Also, garden destinations for the spring:

Whitehouse Perennials
Rideau Woodland Ramble (at rhododendron time)

Garden destinations for some other year:

Stratford Garden Festival (end of Feb/beginning of March)
Flora Niagara (international horticultural to-do in 2017 - good excuse for a getaway, right??)

I am not ordering seeds right this minute.  First off, I can't actually start them for another month, and second, I am desperately broke at the moment.  BUT for future reference, and because poring over seed catalogues is a reward in itself:

Sunflower Russian Giant (T&M 90416) - promised height of 8-10' is unlikely in our soil, but fun to try!
Other sunflowers TBD
Queen Anne's Lace (T&M 90636)
Alyssum (T&M 91394) - multicoloured this time, why not
Chicory (T&M 91203)
Digitalis (T&M 90399)
Heliotrope (T&M 91171)
Nicotiana (T&M 90235)
Primroses (T&M 90436)
Scarlet Kale (T&M 90323)
Cardoon (http://www.cottagegardener.com/search/cardoon/) - gigantic spiky silver plant?  Yes please!

I guess I will wait until after Seedy Saturday to place my order, and then if I can find all of the above without shelling out for shipping, so much the better.

It is -20 outside at the moment and there's a big-ass snowstorm on the way tonight.  Fervently hoping for another freakishly early spring and meanwhile consoling myself with hot tea and garden ruminations.

The deck, alas, is not happening this year, as we lack the ~$5K the materials would cost.  Sigh.  So what else am I going to do outside this year, aside from standard maintenance?

* Put some sort of stone edging between me and the next-door neighbour in the front yard.  He's been very laid-back about it, but still, it only seems fair to make the shared edge tidy.  Should probably do the same at the edge of the driveway, but that will probably necessitate trimming the asphalt a bit, which prospect is a little daunting.  Will have to ask Bob about it.

* Tweak sprinkler system.  I'm not sure that the soaker hoses in the front are adequate, and the fence-mounted setup out back could probably be lowered so as to not make things flop over.

* Install copper fountain of awesomeness.  The artist recommends eventually making its final home on the deck, where we'll be best able to hear it.  Meanwhile I think it will probably live in the little corner prepared for that purpose, although I need some sort of screening solution so as not to juxtapose it with the neighbour's recycling bins.

* Rake/sweep out the river rocks out front and then put them back again, since the swale rapidly silted in past usefulness and will probably only be more so now given fall leaf detritus.  May have to dig a steeper slope into it to keep this from happening so quickly.  Digging that close to the road is a big fat pain in the ass because it's all compacted gravel, but as a silver lining I might be able to repurpose what I scrape up as a base for the edging mentioned above.

* Look into polymeric sand for the side yard walkway, because as it stands I will be weeding it till hell freezes over

* Divide some of the more enthusiastic plants (e.g. golden oregano!)

Shopping List

* More tall bearded irises in many colours (plant sale, possibly; also maybe divisions from Mom)
* More rue (yay butterflies!)
* More oriental poppies
* Golden spikenard, because I think the bitty one from the catalogue got devoured by slugs...we'll see if it comes back
* Annuals: cleome, tall cosmos, purple verbena
* Another shrimpy evergreen or two