I am fortunate to know many gardeners, every one of them easily seduced by a special seed catalog or display–or two or twenty.
Many of these gardeners don’t even start their plants from seed. Others use seed catalogs for a vacation to a land they would love to visit, but which hasn’t yet been discovered. Walk into a store with a well-stocked seed display and it pulls gardeners like an iron filing to a magnet.
So what is it about seeds that stir our juices? I think it is the possibilities. The possibility of growing a pumpkin that big, or a sunflower that tall. A green bean that tender, a Himalayan poppy that blue.
Some of us are entranced by the fireworks and whirlygigs of the newest colors and sizes; the ones that shout “Bigger & Better”. Others of us are awed by heirloom seeds. “Look at this Hutterite bean”, we say, “it has been growing in the United States since 1760.” Whoa–do you think Abe Lincoln ate these or George Washington? What about these fragrant, old-fashioned Sweet Peas, didn’t grandma grow these?
One seed picture leads to another as we imagine the wonderful plants we would grow. How each one would yield perfectly in the weed-free, excellent soil of our organically managed gardens. Perfection indeed.
Which way would your garden go, toward vegetables or flowers? Or would you throw caution to the winds and have both! The delightfully mismatched willy-nilly of the cottage garden, or formal beds with not a flower out of place? Or maybe a woodland garden with a small pond, surrounded by ferns, marsh marigolds and cardinal flowers. Oh can you hear the tiny tree frogs…
Whoa, wait a minute while I put my head between my knees. OK, back again, taking deep breaths. Whew, that was close. I was almost into an episode of “out of my head into my garden”, or what I call OHMY! for short. Not to worry though. OHMY! cannot hurt you. Gardeners have it all the time, especially in winter (and in winter-like springs), especially with a group of seed catalogs spread out on the table, or store display racks that spin and turn, sending streams of color out into the air.
This is a heady brew. We gardeners maintain this fantasy off and on, until we can get outside and into the dirt yet again. So tell us, what will the seed catalogs be compelling you be to grow in your gardens this year?
MyVeronaNJ.com is going to be checking in with Verona’s gardeners this summer. If you’d like us to see your plants and flowers, send us an e-mail.
