Submitted Photo Shown above are Snowdrops. One of the earliest spring flowers.

After two months of winter weather we gardeners are growing tired of observing our gardens from our easy chair at the window. The snow and ice have kept arm chair gardeners relegated to the sidewalk and maybe the driveway. With a taste of spring forecast for the month of March we are all hoping to get a closer look at the garden in repose.

Not a day seems to go by without a garden catalogue arriving in the mail. While I recycle some my favorites are neatly stacked in a basket by my chair. These catalogues with their brightly colored pictures are very tempting. I use small post it notes to mark all the flowers and plants I want to order for the upcoming season.

Now is the time for a good dose of garden reality. It is time to go back through the catalogues and choose the plants that you need with maybe a few special wants. The beautiful pictures in the catalogues are often not realistic. Those plants were grown by professionals, under perfect conditions. Your results may not be as picture perfect, at least not the first year.

As you order your plants pay special attention to the plants Hardiness Zone. Most of Warren is zone 5 but the outlying areas on the hill tops may be zone 4. Also check to see if your new plant needs sun or shade. Another thing to check is the height and diameter of the plants. Your new plants will need the proper sun/shade, room to spread out and if they are tall they will need to go in the back of the perennial border.

This morning the sun is shining brightly on a garden with a fresh 3 inch snowfall and a temperature of 18 degrees. Get your orders in. Spring will come, it always does.