A love of gardening tends to sneak up insidiously, like an addiction.

It first starts when you have your own small balcony, deck or garden and decide pick up a few plants from the corner store for color. They brighten up your space so much you go back, buy a few more, check out the local grocery or hardware store’s selection. No room? Well I’ll just add a few more pots. Then you discover perennials. The flowers come back every year, bigger and better. What a find!

After that, as the dirt get under your fingertips, the addiction gets under your skin. You upgrade from Home Depot to a real Garden Center. More selection, better plants, knowledgeable staff. You spend hours wandering the aisles. All the upcoming garden events are noted on your calendar so that you can plan your schedule around them. When you disappear, your family knows where to send the search party.

Your addiction starts to spread, so that it is not just plants, but garden accessories that you are dreaming about. When not physically gardening or shopping for garden products you are leafing through gardening magazines and books, making lists, looking for the perfect plants and garden art to give your garden pizzazz.

Although I am not sure there is a cure for this ailment, there is often a reprieve. In northern climates the frozen ground forces you to abandon your outdoor gardening activities. The mental activities continue somewhat abated, but enough to catch up on the other neglected areas of your life.

Until March, when the big garden shows, the lectures at the botanical gardens, all entice and bring hope and promise. What new exciting plants will be revealed? Which daylilies can I add to my collection this year? Which heucheras? What exciting new art can I find for my garden?

And the cycle continues…

Susan Banks