catalogs

Catalog shopping spree for the spring garden…

Thanks to cool nights by the fire, flipping the pages of glossy catalogs filled with stunning photos of the swimsuit edition versions of new plant offerings, there are exciting new additions to my garden.

Pictured here, Aralia ‘sun king,Heucherella ‘gold zebra,’ Rudbeckia ‘prairie glow,’ and Eupohorbia ‘rainbow ascot.’

In light of the chilly temps, they are all still hanging out together in a tub trug – going out in the morning and coming in at night.  They are jockeying for prime places in the garden — each of them whispering to me: “I’d look fabulous paired with the verbena or calylophus or salvia…or whatever!”  They speak to me when they think the others aren’t listening.

I feel like they are the judges on “The Voice.”  Pick me, pick me, pick me.

But I haven’t picked yet — I’m still ruminating about the best spot for each of them — determined not to just plop them somewhere willy nilly.  This I do know, because of it’s color palette, the rudbeckia will be embarking on an adventure of its own — off to a very different part of the garden than the other shade or semi-shade plants.  It’s going to find its own hot spot in a yellow/orange themed bed.

Have your catalog weaknesses …(oops)…orders arrived yet?  Who will be joining your garden this spring?

On a winter’s day…


Most of my perennials caved under last week’s freeze. Some are only 1/2 dead, but most are pretty pathetic. I don’t want to prune them now, though. Pruning now will encourage growth on warm days like today, and we don’t want that. With more freezes to come, the plants would be stressed by going in and out of dormancy.

So, there isn’t much to do in the garden.

Maybe stare at some of the bulb greenery that’s coming up. Maybe water a few evergreen plants. Maybe pull out the dead veggies that weren’t winter-hardy. Nah – that sounds too much like work.

Maybe I will just take the stack of seed and plant catalogs that arrived the day after Christmas and dream a little.

I could dog-ear some pages, make a few lists, maybe even place an order for some seeds to start in the greenhouse.

Yes, I think that’s exactly the kind of gardening I will do today.

Are you gardening today, or are you dreaming of gardening?

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