New Years! Bells are ringing everywhere, and one of the happy events they presage is the arrival of gloriously illustrated, shiny new garden catalogs.
For all gardeners this is a season of cheerful dreaming and high optimism as they scan the gay pages. But stop! Before diving headlong into the order blanks, make this resolution and stick to it. READ THE FINE PRINT.
Not to avoid some pitfall, but to find a wealth of information. For these booklets are the greatest bargain you’ll find in the gardening world. With a half-dozen postcards any gardener can build up a reference library of no mean worth.
Included between the covers of a catalog is much more than a list of plants. Suppose, for instance, your perennial garden lacked height last summer. Intelligent scanning of your catalogs supplies you with yellow thermopsis for June, blue or white peach bells in June and July, blue meconopsis and giant white liatris for early fall.
Satisfying Perennials
Similarly, you can satisfy your perennial or annual needs for a dry or moist spot, one where shade is a problem, or for the lack of some specific color for a particular season. Many catalogs pack their alphabetical table of offerings with practical information on bloom time, color, height, hardiness and habit of growth.
The easiest, most popular varieties are usually featured on the front pages in large print, but a treasury of lesser-known plants is yours for the seeking if you read the fine print further on.
The use of symbols, which you can quickly learn, makes it easier to pick out your special interests. One of our favorite catalogs has an (8) after plants it considers everblooming. We try several each year, and make new garden friends. Many have now become standbys.
Leaning Towards Perennials
My own catalog collection leans towards perennials, for every gardener has his favorites. A quick look at the advertising columns of POPULAR GARDENING will give you the names of firms specializing in what you like best.
You will want to share your new discoveries and catalogs. Whenever one of my books is borrowed by a friend, I enjoy a happy glow thinking of the fun she will have as she makes her way through the ever-pleasing favorites to the fascinating, informative fine print.
A confirmed gardener with a little curiosity will find a garden catalog delightful light reading for odd moments. I’ve been doing it for years, and just as looking at a garden in bloom can never bore me, so these colorful catalogs stand repeated readings.
I feel the excitement of the born explorer when I discover a new name tucked inconspicuously among the other facts. As an auxiliary resolution, why not try one or two of the little-known varieties? You may find that the fine print has introduced you to a perfect plant for your garden’s requirements.
44659 by Bebe Miles