Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Catalogs, Books & Conferences

Plant and seed catalogs have been arriving in my mailbox at a pretty steady clip the past several weeks, although not nearly in the volume of earlier years. And that’s a good thing. Why fell more trees and print more stuff when everything is a quick click away on the Web?

Of course I want to order just about everything I see! But, I have a small garden and it is pretty much full (would love to dig up the front yard for a vegetable garden, but that is not likely to get HOA approval). The catalogs of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds and Seed Savers Exchange are all enticing, especially the last, with all those tomatoes on the cover. I swear, though, that this year I’ll think at least twice before growing any tomatoes – too much work, and the local farmers’ market will have everything I need.

I’ve loved reading “Waking up in Eden”, by Lucinda Fleeson, not long ago, and just yesterday read the Fourth Edition of Karen Platt’s “Black Magic and Purple Passion” (available as an e-book directly from the author, but the Third Edition can still be found on Amazon) – more than 600 plants with very dark flowers or foliage. I’ve already decided to go looking for some Actaea (Black Cohosh) and the ‘Twilite Prairie Blues’ variety of Baptisia in the coming months. The book includes lots of Bearded Irises and Daylilies and great photographs of such specimens as Ajuga lupulina, Arisaema, and Primula ‘Elizabeth Killelay’. I love Primulas, as they are so cheerful early in the gardening season.

The Georgia Master Gardeners have their winter conference coming up on January 23, with lots of good stuff to offer its attendees, not in the least a presentation by pre-eminent Georgia gardening guru Walter Reeves.

On the heels of that is WinterGreen 2010, this region’s trade show for the horticulture industry, which I pan to attend. And then, on February 3, Northeast Georgia Writers will hold its first 2010 seminar, with Cecil Murphey as the speaker.

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