Even though it is just mid-January, I am ready to get an early start on gardening by planting herb and flower seeds in “portable plastic jug greenhouses ” that I can set out on my patio deck.

This is a technique that I learned from one of the webinars offered by the Wylde Center in Oakhurst. A menu of ~ 25 downloadable recordings are available here for a small fee. I have used the “How to Grow Your Perennials from Seed” with some success.

Also the Wylde Center hosts an early bird Seed and Scion Exchange. The last two years it has been at Legacy Park, but this year it is at the Decatur Recreation Center on Sunday, February 1st. In the past I have had a Destination Books pop-up table at the Exchange, but this year I will be out of town during the event.

I know it’s not the same, but in the meantime, you could browse my selection of gardening-related books at my online shop, which is stocked with many of the books that I take to popups.

Cool Flowers

Part of that winter prep includes looking at Lisa Mason Ziegler’s Cool Flowers: How to Grow and Enjoy Long-Blooming Hardy Annual Flowers Using Cool Weather Techniques.  A couple flower vendors at popups have recommended this book.

That moment has come because Ziegler’s book (kind of a classic considering it’s been in print for over a decade) is a combination of specifics of what, when and how to grow annual and perennial flowers. It includes detailed instructions on how to grow them from seed. This is important as Ziegler writes:

Starting your own plants at the right time is the only way to be sure of having a fabulous hardy annual garden. It is almost impossible to find the plants you want in the fall or early spring unless you start them yourself. If hardy plants are available at all on the retail market, it is seldom in the variety you want or at the correct planting time for your garden seeds yourself is the way to go. 

Ziegler’s gorgeously printed book with its inspirational colorful pictures and easy-to-absorb advice, gives me hope. But you know about hope— it springs eternal.

Note: You can purchase Cool Flowers online from the Destination: Books Bookshop portal (if it is still not backordered) or visit The Journeyman in Downtown Decatur because in the meantime I have stocked a couple of Ziegler books there. Have a cup of coffee and pastry while you are checking the books out.