Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Winter Research

It was 11 degrees this morning when I got up and the high today is supposed to be a whopping 15 degrees (F)…a great day to curl up on the sofa with the new Burpee, Jackson and Perkins, and Jung seed catalogs.
I've already been out to fill the feeders. I'm going through great quantities of bird seed right now.  The song birds that winter here are very hungry, and now that I'm throughly chilled, I just want to curl up on the sofa and sip some warm tea. 
What I'm really doing is revising the several lists that I've been making about this year's garden.  I started a border garden last year next to a fence that is shady and dry-rather difficult gardening conditions, and nothing I put there last year did that great. So I keep researching and refining my lists.
I know I should start slowly and gradually expand this new garden as the first part fills in, but when it's cold outside and the catalogs are so gorgeous to look at, it's easy to get carried away and over order.  
The truth of the matter is a new garden takes a few years to mature and the pictures in magazines are of fully matured gardens at the peak of their bloom period, which is not only misleading but can lead to unnecessary disappointment when your garden doesn't look like that immediately.  
Patience isn't a virtue that I am always very good at nourishing, but a beautiful garden is worth being patient for, (and I need to take my own advice.)
I'm still waiting for spring catalogs from High Country Gardens, Bluestone Perennials, and White Flower Farm (among others), but I'm already making a list of new must haves for my garden this year.  Oh no here I go again...
You wouldn't believe how gorgeous my dream garden is!  In fact, I was so caught up in my fantasy that I didn't know why I felt so cold when I finally drifted back to reality! 
(This is one of my real gardens in full bloom last summer.   I'm missing it!)

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