Gardening Grin for Rainy Days

By Gardennia nutti

It’s wet, muddy and I’m feeling housebound. I haven’t had my “dig in the dirt” fix for too long. So what is a gardener to do until the weather can lure me outside in Feb? Dream...plan...investigate...and laugh! We all know that winter is the best time to plan your garden additions because you see with unabashed clarity all its faults. But for me winter is a great time to catch up on some fun sites that display a bit of attitude and make me laugh.

My favorites:

♦ Garden Rant (www.gardenrant.com): this site is one of my steady favorites and is guaranteed to bring a smile to my day when needed. Four women run the site and have a manifesto which starts with “We are: convinced that gardening matters, bored with perfect magazine gardens, in love with real, rambling, chaotic, dirty, bug-ridden gardens...”

♦ The Garden Professors (https://sharepoint.cahnrs.wsu.edu/blogs/urbanhort/default.aspx): this site is home to educated professionals who have fun debunking fiction and educating the public on many garden-related topics.

♦ Plant Amnesty (www.plantamnesty.org): This site isn’t one to visit over and over, but is worth the trip if you’ve never been there. “Plant Amnesty’s mission is to end the senseless torture and mutilation of trees and shrubs.” For a real laugh visit the “Madness Gallery” – something I know everyone can relate to in one way or another...

I know at some point in the next few weeks I’ll be tempted by a nice day to go outside and start pruning, and this will be unexpectedly followed with a freezing spell. (It happens almost every year and I never learn). When this yearly fiasco unfolds it’s nice to know a laugh is waiting for me on one of these sites. Enjoy!