Winter is the season for pondering, what could be, what can be? What happened, and where did I go wrong? (It’s a long story)

My one acre garden has been expanding for more than twenty years, and is overflowing with common dogwoods and viburnums, redbuds, nandinas and hollies, lots of this, a few of that, and a handful of oddities. I don’t suppose that the whole is a sensible design, but that matters little. I love plants, and crave those I don’t possess.

I would like to expand my dwarf conifer collection, and there are many Japanese maples that I lust after, but how could I possibly squeeze one more tree into the garden? And the winter garden, it must have more blooms, perhaps not this year, but next. I’ll get a start on it in March.

No doubt a bit more lawn will disappear this spring, despite the protests of my wife. Certainly space can be managed and the budget stretched for a hardy palm or two, and if they don’t prove to be sturdy enough then several of the new nandinas (see Flirt and Blush photos above) will work splendidly. A few Encore azaleas are needed to fill in my collection, and of course there will be room enough to cram in a truckload (or two) of whatever, and the whatever’s are easy to find.

Seed catalogs are arriving by the day, and specialty catalogs filled with annual and perennial jewels. I’m too lazy to grow anything from seed, but I’ll make lists and snip the photos that catch my eye and wait until the garden center is stocked. Waiting is the hard part, dreaming is easy.

There is no warmer way to spend this chilly winter’s eve.