People who hate January baffle me. This is the one and only month that you can actually think. Think about anything, anything at all. What a luxury. The rest of the year is zoned. Here is January stretching out before us like a sheared beaver blanket, soft and sumptuous and politically incorrect. You can even read poetry in January.
I usually have a list of catalogs for you, so you can start ordering your seeds as soon as possible. Not this year.
I have been listening to you, fellow gardeners. You like the idea of ordering your seeds early but the actuality of it is another matter.
As the seed catalogs roll into your life, go ahead and peruse them, go ahead and let them pile up beside the armchair that is pulled up beside the wood stove, go ahead and ignore them. Why not? Because sooner rather than later the Denali Seed racks will be stocked and at the ready right here in town. I have yet to hear one single soul complain about Denali Seeds. They are selected to work here in the Far North. Fresh salad is only a seed packet away.
Plus we Homerites now have several nurseries that provide us with excellent seedlings. These nurseries want you to garden successfully, their business depends on you making a harvest or enjoying gorgeous flowers. Fear not, they will offer plants that work.
So relax. Enjoy what January has to offer: time. Go to the Homer Public Library, cram yourself into the aisle that is devoted to garden tomes and gorge yourself on fabulous photography and dream yourself a new perennial bed. Dreams have been known to come true.
On March 31, April 2 and 16, the Kachemak Bay Campus, Kenai Peninsula College is offering "Landscape Design" with instructor Wayne Vandre. "Designed for the beginning landscaper. Covers the first phases of landscape design including site inventory, site analysis, conceptual design and preliminary design. Construction phasing, final design components and additional resources will be discussed briefly," according to the college catalog. How could you ask for more? I took this class years ago. I often refer to the material that I brought home, but more than that I still hear Vandre's voice of authority dropping bits of wisdom. I suggest you attend this class regardless of your gardening status, i.e. neophyte or one deeply entrenched with stagnant ideas. It is a treasure trove of information.
This may be your year to head to Seattle for the Northwest Flower & Garden Show February 9-13 - the airfares to Seattle are so very affordable. Log on to gardenshow.com or call (800)-229-6311 and you will be dazzled by the ease of logistics. They WANT you to come. Hotels are offering lovely discounts so think in terms of all of your friends going with you. The siren call of Seattle is upon us.
Take comfortable shoes, a camera, notepad and pencil. And money. The market area is growing by leaps and bounds. Every imaginable gardening tool or folderol will be available. Everything that you have ever seen advertised in Fine Gardening will be on display. To say nothing of the orchids.
What is it about the orchid section? I don't even like orchids, but when I see them all in bloom and thoughtfully arranged, well, I just lose my common sense and come home with a plant that will bloom when it damn well pleases and not a moment sooner. Alas, patience and orchids go hand in hand.
O, and the heathers. Countless heathers. Be forewarned: think of our climate and not Seattle's.
Another thought about this show, most of the plants in the display gardens have been forced to bloom so you will see plants that, under normal growing conditions would not be blooming simultaneously like they are here. But it does make for breathtaking displays.
And the sidewalks are snow and ice free.
Note: Still not a member of the Homer Garden Club? What are you waiting for? Basic membership is $7; supporting $15, business, $25. Send your check, payable to Homer Garden Club, P.O. Box 2833, Homer, AK 99603. This will entitle you to an excellent newsletter, monthly presentations and the presence of like-minded people.
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