Visions of sugar snap peas danced in their heads

 

Here we are in White Rock, with the warmest January temperatures ever on record, and there are no garden centers open, except for a year round, hot sauce selling, train running, gift shop oriented, no plants in sight behemoth. Seriously, where are the plants?

We gardeners are cruising the streets, trolling the alleys, peering over fences for the first sighting of the crocus, and finding it. 

But there is no where for us to purchase seeds, wander aimlessly, and joyously, smelling the roses. We are waking with visions of sugar snap peas dancing in our heads, and no where to buy them.

I know that It’s a tough competitive world out there for garden centers, and nurseries of any size.  Their share of the garden plot is getting skimpier, and they are fighting harder for it every year. 

Many of the garden centers around here have either succumbed to the poor economy, or decided to hibernate for a extended season.  This may have made sense last year, when we were buried under two feet of snow for a extended period of time.  This year spring has dropped in early, and decided to stay awhile. She is a welcome guest.

We are standing at the doors and drooling like fools, waiting to spend our money, and there is nothing to buy.  Everyone has signs up promising to reopen soon.  How soon?  When the lilacs are blooming?  The way we are going, that might be next month already.

Don’t tell me to purchase online, I want to fondle the new green leaves of the budding shrubs. I want to smell the soil around the rhubarb roots, feeling my mouth pucker as I remember the sharp sour taste.

 

To shorten the winter months, I would love to be able to purchase a flower in a 4 inch pot, but there are no longer any growers selling them.

I don’t want a huge six inch over bloomed, days left to survive, pot of daffodils, that every corner store offers,  I want green stalks and sweet whispers of yellow.

I want a promise, that spring is here, whispering soft breezes, and green colors to me. So where are all the garden centers? This has got to be the biggest business mistake you have ever made. Open up, the hoards are at the doors, and we want our plants!

Jen

February’s Page

 February, that month that although short, is so hard for gardeners.  This year for us however it is a little different.  Spring has moved in and looks like she is making herself at home.  Turn the page quickly for us Spring, we can hardly wait for April.

This is the February page of the calendar that I made for my Mom and Dad. 

Since they live where it is much colder, and spring takes her time to arrive, I thought that they needed a little splash of pink.

I used Picasa to make the collages for the calendars, and if you are a Picasa user, and you regularly use that program, I would like to pass on a little info to you, that might save you a huge headache.

I was told by my very reliable photofinishing lab that Picasa saves all of your files in a thumbnail size.  This won’t be a problem unless you are enlarging the image, and then the loss of resolution will just blow you away.

So if you have any plans on enlarging your images, maybe using them in a calendar, or a enlargement, don’t use Picasa for this.  Other than that, it is a great program.  I love it’s simplicity for blogging.

I also heard a story about a customer who had saved everything to CD’s using Picasa, and then deleted the memory card. She was devastated to find out that her images were practically useless.

Sad to learn from someone else’s mistakes, but good information to have.

Jen

 

Blog rolling, rolling, rolling……

 One of my blog readers was mentioning that I did not have a updated URL for her blog on my blog roll.  I immediately went in to fix it, and that is when things really started rolling.

With best intentions I went to her blog, visited, and then I was interested on another blogger on her blog roll, so I clicked on that blog, and had a good visit, and then there was another blog on the new blogs sidebar.  And about 10 clicks, and 40 minutes later, well you get the picture.

What was I there for again?  Oh right, I was supposed to fix my blog roll.

Wondering why the blog roll is on the bottom of my sidebar?  Well, that apparently is where Blogger wants it to be.  And after trying 2 different browsers, and many attempts at a better placement I have come to a compromise with Blogger.  It no longer deletes my blog roll, and I leave it where it is.  This way at least I can add a new blogger to it without deleting the entire thing again.

Anyone else having the same problems?

I really do read all your blogs, and there are many more that I don’t have listed. 

Who says the housework needs to get done in a timely fashion? Since we got our computer, and I started blogging, well...I may have let the housework slip a bit, but Bootsie doesn’t seem to mind as long as we feed him regularly.

Jen

What goes around… Bloggy Love.

 

I have been very fortunate to make some great blogging friends since starting my blog. Some have been with me since I started, encouraging, and supporting, with comments, and links, sharing what they know.

I know that we all blog for different reasons, some don’t mind if there is no acknowledgement from the great world wide web.  But I always found that any comment cheered me, and made me feel like I wasn’t just throwing in hours of work into a giant abyss, never to be heard from again.

Jodi from Blooming Writer, has been posting recently about adopting  new garden bloggers.  Supporting them with comments, and spreading the word. Since Blotanical is growing with such leaps and bounds, many of the new garden bloggers are not always noticed.

Her suggestion is great, and I am encouraging all of us not only to visit, and leave a comment on new garden bloggers posts, but to say hi to all sorts of bloggers.  Expand your horizons, check out other’s blog rolls, and leave a comment. 

After all, what goes around, comes around.  Do you remember how excited you were to get a comment from someone you have never met before?  So let’s spread the Bloggy love “baby”.

To get you started, I am encouraging you to visit a few of the blogs on my blog roll that you don’t know.  And then when I visit your blogs, I am going to do the same.  Think of all the Bloggy love we can spread.

It will be a revolution. 

Jen