Every gardener knows that under the cloak of winter lies a miracle–
a seed waiting to sprout, a bulb opening to the light, a bud straining to unfurl.
And the anticipation nurtures our dream.
~Barbara Winkler

I’ve heard it said that “the color of springtime is in the flowers” whereas “the color of winter is in the imagination.”  I’ve got a very good imagination, but in case it should somehow fade as winter deepens, there’s a local nursery I frequent where there’s a host of colorful seed packets, an old oak cabinet filled with even more seeds, and a large assortment of gardening books and tools.  So between the mail-order seed and plant catalogs I get after Christmas and my visits to this nursery, my passion for gardening is kept alive even when January’s busy-under-the-surface-but-ravaged-atop-the-soil garden gives the appearance of nothingness.  Also I’ve taken lots and lots of photos in my yard and elsewhere, and they are full of the “stuff” it takes to remind me of what gardening dreams are made.  Thus the spice of life, winter’s dreamin’ and schemin’ provides the “fix” I need until Spring fills the earth with it’s color and poetry once again.