It ’s wintertime - or it will be before we sleep together it .
When it comes , peace and quiet satisfy our once - vibrant gardens . Dormant bulbs kip under a quilt of snow . Empty garden bed wait for next class . It ’s the time of year of vacation , warm food and cozy fireplaces . For the gardener , it ’s a time of reflectivity and anticipation , too .
presently enough , reality sets in , and we know that between us and springtime viewpoint 24-hour interval after day of white and inhuman and coke and ice rink and Winter Weather Advisories . If it were n’t for the source catalog that arrive in December , that stretch from January to March might seem eternal .
Seed catalogs have been enticing gardeners for a long time! This one is from Miss Lippincott’s seeds from 1896.
But the seed catalogsdocome .
Into that waste , white-hot winter world bursts a flash of color - mostly greens but some loss , some yellows , sometimes even majestic . It ’s a prison term for jubilation on the splendid December Clarence Day when we find the first seed catalog in the mailbox . It ’s a seeded player of promise , a minute of reassurance that saltation is come , a spark of a reason to dream .
And those cold winter day are perfect for garden dreams . No architectural plan is too far - bring , no melodic theme unreachable . So we make lists . Lists of 17 kinds of summer squash that we desire to acquire , lists of 22 tomato varieties that we “ must try , ” lists of spud that excel for mashing or baking or storing ( we ’ll need some of each , of path ) .
A funny thing happens when we fall into those colored page . Suddenly , our garden is perennially sodding , with the idealistic growing conditions to fit any flora regardless of such humble restriction as soil pH orUSDA Hardiness Zones . Our imaginary garden is limitless in sizing , too - in it , there ’s nothing we ca n’t grow . And , of course , we have the Energy Department , know - how and time to grow it all - and grow it absolutely .
And so we pore over the catalog pages . We make our choices by name first - Lazy Housewife pole beans and Rouge vif d’Etampes pumpkin vine . Then we savor the descriptions of each form . Words like “ best ” and “ grownup ” and ( be still my heart ) “ abundant manufacturer ” pop up throughout the descriptions like a siren strain . Who could refuse a cucumber that matures a full 10 days earlier than any other variety ? And Holy Writ like “ disease resistant ” are veritable medicine to our ears .
But the melodic phrase does n’t stop there . No , because some catalog also come equipped with coupons - coupons for Significant Savings that call you to activity and offer impressive discounts for early - birdie shopper . So we fill out the order class under the influence of the seed catalog charm , and we have to make two or three copy of the parliamentary procedure form to match everything that we ’ve foot out and we add up our purchase and it totals a billion buck , but - never fear!-we have the Significant Savings coupon . But even with the Significant Savings voucher , our monastic order still totals a half - a - jillion dollar and then - finally - reality breaks in and the daydream finish .
Not that we really mind . Because a garden - even a garden that face the harsh realities of quad limitations , climate thoughtfulness and financial duty - is a magical place in and of itself , regardless of whether we spend a gazillion clam , a half - a - jillion dollars or bound our spending to something more fairish .
So we close up the catalog for a month or three until the twenty-four hours before the coupon is arrange to expire . We contract down our lists , we responsibly place a minor order of “ just what we demand , ” and we forego three varieties of potatoes in party favour of only one or two .
But for those fleeting moments in December , for that exciting clock time when the catalog first make it , for that splendid split - second when anything in the garden seems possible “ next year , ” anythingispossible . We can get 17 type of summer squeeze in a 10 - by-10 - foot garden region and they ’ll never - never!-fall quarry to powdery mildew . Because gardens in December live only in the realm of our imaginations , and seminal fluid catalog are the wand that spread the illusion .
