About ready for spring to arrive
The Gardener's Corner
By Judith Rogers

As I write this column there is a fierce wind howling outside the window and it is snowing like the dickens. Not only did old man winter sneak up on us, leaving many a fall chore undone, but apparently he plans to push us right through spring into hot summer temperatures.

The tulips and crocuses closest to our house that are warmed by the heat of the bricks have bravely pushed through what remains of the snow and I have seen a couple of robins already, but I'm still rather glum because at this time last year I was already out pruning shrubs and doing a little clean up in my front garden.

Well, if we can't get out to garden yet we can still keep busy by catching up on gardening magazines, plans for this year's gardens or chasing those final winter blahs away with some imagination to create a table top garden.

The grocery stores, florists and garden centres have lots to offer in potted bulbs that are now blooming, primroses, small tropicals and other houseplants that can be positioned together to create a colourful spring landscape.

Look around the house to find a box or basket big enough to hold several plants and line it with heavy plastic. Either fill the container with a soilless mix and plant directly into it, or leave the flowers in their small pots which can be lifted out to move around or replace as they are finished blooming. Miniature daffodils, crocus, hyacinths, muscari and primroses will add some colour for quite awhile and can then be refreshed with new plants.

Photo by Judith Rogers A large spring basket.

Use some moss to hide the plant pots and act as a mulch to hold in moisture just as you would out of doors.

To add a little more colour, purchase a stem or two of fresh flowers, cut them down to size and place into floral water picks that can then be mixed in for hiding bare spots.

As with an outdoor landscape, besides colour, think of texture and about enhancing this miniature garden with tiny statues, birds and anything else that will add a whimsical touch.

Pictured here in my spring basket are sky blue grape hyacinths, miniature daffodils, a fragrant pink hyacinth with a small hummingbird dangling from a bloom, purple oxalis (shamrock) and a cute little rex begonia that has a silvery green leaf with purple margins and veining. Some of the shorter houseplants that aren't tall enough to compliment the flowering bulbs can be raised on empty plastic containers and African violets, when in bloom, are good plants to substitute as needed for they come in so many colours.

Keep the table top garden going through summer, maybe even move it outside and add a new twist by using pots of herbs, seasonal flowers blooming in the garden and some spiky grasses; by this time the possibilities will be endless and all it takes is some imagination.