During the winter when I can't actually garden outdoors, I think about my garden a lot. Sometimes it is at night when I need something to calm my thoughts. I plan many garden improvements and most of them include buying new plants.

We gardeners seem to be programmed to buy more plants early each spring. That's when we are so ready to start gardening again outdoors that we just can't wait to hit the nurseries. And after we've assessed the blank spots in the garden due to losses we have incurred during the winter, of course, we need to hit the nurseries again in order to replace those dearly departed specimens.

Some non-gardeners would think that the plant buying would be over at that point, but committed flower gardeners seem never to be finished when it comes to buying plants.

In my dreams—and perhaps you've had similar experiences—I'm on an eternal quest for the perfect garden, and naturally in order to achieve this commendable goal, I tell myself that I just need to get a few more plants to finally achieve perfection. That surely is not unreasonable!

As well, there are those newly introduced plants that I see advertised online or encounter when I visit other gardens. To achieve my perfect garden, of course, I need to purchase those. Perhaps I could order them as a Valentine's Day present for myself…