Gotta LOVE Those Garden Catalogs

The frigid February deep freeze can produce the “winter blues” in many people. The general feeling of being down or discontented by the inability to get outside and dig in the dirt is even more pronounced in those who love to spend time in their gardens.

Imagine feeling irritable, blue, longingly looking out the window to the frozen tundra and wishing you were able to be outside with your plants. Suddenly, something magical happens… the mail person leaves a big stack of seed and garden catalogs. At once you’ve found heaven. Oh, you thick, glossy, full-color beauties filled with new and exotic plants to shop for! Come to Mama! Lovingly holding your stack of catalogs in one hand and a cup of tea in the other, your spirits are immediately lifted. You aren’t so blue anymore. Shopping and plants all rolled into one afternoon. Could anything be better? You sense that there is hope that spring WILL arrive after all.

Thumbing through your catalogs you note all of the items you want to purchase this year- the ‘tried-and-true’ plants as well as the’ up-and-comers’. Heirlooms, edibles, container-sized and garden supplies, art and accouterments all seem to be raising their hands and saying “pick me, pick me!” With such a wide variety to choose from you feel confident that it is going to be a great gardening year.

Two years ago I stumbled onto the most amazing website provided by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. It is like the KAYAK.com of garden, seed and nursery catalogs. This website aggregates garden and plant growing information from 620 different websites. The aggregator searches garden catalog companies and gardening directories and pulls from all sources into just one site to simplify your search. You can happily just click on the catalogs that you are interested in having delivered to your mailbox, complete your contact information and then wait for a few weeks. As the snow flies you will begin receiving your thick, full-color, mouthwateringly juicy pages of plants and seeds.

The Carnegie Library site offers this incredibly useful catalog database aggregation feature for home gardeners. It is located on the Carnegie Library.org website under the “Tools and Research” tab. Simply click here to get started.

If you can’t wait for your catalogs to arrive, let me know. I have quite a few extra that I would love to share. Happy gardening!