Winter, it seems, regrets having spent so little snow on us, and is making reparations while it can. There hasn’t been enough snow so far this season to hide all the grass, and many are the Michiganders complaining about it: nowhere to snowshoe; no way to sled; not even enough for a decent snowman. But today we have four inches on the ground, and seven more are predicted for the weekend. I’m happy for those who can now enjoy their winter sports. Meanwhile, I’m perfectly content sitting inside watching the dance of snow come down while I page through my seed catalogs. 

I potted up my tulip bulbs last fall, put them in the garage to chill, and last week brought them into the light and warmth of my front window, where they joined the amaryllis bulbs liberated from my dark but not freezing closet. I like to see spring start first on the windowsill, and watch it spread from there into the yard.

I meant to start my indoor tomato before Christmas so it could be setting fruit by now. A little late on that, but the seedling is coming along nicely. I had two of them last year, but they need really big pots that take up a lot of space, so I cut back to one this year. I’m trying to decide whether to put a trellis in the pot this time, or tie some twine to the curtain rod. It’s a Cobra tomato, intended for greenhouses, and quite tasty.

While I was rearranging pots to make room for the tulips, amaryllis, and tomato, I took advantage of an idea my friend Cindy gave me for reining in frolicsome spider plants. You stick a plant support into the spider’s pot, gather up all the spider plant runners as if you were going to make a pony tail, and catch them through the loop at the top of the plant support. Voila! A spider tower. My spider plant mocked me by immediately throwing a new runner out to the side. The will of a spider plant to propagate cannot be denied.