Merry Christmas! Enjoy :)

Sipping Tea and Perusing Seed Catalogs

With our first rockin’ snowstorm of the season behind us, in Southeast Wisconsin we are quite confident we’ll enjoy a sparkly, bright, white Christmas this year.  In the days ahead, each of us will celebrate the season in our own personal ways… enjoying family traditions, celebrating with friends and coworkers, cooking and baking family specialties, observing the sparkle in the eyes of our children and grandchildren.

Although the Christmas season lends itself to religious and secular celebrations, the hectic pace that consumes us during December usually slips away as we ease into January.  (I have learned to appreciate the slower pace of January… more time to reorganize, redesign our landscape, and review the newest seed catalogs.)

I once read the nicest activity in January (for a gardener) is sipping tea, while perusing seed catalogs. Whether you preferring calming chamomile tea, green tea, peppermint or the Earl Grey variety, TEA is a quiet celebration for one.Tea is the ideal beverage to sip while you leaf through catalogs displaying photos of vibrant flowers and scrumptious veggies.  Each delightful photo and description brings closer the promise of a new growing season.   As you read, tiny sparks of sunlight peek through an ice encrusted window pane, but the flower photos draw you in, reminding you that starting in late December, each day offers a bit more daylight, and warmer days are coming soon.

So brew another cup of hot tea, sit in a comfy chair, and page through your new seed catalogs. Seize the moment AND the month… January can be a special time!

M. Lynn Schmid,   Certified Master Gardener
A.A.S. Landscape/Horticulture/Arboriculture