The Catalogs are Coming

The Catalogs are Coming
Even though it’s snowing on and off, my office looks like a garden. Yellow lilies and lavender mums still bloom in a bouquet of flowers from dearest Tom. A red and orange canna flower blazes at me from the Georgia O’Keefe wall calendar. A watercolor scroll painted by friend Sue Berge’s mother in China shows a cascade of pink peonies, while irises, magnolias and alstroemeria, and crocosmias bloom in numerous prints push-pinned to the walls. Two hummingbirds even flit amid these offerings.
Even more exciting are the arrival of this year’s enticing catalogs. For the first time ever, a full color catalog arrived from Midnight Gardens in the mail. Sixteen of Bob Anderson’s vivid new introductions jump off the page, including ‘Midnight Call Me Al,’ a butter yellow daylily with a bold black-purple eye, named in honor of Al Rogers, Bob’s mentor. I’m thrilled to see ‘Midnight Barbara Blossom’ among the bright array. An unbelievable offer is included: “Your first plant is free in 2012.” You can visit the website at www.midnight-gardens.com or call 503-889-6819.
Today my order will go out to Digging Dog Nursery in Albion, California (www.DiggingDog.com or 707-937-1130). Their selection of geums, kniphofias and sanguisorbas were irresistible so I succumbed. For years I’ve had the birchleaf spiraea on my wish list after seeing it overseas, and voilà, there it was for me to order! Reading the plant descriptions and enjoying their charming illustrations were enough to chase the winter blues away.
Each day a trip to the mailbox brings more delightful surprises. A big thank you to the wonderful growers who bring these treasures our way.