Winter Interest......

Reminiscing.....

The temperature here in Illinois hit a balmy 39 degrees today and the sun was shining all day, so no complaints here!  Any 'warm' spell we get in January that helps melt the 12-plus inches of snow on the ground .....well, I'm all for it!  All this sunshine and snow melting makes me feel like spring is closer than it really is.  On that note, I feel the need to reminisce and post some of my favorite flower pics that put me in the gardening mood!

and then there's Mollie...my beloved 'garden helper'.

Planing ahead.....

Now that the holidays are over and the holiday decor is packed away until next year, I have begun pulling out my new seed catalogs and garden magazines to begin gathering ideas for the upcoming gardening season.  I love kicking back in my favorite comfy chair with a good cup of tea, my yellow highlighter in hand, and a pile of garden magazines at my side (having the cat curl up on my lap is a bonus!).  I swear I could spend an entire week doing nothing but this and be as happy as a clam! 

Although it's hard for me to pass up any new garden magazine, a few of my all-time favorites are: Garden Gate, fine Gardening and Horticulture .

Fine Gardening's February 2010 issue has a great article on pg. 49 called "Vines: The Missing Piece of the Puzzle".  I came across a clematis vine that does well in full sun to full shade: 'Alpine clematis' (Clematis alpina) - (zones 4 to 9) that I am considering incorporating this year into a mostly shade bed that sits on the edge of a woodland area on our property (see above picture).  I'm thinking this will add some vertical appeal and additional color interest in this large bed which includes a variety of hostas, ferns, astilbe, bleeding heart and japanese anemone. 

Time to get back to my dreaming, uh, I mean reading!  Until next time......