It was warm inside this hoop house the other day, a memory that popped up this morning as I drove to work. My feet and fingers were numb and the car, despite a robust heater, was frosty. This was the scene last week at Weavers Way food co-op's "farm" over at Awbury Arboretum in Germantown. One step inside that hoop house and my glasses fogged up, my coat felt like a suffocating blanket and the air like a sauna. "Farmer Dave" has been planting greens of all sorts in here. I'll bet he does that in his shirtsleeves.

I was also reminded of this moment last night when I picked up a copy of The American Gardener, the official magazine of the American Horticultural Society, from last summer. It was on top of what some might call a "pile" of stuff on my bedside table. I prefer to think of it as my bedside library. Granted, those old magazines get dusty and unsightly but you never know when you might need one of them. 

There were articles about good plants for shade (toad lily, Japanese painted fern, hostas) and tough perennials for sun (butterfly weed, Arkansas bluestar) and I found myself getting in the mood for spring. Same effect as the hoop house. This feels somewhat conspiratorial. Is there nothing that says WINTER besides the weather?

I'm about to start reporting on some stories for the 2009 Flower Show, whose theme is "Bella Italia." Talk about getting in the mood! With temperatures slipping downward as I write this, thoughts of a springtime flower show inside a hoop house-like convention center couldn't come at a better time. If I pay you enough, you might even say that about that pile of reading material by my bed.