snow. garden.

Perhaps last night's fresh snow has inspired it, but now that Christmas has passed, I've allowed myself to sit and browse the seed catalogues. Truth is, it began before then, but it was more stolen glances than luxurious lustful lounging.

But it's not the juicy tomatoes and sweet melons that have captured my passions, it's flowers. I don't know what happened, but I can't wait for cactus-style zinnias and unusual amaranths and candy lily and butterfly weed.

Fell in love w/ Candy Lily in Rwanda, but I didn't learn of its identity until I got home...

It's orange. And native. What's not to love about butterfly weed?

Ancient grain. Now often grown for floral form. The local native version is called Pig Weed and grows in freshly disturbed soil. But I hope to grow a more decorative...or perhaps historical...version of amaranth.

Maybe I'll grow a breadseed poppy to coax some utility out of the garden this year, but for the most part, I'm committed to play.

Which is not to say tomatoes can't be play. But I'm not sure 16 tomato plants can. Or 20 peppers. So we'll see come mid-late January what the order list looks like, but productivity is not the name of my game this year.

Maybe it's just the whiteness of outside that makes me long for color...