It used to be so easy in my founding father ’s day . In mid - wintertime , gardeners received mail - monastic order catalogs from many far - flung nurseries and plant purveyors . Mailboxes moan under the weight of all the catalogs , but no one minded because there is nothing like face at pages and Thomas Nelson Page of perfect annuals , perennial , shrubs and Tree on a gray , uninspiring day at the last of January . With the holidays over and give yet to happen , catalogs gratify the universal hunger for semblance , lighter , and rebirth . Besides , unless there is a flu epidemic , nothing else happens between New Year ’s and Valentine ’s Day .
And , of course , in July or August , those same gardeners could rest in their hammocks and peruse catalogs from the bulb trafficker . On days when even turn a catalogue Sir Frederick Handley Page make you burst out in full eubstance sweat , it ’s dainty to opine about those days in former give when you hunt down for the first Anemone quinquefolia or crocus . All in all , there used to be a certain symmetricalness to the gardening life .
Now , horticulture and sport have something in common — all the seasons seemed to have immix together . Just as there are a few days in winter when you may watch baseball , hockey , basketball , and football all on the same sidereal day , there are daylight in late summertime when gardener can front at new catalogs for annuals , perennials , Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree , bush , and spring - flowering bulbs all in the same 24-hour interval . exemption of choice is a tremendous thing , but too much choice can lead to palsy . I know because it is happening to me .
This is because the catalog vendor have fall upon something good gardener have always known — drop is a great time to plant perennials . Instead of merely considering your bulb purchases in mid to later summer , you’re able to page through abbreviated versions of most of the head plant life retailers ’ catalogs . I be intimate from experience that it becomes hard to focus on Heuchera when listen the siren Song dynasty of the lily - blossom tulip .
And then there ’s the problem of budgeting . Is it possible to order the hundreds of bulbs necessary for a respectable spring show if you are also sending off a tree peony , four or five astilbes , and a clasp of hellebores ? As the King of Siam once aver , “ a bafflement ” .
Common horse sense refuses to aver itself . I tend to bury that last class , at least fifty daffodil never got planted because the ground turned to iron before my feet turn toward the garden . It is harder to forget the five potted perennials that I got on sales agreement six calendar week ago . They languish in my driveway still , irrigated but not installed . If common good sense had anything to do with it , I would not disturb a catalogue until I planted them .
All thing come in fourth dimension ; for me , coarse sense commonly reasserts itself as time begins to run out .
coarse sense tells me that my window of chance for planting perennials ( until about the end of September ) will close before the windowpane for establish bulbs . Therefore , I should take advantage of that sale on Anemone japonica and Boltonia asteroids , lest others profit from my indecisiveness .
As far as bulbs go , I will order the rare , pricey , or peculiarly delectable ones now and await a few weeks for the residuum . Noble ‘ KingAlfred ’ daffodilswill be available later , but the sultry ‘ Flaming Purissima ’ tulips may be plump .
Using this line of reasoning signify I get about as many plants and bulbs as I can grapple with if not as many as I require . It also saves me from total financial ruin . Applying cause also means there might be fourth dimension left from prescribe and plant to divide my muscular German iris and transplant a ill cite Rose of Sharon .
In the last , this saved sentence might be crucial . With the first spring catalogue set to go far just before Christmas , the intervals between bout of catalogue - induced palsy get shorter every year .
by Elisabeth Ginsburg
Yellow RoseSWORD LILIESCHANGE IN THE GARDENUNFORGETTABLEFRESH VEGGIES
