Temptations!
It's the season when wonderfully photographed Garden catalogues come through the mail.
One after the other.
My eyes are caught by the amazing arrays of perfectly planted flowers, of climbers romping up obelisks, of roses that have no blackspot or yellow leaves, of seedlings that have not withered and died, of clouds of the most exquisite Sweet peas.
I try, I really do, but can never reach the dizzy heights shown in these booklets, particularly that of the great Sarah Raven. I think she must have a superb photographer as her catalogue is a show item on its own. Her plants and seeds are pretty good too.
I want everything.
I want frilly pink paeonies, deep red Dahlias, clouds of white and green Nicotiana,
glowingly purple lupins leaning over creamy poppies, spikes of blue Delphinium.....
So being sensible, and realising that my garden is a small one, I will do my best to choose.
But I know that like previous years, I will always end up with too many.
Which is good because I shall give some to friends.
13 comments:
Oh dear friend...mine have started arriving also :) I'll be starting a container vegetable garden this year, so those beautiful catalogs will just be used for entertainment :D
Now you have me dreaming, too! Those are photos for inspiring gardeners everywhere! Martha Stewart used to show us all how to do everything in the garden too, but in reality she had a staff of gardeners doing the majority of the work. Don’t be discouraged, I seem to remember some lovely flowers in your garden!
One of my favourite Autumn/Winter pastimes is reading the Nursery Garden catalogs too, but we have nothing that compares with Sarah Ravens!
I went to her website where I spent a good half hour enjoying a wander through the various sections.
I made a list of Viola Cornuta “Antique Shades” - I bought some at my local garden centre several years ago and I can highly recommend them to add colour for Spring and Summer!
I would also buy the “Harlequin Sweet Pea” collection of seeds.
Also Sarah’s roses (if she could only take 3 to a desert island!) Felicia, Rose de Rescht and Tuscany Superb all known for their perfume! I had Felicia on a brick wall in my old garden - and I can recommend it!
If you haven’t got room for more roses please think about the sweet peas and violas!
Xxx
Oh yes i love those catalogues too .. huge temptation but nothing much thrives in our clay soil .
Elizabeth, I love to look at magazines. There is one particular British gardening one I like. I'll have to look it up because I can't remember at the moment. xo
It doesn't hurt to dream . . . or to make a few purchases and plant up a storm! Have fun!
I can see why you are dreaming of such beautiful flowers!! :) We don't have any land right now but my Husband still misses his house and garden. Well, seasons in life, right? much love to you!
I laughed at the line "I want them all". It's so very tempting, isn't it?
My husband has given up on me & just gives me free reign (almost) at the garden center in the spring. My birthday is in April & my wedding anniversary followed by Mother's day in May so he piles them all into one nice gift letting me choose bedding plants every year,
Lol! Sweet posting that I can relate to.
Your magazines are beautiful and all those photos would make it tempting for sure.
Enjoy your dreamy thoughts as you plan your flower garden.
Bless you ♡
It's not just me, then? Each year I buy many, many packets of seeds, making my mind up to clear that untidy border and dig up more lawn and get rid of the ones that failed or struggled last year . . . But I never actually do the clearing or getting rid or removing turf and those packets of seeds that showed me what my garden COULD look like, well they end up being donated to friends or as a raffle prize. Sigh!
Oh I remember these catalogues, how nice to dream above all the marvelous pictures ... I don't know what garden we will have, so I will have to skip this year, I'm afraid. Wishing you a great gardening year to come!!!
Love Carolien
It will be fun to see what you choose and how your garden grows.
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