A Conservatory Wedding! OMG!

Well, my youngest, Allison, has announced her plans to marry Daniel Johnson on September 6th of 2014. What great news for our family! She is so happy, and Daniel is really a fine gentleman. As a dad, I could not be happier or luckier.

Or, so I thought. The next piece of news from her smiling face was “and we are having the wedding in the conservatory!”

WHAT?!! Oh boy. I could see my wife, Mary Jo’s eyes and I knew right there what she was thinking. The longest most extensive ‘Honey Do’ list history! I mean if I had all 3 beehives that I own helping me, there would never be as much Honey Do!

Well, the shock has eased some and it’s time for reality. One thing I know for sure, if there is going to be 100 people in this conservatory garden, it is going to be spectacular! All my garden design days are going to work to support me as I re-think every plant in the garden. They must all earn their keep to be in this big show!

So out come the sketch pad and the plant manuals. Brew a cup of tea and nestle into the conservatory for a journey through the photos of flowers and plants in a land far from a January night in Minnesota!

Though the temperature hovers near zero outside, the conservatory is warm and snug.

A bit of Garden music and my laptop; we begin the process of shopping the seed catalogs. Now we get into the bread and butter of what this story is all about today: how and what to shop for in a seed catalog. (to be continued…)