Riches came from the mailbox last week in the form of the first seed catalog of the year. It was from the Burgess Seed and Plant Company and the colorful characters within the pages are as much fun as a Dickens novel. The full-color array boasts red and black raspberries, a butterfly bush with three blossom colors, apple trees that grow three different apples, Regal Blue hosta for a penny, dwarf fruit trees, a dozen different strawberry varieties, yard-long green beans, and tomatoes from tiny to tremendous. It's 50 pages of eye candy at the time of year I'm most hungry for color and the hope of spring. The catalog does contain a disclaimer that some plants may not appear as pictured. The descriptions also fail to note that to achieve ground cover as extensive as shown in the illustration, or thick evergreen hedges that measure six feet tall by three feet thick, it takes about 11 years. But so what?  Every year gardeners dust off the spirit of adventure, stick stock and seeds into the ground and step back while the miracle happens. Will the Carolina Cross watermelon reach 280 pounds in weight? Will the Skyscraper Sunflower reach a height of 15 feet? Will I be wowed by the Empress Wu hosta? Only time will tell.
I also got a free packet of flower seeds from Renee's Garden. It was worth putting on boots and a coat to get to the mailbox.

Meanwhile, I've got my book of dreams to read by the firelight while the ice and snow keep me inside. But this spring, I know, wonderful things will happen in the garden and I will be amazed. There is the danger, of course, of living too much in the future. "This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it," snow and all.