PhillyTablet Inquirer Daily News
Mobile
Home Delivery
philly.com
email
font size
comments
0
options
 
Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Wintry mix

How's this for a wintry mix? T'was a chilly scene in the Wissahickon over the weekend. Even as we brace for snow and sleet this afternoon, the seed catalogues are arriving by the bucketload. Is it me, or are they showing up earlier this year, in greater numbers and looking more luscious than ever? Last year I reorganized parts of my garden that weren't working well and ended up buying quite a few plants. Always the way, it seems, but I vowed (fortunately, this was a silent vow) to cut back spending in 2009.

Now, as I amble through the catalogues, once again everything looks great and I'm already making a (quiet) list of things that would be so nice to have. I keep thinking if I continue to invest in perennials, soon I won't have to buy anything. The catalogue folks know we frugalistas out here are thinking this way, but they count on something else kicking in - that just the simple changeover from December of the old year into January of a new year turns our thoughts to spring and all those plants we simply must have. The economy be damned!

Doesn't mean we can't appreciate the frosty beauty of a Wissahickon waterfall. Just means that in our heads, we're already sprinting towards spring. 
Posted by Virginia Smith @ 9:38 AM  Permalink | Post a comment
Comments   


0 comments
About Virginia A. Smith
Ginny Smith, a Philadelphia native, worked as a reporter at newspapers in New York, Connecticut and Ohio – with six short months at the end of the Bulletin tossed in – before returning to Philadelphia in 1985 to join the Inquirer. Her favorite beats here have included Center City, roving around Pennsylvania (and getting paid for it!) and alternative medicine. She’s also been City Editor and Pennsylvania Editor. Ginny has been happily writing – and learning - about gardening fulltime since 2006. She’s won two silver medals of achievement from the national Garden Writers Association and in 2011, Bartram’s Garden honored her with its Green Exemplar award for her stories about “the region’s deeply rooted horticultural history, cultural attractions and bountiful gardens.”
Advertise Here