The Joys of Gardening in Winter

How to keep your green thumbs from turning blue

Being a gardener in winter looks a lot different than being a gardener in summer. I’ve been thinking about this a lot as I watched our backyard transform into an ice-encrusted snowscape over the last few weeks. I don’t think I could get a trowel in the ground if I tried. I decided to make a video about some of these thoughts for our local CBS station:

As I watched this video back, I realized I misspoke about that columbine (Aquilegia canadensis). It’s a reddish/yellowish flower – not pink at all! Maybe those frigid temperatures are messing with my mind.

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Last year I invited a couple friends over for my first annual “Peruse Seed Catalogs and Drink Tea Night.” This past week we did it again. We leafed through a dozen catalogs as we snacked on a sesame SEED cake I baked. Chatting about unique varieties of cucumbers and tomatoes and flowers with friends made summer feel so much closer.

Last week I wrote about how delighted I was with my zinnias so – not surprisingly – I found myself drawn to the range of zinnias in all the catalogs. Zinnias can look so many different ways!

I was especially taken by this Takii’s Choice Mix:

I’ll have to buy a pack of those. And maybe a few others too.

How have you been spending your winters? Have you been perusing seed catalogs too? Found anything good? I’d love to hear about it.

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And one more thing: Phipps Conservatory is halfway through their Orchid & Tropical Bonsai Show and I got to stop by for Pittsburgh Today Live. You can watch the video and learn some Japanese terms here:

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