Wednesday, January 20, 2010

January Dreaming

Ah, January. The holiday season is over, and some year I might find time to blog through it. A wonderful herbal time of year it is also so very busy. Every year I make a holiday potpourri and I think this year was my best. Beautiful and fragrant it included cedar pine tips, hemlock pine cones, cloves, allspice, cinnamon, rosehips, star flowers, curly pods, star anise and a bit of Christmas scented fragrance oil.

I'd add some pictures of the potpourri and garden, but I'm sitting in Florida enjoying some sunshine, not so warm weather but a chance to wind down after the holidays, recharge and get ready for the year ahead. There's something soothing about the ocean to me and I can walk the beach for hours. But I do miss my gardens and plants.

I just read a blog that was discussing propogating rosemary and realized how much my plants are like pets (or maybe even children) to me. I left my plants at home in the care of a good friend who will water them faithfully but just doesn't understand how plants have their own personalities. My large rosemary that I faithfully tended all summer is sitting in the sunroom right now and misses me I'm sure! I hope it is making it through the winter okay along with all the other tender perennials.

But almost as good as being in the garden is the dreams and fantasies of the wonderful gardening year ahead. I love to study the seed catalogs, research plants and plot out the garden design for the year. I try to keep a garden journal every year and this is when I go back and read it for ideas of what to do new and different this year.

My goals for my 2010 garden:
  • Try some new vegetables that I don't receive (or receive enough) from my CSA
  • Expand the medicinal herbs in the garden
  • Find some new shade/part shade loving perennials for those parts of the garden including native varieties
  • Make it beautiful

What are your goals for your garden this year? Feel free to post some of yours.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Linda, what a nice place to be, letting the negative ions of the ocean cleanse, refresh and renew you! Dreaming about gardening is as much fun as doing it, well almost. We dream of large mass plantings, undulating in a summer breeze. Can it happen? Probably not, but it's a nice thought. :-)
Frances

Unknown said...

Mmmm, Florida! Nice. (I haven't been there, but have it on good authority that it's quite awesome, especially this time of year. I like your January dreaming ideas. This is a good time of year to dream and plan.

Anonymous said...

HI Linda: Just came over from Blotanical to check out your blog. Looks great lots of information available. Next time you visit our blog say Hi or something to let us know you stopped by.

That's it for now, see you next time.
Enjoy Your Evening.
Liza and John

Sue Swift said...

Lovely photo. My garden goals for this year are just to do it - and not to get so swamped by work, as usual, that it gets ignored :(

Andrea said...

Hello Linda, i'm new here just followed you via Autumn Belle. I don't have a followed link yet for herbs so thankful to have seen your site. We have a lot of these herbs in the tropics, and quite popular these days. I actually just planted 3 small cuttings of rosemary and asked my mother to tend them, as i am away. They are already goodlooking now.