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Hey, all you gardeners

It's catalog season and for winter weary gardeners it's an exciting time. I don't know about you, but, I am finding it hard to resist their seductive plant photos! I am tempted to order anything that looks lush and colorful right this very minute! But, I have learned over the years not to fill the cart up with "I must have that gorgeous beauty" impulse buys. I have a mound of tags to commemorate the many dead and inappropriate plants that I've impulsively brought home over the years.  I keep them to remind me that without careful planning one can end up with a broken heart and a lot of wasted budget. How can tempted gardeners survive buyers remorse! Guidelines!  You can  create your own plant buying guidelines. That's what I did a number of years ago! Without guidelines, I would be stuffing my cart with plants that are especially seductive at this time of year. Beautiful they would certainly be, but, they might not make sense for my garden. It took me a few years, but, I made peace with Clay and Limestone's shallow, clay soil that is dry in the summer and wet all the winter. Most plants in the garden are rough and tumble native wildflowers that don't need coddling. They provide food and shelter for the critters that visit and live in this garden. Of course, there are some native plants that need special care, I am not that tough a taskmaster! Those plants get extra water in the summers or are planted so they don't drown in the winters. My guidelines are quite simple; before any plant goes into the cart, I like to make sure: My dear friends, how do you handle the catalogs that are arriving daily in your email or mail box?

Hamamelis vernalis is not native to Middle Tennessee. It's one of those plants that made it into my cart and  needs some extra watering in the summer to insure bud set. When it blooms in January, I am happy that I dragged the hose all over the place. Labels: catalogs, Garden Guidelines, Gardening For Wildlife, Hamamelis vernalis, rough and tumble wildflowers

