Remember pouring over toy catalogues when you were a kid, studying each page carefully and circling your favourites (maybe that horse from the Best of the West, or a Hot Rod race track), dreaming of days to come when they might actually find a home in your toy box?
Well, seed and garden catalogues are the grown-up version of that. Winter is the time to tuck into a cozy chair with a big pile of mail-order garden catalogues, a wool throw over your knees and a hot mug of tea at your side. Though these days I’m more likely to be in front of my computer, surfing through the online versions and dreaming of spring.
Here’s an online catalogue that can only be described as “Big League”: Paul Christian’s Rare Plants — a UK supplier. I absolutely drooled over the cypripedium selection (a terrestrial type of orchid, many of which are native to North America).
The site seems to be ethical, whereby plants for sale are obtained through laboratory propagation or through salvage at development sites.
They ship to Canada. One day I’ll have a home for these lovelies, a grown-up toy box of a garden in my back yard!
POLLENATRIX 