Port Potager

This week I've been self-medicating my winter depression with flower seed catalogues. We are just a couple inches away from breaking the record for the snowiest winter of all time here in Newburyport, but I've been thinking about color instead of white. My second stop for seed shopping was at Johnny's Seeds  (my favorite). These pictures (obviously) are all from their catalogue.  Florist Blue Boy Cornflower Apricot/Peach Mix Strawflower Covent Garden Market Baby's Breath Sun Ball Drumstick Flower Arena III Apricot Lisianthus Chinese Forget-Me-Not Animation Mix Snapdragons Johnny's Sublime Formula Mix Larkspur I really can't wait to get these started. It's like planting hope.

What's the best cure for the winter blahs? Flowers! Last year I didn't do much with the cutting garden because I was in Costa Rica for the height of the season, and Kirk isn't much of a flower guy. (And, to be fair, it would've been a lot to ask for him to take care of all the food and  all the flowers.) And even though the cutting garden is still under 4 to 5 feet of snowpack, I cheered myself up today by spending a couple hours of quality time browsing seed catalogues. I think this year I will try a lot of annuals instead of looking for more perennial for the cutting garden. Perennials are awesome but expensive, so going the seed starting route will be a bit more economical. Here's what I picked out from Park Seed (all the photos are courtesy of their online catalogue, by the way). The flowers are all in the color palette I have already planned for, and all were chosen for their long, sturdy stems for adding to bouquets. Chantilly Mix Snapd...