There may not be much difference yet, but there is enough of a difference in the length of the days that we can start to hope for spring!
Let’s use this time to start making a plan for this year’s gardens and containers. If you’re looking for inspiration, you might keep an eye out at the magazine stands for a delightful book called “The Whole Seed Catalogue” for 2021. The cover heralds that it is the “world’s largest seed catalogues: 500 pages!” And every page has beautiful full color photos and descriptions about hundreds of plants. A dear friend gave us this book several years ago, and when we saw this year’s edition, we were so excited to add it to our book collection!
So make a cup of tea and let’s look through it together. One article in the opening pages talks about the covid update, and how seeds are being shipped at record numbers. This is something that I think we have heard about over the past year: that many people are discovering or re-discovering the pleasures and benefits of gardening.
Now, what can we chat about as we skim through the pages? There’s a stunning aster called “Salmon Janina“ that is as delicate and perfect as the blooms in a Chinese painting. What about bachelor buttons, a wonderful gardening favorite for many years, but shown here with blooms like white, fluffy puffs and burgundy magenta centres, and dark, solid claret blooms, a selection called “Classic Artistic Mix”.
Have you ever grown balsam? That was one of my early picks in my little garden patch, and it did not disappoint! Balsam is an easy-growing annual that can be sown directly in the garden, and it loves full sun and does just great in the heat of summer. The stalks have blooms all the way along the catalogues shows a beauty called “Peppermint Sticks” with cheery red and white flowers.
Looking for something different? How about “Lettuce Leaf Basil” with frilly leaves as big as, well, lettuce leaves! Or how about “Lime Basil”, I can almost imagine the fresh flavor of that added to our salads. Then there’s a basil called “Cardinal” that has huge burgundy-purple flowers; now that would be a striking addition to our herb gardens.
If you enjoy the exotic flavors of Asian cuisine, there are many pages of intriguing plants such as bitter melon that looks as interesting as it must taste! There are many varieties of bok choy, including a lovely purple-leafed bok choy called “Purple Lady”.
Let’s look at calendula: a beauty called “Snow Princess” with pale yellow buds that open up to pure white calendula flowers; or a variety called “Strawberry Blonde” that are yellow-pink on top, and raspberry-pink on the underside of the petals.
Be prepared to be “wowed” when you get to the section on corn! There are cobs in almost every color and size, with kernels that look like glistening, shiny pearls . “Striped Japonica” even has variegated leaves with stripes of white, green, and pink!
And one called “Glass Gem” has translucent kernels in a variety of colors, no wonder they call it “the world’s most beautiful corn”. We’re only up to the “C’s”! But whether it is this amazing book or our favorite seed catalogues, get them out, read them over, and let the joy of gardening fill your heart again!
No Yorkton and District Horticultural Society meetings yet, but visit us at www.yorktonhort.ca and see what’s new. Thank you to Yorkton This Week for amazing work!
Take care, and have a great week!
