"One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it brings."

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Inside a gardener's home in winter...

When it's winter and the garden is resting or buried under snow what does the gardener do?  Do they also rest and forget about the their garden?  Or can you tell that gardening is still on their mind as you wander from room to room?
I'm guessing that the things that you will find inside my home are very similar to what you would find in many other gardeners homes  during winter.

You might find an Amaryllis or other forced bulbs blooming on the kitchen window sill or somewhere else inside.  Maybe a few other houseplants, although if they are like me they do much better with outside plants.

Amaryllis 'Cinderella' has another stalk ready to come up.

You might find a terrarium, hopefully with more plants inside than this one.  My husband bought this for me right before Christmas and I'm still working on how I want to plant it.  I'm thinking of getting several low containers and planting plants in groups.

You'd probably see stacks of seed and plant catalogs with dog eared pages, pictures circled or maybe a plant list inside.  (Maybe even a fairy door is waiting to go outside too).

You'd probably see some garden magazines and books on the nightstand for some late night reading.

Maybe baskets of garden related magazines by the living room couch.  If they were like me they probably don't even throw the old ones away, flowers don't go out of style like clothing trends do, and you never know what inspiration you might find in a magazine from a few years ago.

There are probably books on shelves in the office,

books in cupboards in the family room,

books on the cabinet in the dining room,

and books on the table by the family room couch.

Then you would find the beginnings of the seed packets

that will start piling up the closer it gets to spring.

The snow is finally gone, but the rain has returned.  The weather forecast shows the possibility of snow and cold temperatures again.  I'm hoping to do a little outside gardening as soon as the weather improves a little such as trying to figure out how to prune our apple tree, cutting back the butterfly bush and some winter sowing.  I may even toss out some poppy and Larkspur seeds soon.  Until then I'll keep flipping through books and catalogs and adding to that pile of seed packets.
What do you find in your home in winter that shows that the garden is still on your mind? Pin It

34 comments:

  1. Hi Catherine, What a great post. I love seeing your pretty indoor blooms and your collection of books and magazines. The fairy door is cute as can be! I am no good with potted plants plus the cats try to eat anything green but I do have a lot of older gardening books that I enjoy this time of the year. Enjoy your afternoon.

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  2. What a great tour of your gardening items inside the home. Love that fairy door. Too cute. I want one. I need to get new amaryllis bulbs. Mine are done I'm afraid. Your terrarium is very nice. I've thought about trying one. My sister-in-law was great at putting those together with little rocks and frog figurines or something to make them a "picture."

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  3. Hi Catherine,

    The terrarium is so special looking. I have never seen one like this. We shouldn't really be antsy in the winter because there is a lot of research to do.

    Right now my catalogs and books are spread out all over the sofa!

    Eileen

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  4. Your collection of books and magazines look like mine. I have been so eager to get thinking of what plants I want to add to the garden. Good post.

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  5. Catherine the terrarium is just so cute. You have me far out numbered with all those gardening books. I only have a couple but I have magazines stacked here and there. Some are so old.LOL! I hate to throw them out. In the winter I do go back through many of them. My seed catalogs are so dog eared marking the plants or seeds I would like to get. The list is going to have to be pared way down. LOL!

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  6. I love all the details of your gardening home in winter - I've got the catalogs, the bulbs, the books - but am definitely missing a sweet terrarium like yours!

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  7. That all looks very familiar....... :-)

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  8. Catherine, I have many of the items you featured -- especially the flowering plants on the window ledge, seed catalogs, and especially books. But, lol, you forgot to include an image of a computer screen with garden blogs scrolling by! -Jean

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  9. OMG...it's almost like you broke into my house and took secret photos ;-)

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  10. Enjoyed the inner garden tour! Your books look really interesting - I noticed you have Hessayon's House Plant Expert - his book on Shrubs and Trees was one of the first gardening books I ever read, and helped me immeasurably in selecting shrubs and trees for my first garden.

    I haven't got any houseplants - I like to do all my gardening outdoors. (Apart from the occasional hyacinth!)

    I suppose my indoor garden is the paintings and drawings of gardens and woods I do constantly, which keeps me psychologically in outdoor bliss even when it's freezing outside!

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  11. Very similar, though my garden books are for the Southeast. :-)
    I love my big A to Z Hort Society
    Encyclopedia.
    Love the Amaryllis with four buds, how lucky.

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  12. Yep, you'll find most of those things inside my house too!

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  13. A true gardeners thoughts are never far from her garden. My wonderful windows keep my gardens near and I delight in the changes that even Winter brings. Lovely post! So glad I came.

