A tray of Statice seedlings.

It sounds so metaphorical, doesn’t it? But really I’m talking about literally planting seeds to be ready for this coming spring.

Right now, in late February, it’s still too cool to do much outside. On days when it’s warm enough and not raining, I try to get out and spend some time cleaning out beds and planting areas to start preparing them. The rest of the time I spend preparing for the season.

One facet of that is planning for the new plants I want to buy and where I will put them. I’m blessed with a fairly large yard around my house, though half of it is shaded by a group of large, old oak trees. That still leaves a good bit of space that gets adequate sunshine, and we’re trying to reduce the amount of land that has grass planted on it. More space for other plants, right? I’m working on my list.

Another facet of preparation is starting seeds inside. There are some plants that aren’t practical to try to grow from seed. Either I can’t duplicate the conditions they need to germinate, they take too long to grow from seedling to plant, or the plants don’t take kindly to transplanting. But there are quite a few I can birth indoors, and there’s something very satisfying about watching those tiny seedlings pop out of the dirt and following them as they grow into mature plants.