By EDNA PEEVER
Cobden
There is nothing more pleasant on a blustery winter day than to sit and browse through those glossy gardening catalogues which arrive in your mailbox like magic just after Christmas every year.
In your mind’s eye you can see your flower beds in the coming summer as weed free and beautifully blooming as they are portrayed in those magazines. This is hardly ever the way it turns out, but it is fun to dream and while away the time as you make your list.
All the snow cover this winter has been just what our gardens needed. Now, as the days get longer and the snow disappears, we can hardly wait to see what has survived and what we have forgotten we planted last year.
We begin to start seedlings and long for the good old days when our houses had large and wide windowsills to hold all those boxes and plants so they could take in the sun as it gets warmer. Mark Cullen, the gardening expert for Home Hardware, has lots of excellent gardening advice and can be seen every Wednesday morning at 8:45 on Canada AM and he also has a column in the Ottawa Citizen every other Wednesday morning.
I do have some favourites.
Dragon’s Blood sedum is an excellent low-growing ground cover. It will creep into crevices in rocks and spreads rather quickly. It blooms in July with a pretty pink bloom. The hardy coneflower now comes in a variety of colours and makes a great show in your perennial flower bed.
As for a climber, the jackmini clematis can’t be beat. It needs a strong trellis and some chicken wire behind enables clematis to spread out.
Gardening is an occupation of hope and optimism. Come May, the greenhouses will be full of beautiful and enticing flowers and plants. Don’t be afraid to try them. If they fail, it is not the end of the world. Just enjoy the thrill of having tried something new.
Winston Churchill led the people of England through the war years with this simple three word phrase, “Never Give Up.” And so it is with gardening.
If things don’t work out the way you had planned, just remember the old adage used by farmers since time began – Next year is another year.
Happy Gardening
