The Seed Catalogs Just Keep Coming!

Gardening friends, my first seed order for 2012 just arrived in the mail. These are from Renee's Garden, a California-based company.

Renee Shepherd, the gardener behind the company, sells heirloom and gourmet vegetables, aromatic herbs, and cottage garden-style flowers. I've never been disappointed in any of her seeds, which you can find at some retail stores, or order online (she doesn't offer a mail-order catalog).

(Unfortunately, Renee's site doesn't list which retailers carry her seeds. That's probably because it's too hard to keep that kind of information updated. But you can email her, at customerservice@reneesgarden.com, to try to locate a nearby source. Or simply order online, which is what I do.)

Renee's site is packed with great info. You can find recipes, gardening tips, info on making herbal teas, vinegars, and much more. There are also links to magazines and newspapers that have interviewed Renee about gardening. After reading this New York Times piece on growing alpine strawberries, in which the writer describes picking the tiny, fresh berries and eating them fresh in a bowl of cereal, I can hardly wait to try them.

Most of the seeds I ordered can't be planted until April, because they're frost-tender, except for a packet of sweet peas called 'Heirloom Cupid.' I've never had much luck growing sweet peas here. Our weather warms up too fast, and sweet peas prefer cool weather (and can even handle light frost). My lack of success with them is probably due, at least in part, to sowing them too late. This year, I'll watch the calendar more closely.

This variety looks charming, because the plants stay small enough to grow in windowboxes or containers. Something else I love about Renee's seeds: she commissions the artwork for her packages, which look like watercolor originals. The 'Heirloom Cupid' package is especially appealing as Valentine's Day approaches, because the flowers are soft pink, and they're shown planted in a pale blue bowl. It's a very pretty color combination.

The instructions say to plant sweet peas in our area starting in February, so mine won't be blooming by Feb. 14, but that's okay. Sweet peas have a delicious fragrance, and I can't wait to try these. I'll let you know how they grow for me.