How a Gardener Survives Winter

It's been a tough winter throughout much of the country. We've had record cold, and record snowfalls. It's enough to make a gardener crazy! I find winters difficult to tolerate anyway, but the extra, extra cold temperatures have made it all the worse.

Normally I can tolerate winter with some coping techniques I've perfected. First, I find that I do better if I go right out into the snowy weather and take pictures. Not this year, the arctic cold keeps me inside.

 I also make sure to visit Franklin Park Conservatory to see the greenery. Haven't done that yet, still too frigid and the roads are too icy. Sigh...

Another thing to make winter more tolerable is to visit the floral departments at big box stores. They have blooming plants of all kind, and bringing one home is a sure fire spirit lifter. I did purchase one tiny grocery store primrose plant, but I need more to overcome this spell of bad weather.

One of my favorite sanity savers is to go through the seed catalogs that bombard our mailboxes this time of year. This is my chance to plan my garden for the year. Not sure why I haven't started this project yet. Maybe I need to have complete cabin fever before I do.

But my favorite way to make the winter go by more quickly is to simply go through my picture files from last summer.

Just by looking at them, I know that winter will eventually end. It will be warm again, someday.

I find myself smiling the whole time I'm looking at them.

Now I know that summer comes every year. Winter always ends, followed by spring, then summer. This we all know is true. It's just a little hard to believe with a winter like this.

Looks like I'd better use all my best tricks to survive this kind of winter with my sanity intact. Guess it's time to get out those seed catalogs and start planning!