Happy New Year, gardeners! 2018 has begun, we passed the shortest day of the year almost two weeks ago, and we are receiving seed catalogues in the mail; so we can now officially begin looking forward to the 2018 gardening year!
I just love looking at the new seed catalogues! Seeing those bright photos of this year’s plant offerings is so thrilling! One trend that has probably been happening for a while is succulent gardening; the W.H. Perron catalogue has two ready-made kits, complete with plants, container, and even decorative rocks! Succulent gardening is perfect if you have minimal space and might be doing most of your gardening in containers or on a tabletop. Even if you have all kinds of room, it’s still a fascinating form of gardening: very clean-lined and cutting-edge. Several years ago, members of the Yorkton and District Horticultural Society got together to make tufa planters (low, rustic looking containers made out of concrete) and these would be perfect for succulent gardening!
The Perron catalogue also has a new type of sweet pepper called “Mad Hatter”. The peppers are an unusual shape, almost like a flattened-out hat, and they are described in the catalogue as “crunchy, crisp and mild”. They have a maturity of 85 days.
Here’s something that’s a feast for the eye and the palate: “Chef’s Choice Tomato: Yellow” is a beautiful-looking bright yellow tomato, ready in 70 days, and the catalogue tells us they are “of large, meaty delicacy”. Mmm, can’t you just imagine them sliced on a plate, alternating with sliced red tomato, and drizzled with balsamic vinegar? Yum!
There is also a page of “fantastic foliages” that caught my attention, with interesting plants such as ornamental oregano, not for eating, but with green and purple coloring and scented pink flowers that will attract pollinators.
So many plants to learn about! Then I began studying the T & T catalogue, and right on the first page there was a plant that is new to me: orach. It is described as a “spinach-like plant” that will add zip to our salads, but it was also beautiful to look at! The name of it, “Ruby Red” says it all!
Getting into the greens and lettuce section of the catalogue, I saw seeds for mustard greens, “Mustard Southern Giant”. The plant looks stunning, with ruffled leaves, and the catalogue says we can eat this beauty either raw or fried.
There is also a beautiful ornamental corn called “Pink Zebra” with amazing variegated leaves. It will have dark purple tassels and corn with burgundy kernels: doesn’t it sound amazing? And guess what else? It can be grown in containers! Now this would be a most stunning focal point of any planter!
There are so many exciting things in these and other catalogues that I would like to tell you about, but you’ll want to see them for yourself. As we have talked about before, if you would like to receive a seed catalogue, just contact the seed company and they will be most accommodating about sending you one. The seed catalogues not only tell you what seeds are available but give much practical growing advice. And on a night when the temperature is plummeting, it revives your spirit to curl up under an afghan, look at these beautiful catalogues and think about the coming spring!
See what’s new with the Yorkton and District Horticultural Society by visiting us at www.yorktonhort.ca and have a great week!