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  14. Loved your post. We're all itching to get out. Checked the willows today but none are ready to pick for forceing. Snow drops are poking through and hellabores are blooming.
    A few years ago my husband made a large built in bookcase in the hallway, just for my gardening books.
    They had been scattered all through the house.
    As I gathered the books I took count.
    I boasted to my Uncle, a life long gardener now in his eighties, that 'I have 125 garden books!' "You're just a beginner", he laughed.
    I think of his comment each time I add another book to the shelves.

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  15. My house looks just like yours, Catherine! (Beautiful amaryllis and all!)

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  16. Hmm...I have quite a few of those books myself!
    I recently went to one of my favorite garden/ home shops that had a really cute terrarium (smaller than yours) and took pictures for ideas of what to put inside...so many great ideas including moss, etc. And lets face it, in the PNW, you just have to go outside to find some moss!

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  17. yes, yes, very similar to my house right now! :) Only instead of the amarylis, I have a pointsettia that I SWEAR am going to keep alive this time...

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  18. What a great collection of gardening books!
    Up here you're likely to find a few books and some empty pots, as I haven't a single blooming indoor plant this year.

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  19. I have to admit, I see a lot of familiar items!! We must all have good taste. :-)
    I love the English Garden magazine ~ that issue was good too.
    'Cinderella' is a beautiful Amaryllis. It looks so pretty in your windowsill. That terrarium is beautiful ~ I bet your girls could help you assemble things to put inside. I think some of the fairy garden items would look really cute in it??

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  20. Enjoyable post as always, Catherine! Those seed packets are TOO BEAUTIFUL!!!

    Would love to dip into all your gardening books and magazines. Different from ours in SA ;)

    Recognised the lovely terrarium from your Christmas pics. Nice to see it up close and hear of your plans for it. Looking forward to seeing it done :)

    The Fairy Door looks too cute!

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  21. Now that I have a greenhouse, yes, you must of missed that post, don'[t worry an update will be posted today, most of my plants are in it.. How big is this terranium, I love it. I do have seeds all over the kitchen table though.

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  22. Some of those images were very familiar. Stacks of seed catalogs strewn across the coffee table. Gardening books on shelves. Not to mention seed packets spilling out of their storage boxes. I think we're all itching to get back to gardening in earnest, in warmer weather!

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  23. That's how my house is starting to look in the summer. Winter is our growing season as in the summer its just wayyyyy tooooo hot! I love the terrarium; I think I might build one. Anyhow, I totally understand how you feel:)

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  24. ASK CISCOE was a great book!It was on my 2010 books read list!
    Most gardening books, you can't really say you have "read" since you usually don't read them cover to cover. I stayed up late at night hearing ciscoes voice!

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  25. such a great post! and very true of most gardeners, I'd imagine. My amaryllis is just now starting to grow - seeing yours makes me anxious for mine to grow faster! I love terrariums and think they are a fun project for the winter months. Peat moss is also a nice covering for the bottom of yours, to fill in around your pots. Very cute - keep us posted how you add to it!

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  26. Catherine, I can relate to the seed packets ... and I have a terrarium with a resident tree frog named "Nora." How's that for similarities to a place that doesn't even have winter!

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  27. Oooh, I love you terrarium! It is Gorgeous!

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  28. Garden catalogs, "wish" lists, garden books, and of course, the computer!

    Since most if not all garden bloggers are garden obsessed, I don't think thoughts of the garden are ever far away... :)

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  29. I think this post nailed a gardeners home on the head. My exception would be house plants, I have none. This breaks my heart but then I remember all the messes I had to clean after my cats would either dig out the dirt or eat the plants. So it's a sacrifice I live with. I love the terrarium, it would keep me happy and my cats out.

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  30. great post!!!

    You´ll also find my computer with this blog:

    http://blogmissjardin.blogspot.com/

    kisses!!!!

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  31. I LOVE that little terrarium!
    My house is full of indoor plants -a Swiss Cheese plant called Emmenthal(!), a weeping fig, some smooth leaved succulents, loads of Peace Lilys and so on - but I killed my orchid with kindness by overwatering it :( Also, loads of gardening books and seed catalogues - as I try to remember what seeds I lost in the potting shed fire and what was on my list in the seed box that I wanted to try new this year!

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  32. What a wonderful post Catherine! I have Birds & Blooms magazines, and other gardening magazines all over the place, as well as various gardening books. I used to love houseplants too, but only have silk plants indoors now because our whole living area orients to the north and it's too dark to grow anything. Good for keeping cool in our hot summers, not good for growing indoor plants. I resorted to silk plants to add a green touch indoors!

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  33. Hi Catherine, delightful post! I wholeheartedly agree about keeping those gardening magazines. I have some I like so well I 3 hole punched them and keep them in binders. Cheers ~ Jenni

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  34. Ijust love the post about winter sowing, so excited I just had to share on FB! I never did keep up my blog, but your post as just given a thought, that maybe I should!

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