Oh, dear, a fellow blogger who shows all the classic signs of seed catalog addiction: the glazed look of anticipation, the bit of saliva at the corner of the mouth, compulsive dog-earing corners to mark pages, a mail carrier with a bad back. The Phactor has seen it all before but never issued a stern warning. Fortunately SCA - seed catalog anonymous can help you over come this addiction where you think too much about what might be and not enough about what will be happening in your garden. It's the promissory nature of these catalogs, those pictures of perfect, bountiful flowers, fruits, and vegetables, and you know, you just know, that yours will look just like that and so you become addicted to this pleasurable fantasy, and you just can't get enough catalogs as shown in the link above. Now if only my blueberries grew just like in the picture. Maybe a new variety would help?
Joy to the world! The firest seed catalogues for 2011 arrived yesterday, which seems rather early, but most appreciated. Can there be anything that generates more anticipation than gardeners contemplating the pictoral promises so wonderfully displayed? And the Phactor has a list and he's checking it twice to make sure he knows what to buy and when. Red currents are high upon this year's list. A new location is ready, and that's good because the supply of current-cranberry jelly (a dynamite combination discovered when there just weren't quite enough currents) is running low. Temptations always run high (oh, a double fernleaf peony), but the rule is simple, there has to be a space to plant something before the purchase can be made, which is such a stupid rule, but Mrs. Phactor is trying to rein in the impulsive purchases (unless they're shoes). A considerable rear shady border area was been cleared of trashy plants last year and awaits new landscape plantings granting lots of purchasing latitude! And it's only 2-3 months away!
Seed and plant catalogs are the earliest harbingers of spring that exists. Yes, only 2-3 short weeks after the holiday gift catalog deluge ends, the spring seed and plant catalog arrivals begin! Egged on by promissory pictures, you get to whallow in midwiner gardening dreams and expectations. You get to make selections to fulfill your every garden fantasy, and maybe even order something if your budget allows. It's such great fun that the Phactor doesn't even mind this departure from the ecological straight and narrow. Hard to know why some catalogs keep coming, but apparently mailing lists are forever. It's not because of purchases because the Phactor buys most of his common garden plants and seeds from local family owned garden shops. Although seeds of those orange Turkish eggplants are calling out to be bought. So readers, what catalogs send the most shivers of anticipation up your gardening spines?