to open her cage door.

I had just lost my almost 24-yr cat so I adopted Margaret as a companion to my remaining cat. She's now been my companion for 12 yrs, a white cat with Siamese genes and a keen sense of determination.

Although she likes cushy naps inside, Margaret is also great garden companion. Not that she's an outside cat but she's convinced me she's trustworthy enough to sometimes take on a walk in the garden to keep me company. Except for the time when I was talking to her next to the pond and, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a frog jump in and jumped in after it. Frog and cat were fine, although someone's pride was a little damp.

Margaret will head me off on the way to the computer, her tail held high as she jumps on the desk to wait for me to settle in. Once I start typing, she piles onto my right arm.

After a few minutes, and close calls with the delete and return buttons, Margaret will curl up next to the computer, head against my hand so her chin gets scratched as I type.

Name: Margaret