Spring 2008 Seed Order

I get teased a lot in real life about being overly detail oriented. I will refrain from mentioning the Freudian term that is normally used to describe my “condition” but I’m sure that you are familiar with it. Sometimes, though, attention to detail is a good thing.

I’ve created spreadsheets every year documenting my spring seed orders (since 2006) and my fall bulb orders (since 2005). Each annual workbook contains a master list of everything I’ve ordered followed by individual worksheets for each catalog and each garden. Some interesting trends are beginning to appear.

I’ve been ordering varieties of butterfly weed and foxglove for three years now. Normally easy for other gardeners to grow, I’ve been struggling to get them established in my gardens. I’ve cut down on my orders of cosmos as it is firmly established in my gardens. I’m not ordering any tithonia this year because it gets so big that it crowds out and shades other flowers in the Butterfly/Hummingbird Garden. In that same bed, I’m ordering Maltese Cross for the third and last year. I’ve direct sown it the last two years with no luck. This year, I’m going to wintersow it. If that doesn’t work, I won’t order it again.

I’m trying Bells of Ireland again after a one year hiatus. It didn’t do well when I direct sowed it so I will try wintersowing it. Perhaps if I start with larger plants, they will do better. Monkshood, which never grew for me directsown, grew very well for me last year when I wintersowed it, so I ordered more this year to wintersow. Kiss-Me-Over-the-Garden-Gate also did well last year wintersown. I don’t know if it will reseed itself, so I have ordered more this year to wintersow.

Every year I try something new. Verbena bonariensis and Nicotiana sylvestris were both spectacular last year. They will be making appearances again this year. New this year will be sweet peas and heirloom petunias. I’ve grown petunias from seed in the distant past but sweet peas will be a first.

I was happy to finally get Johnny-Jump-Ups established in one bed. I’ve ordered more this year hoping to get them established in more beds. For the front of my house, I’ve ordered Bowles Black violas. I’m expanding that border to eventually meet up with the infamous Entry garden. A pleasant surprise there were the Nora Barlow columbine that I had planted in the spring but which disappeared over the summer but made a reappearance in the fall. More of those have been ordered also.

The biggest surprise of all is the fact that each year I have ordered exactly the same number of flowers: 69. I was sure that this year I would be ordering fewer seeds since I am going Back to Basics. After all how many different marigolds and zinnias can you have? (3 and 5 respectively). I think what raised my total this year was my decision to go with the same flowers, different colors for my yellow/pink bed at Rutgers Gardens so I effectively ordered double for that garden.

Seeds arrive in the mail daily now. The drawer in my refrigerator is slowly filling. I have to make time now to wintersow my seeds. It turned out to be a good thing after all that I have so many containers.

Another OT Post

This has nothing whatsoever to do with gardening. I'm just so excited because I have literally waited 25 years for this day:


I finally have real furniture in my living room. It's going to require new curtains, new lamps, a new rug and repainting the walls, but it's all worth it. Thanks to a generous Christmas bonus from my employer and a lousy economy courtesy of the present administration forcing retailers to slash prices to the bone, I was able to buy a couch, loveseat, two end tables and a coffee table for the price that I thought I would have to pay for a couch alone. And did I mention the free delivery?

The Fur Patrol is still trying to decide if they like the new decor.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

This is what desperation looks like:

I don’t have anything blooming so I picked up these primroses at the grocery store.

2 for $5 and I have something to post for GBBD.

Color My World

The Display Gardens at Rutgers Gardens are normally a riot of color. Formal in layout but informally planted, each bed is tended by a different gardener. In some cases, the beds are divided up amongst several gardeners. Their mandate is to interpret a theme using mainly annual flowers not more than three feet high. The result is a kaleidoscope of shape and color.

The gardens will have a new look this year. Rather than a theme, the beds will be solid blocks of color. I’ve been excited about this since it was announced at the Holiday Party last year. I’ve had color gardens at home for several years.

The Head Hatter and I attended a Master Gardener Executive Committee meeting today and afterwards, she gave me a preview of the color assignments for each bed. Mine will have two colors, yellow and pink.

Leafing through my stack of catalogs, I’m discovering that choosing the flowers is more difficult than I anticipated. I don’t want to just plant anything that strikes my fancy as I do at home. This bed will be seen by many people. I need to consider both the flower shapes and heights to lend interest to the monotones. The shades of pink and yellow have to be carefully matched.

I find myself considering flowers that I don’t normally grow. Celosia, statice, lavatera. Another idea I am toying with is matching flowers, i.e. yellow zinnias on the yellow side and pink zinnias on the pink side. And then there is the question of which seeds to wintersow.

This bed is more challenging than I thought it would be. Which means more fun!

Catalog Dreams

I am a creature of habit. I find comfort in routines. Children also crave routines and rituals. Every August, we would do the back-to-school shopping. New clothes, new sneakers, new backpack. September found us in the fabric store picking out a pattern and fabric for the all-important Halloween costume. Each day my progress was measured. Was it cut out yet? How much was sewn today? Was it ready to be hemmed? Because I always took it down to the wire. Every year it was the same thing. The night before the Costume Parade, I was tacking down the last facings, sewing on the last snaps. Yet somehow, on the all important day, the Fairy Princess fluttered out the door, the Starfleet Officer transported to the schoolbus, Catwoman purred her way to homeroom, Guinevere summoned her Paintball Warrior to her side.

Two weeks later was the all-important birthday party. Two weeks after that, Thanksgiving. And finally, Christmas with all of its attendant decorating and shopping. By January, I was always exhausted and ready for some “Me Time”. Seed catalogs had started to arrive during the last week of December as the holiday season was winding down. I hoarded them in anticipation of the long winter nights. While the wind was howling outside, I was curled up on the couch, planning, dreaming. In my mind, it was summer and my gardens were full of flowers. All of my favorites were there along with new blossoms that had begged to be tried. Everything was perfect. There wasn’t a weed in sight. Anything is possible in dreams.

My accustomed routine was disrupted, though, as the seed companies decided that they could sell more seeds if they sent more catalogs and sent them earlier and earlier. I tried mightily to resist the urge to “peek”. I always succumbed. Gingerbread houses went undecorated and Christmas cards weren’t mailed as I pored over the latest offerings. The January lull became just that, a lull until the first bulbs tentatively peeked out at the end of February.

My nest is empty now. I’m struggling to find new routines. I was granted a reprieve this year as fewer catalogs arrived “too early”. Perhaps because I have not yet formed new habits, I was able to resist their siren song and tossed them into a basket until the proper time. That time is now. The Christmas tree is at the curb awaiting pick-up. The decorations are back in their boxes in the basement. The house and yard are bare but the basket of catalogs is over-flowing. I am ready to begin planning and dreaming.