For the first time, Botanical Interests has produced a print catalog that features all of its seed offerings with its signature botanic illustrations.

I’ve been keeping up with new developments at Botanical Interests by following @BotanicalSeeds on Twitter. And I’m so glad I did.

If I hadn’t been following along, I wouldn’t have known the Broomfield, Colo., online seed company produced its first print catalog this year.

The catalog arrived in the mail this week, and I have to say it’s one of the prettiest catalogs I’ve ever seen. Each of the catalog’s 28 pages is filled with full-color botanical illustrations–the same ones the company uses for its one-of-a-kind seed packets.

A new line of seeds being introduced this year is called “The Botanic Gardens Series Seed Packet” line. Botanical Interests is working with botanic gardens throughout the country to protect native North American species that are rare and potentially endangered. The seeds from this new line will help prevent plant species from being lost to us forever.

The 2010 gardening book season is in full swing and these three new titles will help gardeners of every level grow great gardens.

The first crop of gardening books to review arrived in my office this week and now I can’t wait for the growing season to begin.

I’m sure every gardener will find something they can put to use in each of the three new titles from Cool Springs Press, whether it’s a fabulous new recipe, a way to avoid plant problems or how to pinch a few more pennies.

I plan on writing complete reviews of each book over the next several weeks, but thought you might like an overview, just to whet your appetite.

Each attractive cover has an intriguing title, is aimed to a specific audience, and loaded with full-color photos, illustrations and all kinds of interesting tips, tricks and ideas. These are guaranteed to make gardeners want to get growing immediately.

My winter gardening gear consists of a stability ball, hand weights, resistance bands and other exercise equipment in my home gym.

Getting ready for gardening season requires a little more exercise than thumbing through seed catalogs. Working out in winter is an important way to get muscles ready for the first warm spring days spent out in the yard.

I’ve learned this from experience.

I used to think getting ready to garden meant taking a few Ibuprofen before I headed outside. After all, a body can only take so much bending, lifting, kneeling and squatting after a long winter of inactivity. But now I start training for my gardening marathon with a complete fitness program.

If you haven’t been active recently, be sure to get a health professional’s okay before lifting that first weight. Then work to gradually build up strength so you can be ready to get down and dirty in the garden.

Recent changes to the introduction schedule at All-America Selections mean winners, like this Echinacea purpurea ‘PowWow Wild Berry’, will be introduced and available as soon as they are selected. (Photo courtesy of All-America Selections)

Just last week I received a packet of  seeds from All-America Selections with instructions to plant the seeds immediately.

This is a dramatic change from the way AAS has introduced its winning plants in the past. I used to get seeds to trial a year in advance of their availability to gardeners.

This means gardeners will get to take advantage of all the new winners as soon as they’re available.

The Echinacea purpurea ‘PowWow Wild Berry’ is the 2010 Flower Award Winner and it will be available this spring. If seeds are started now, this beautiful new perennial will flower its first year.

The 2010 Seeds of Change catalog offers seed for both the home gardener and the market grower, including the new All Lettuce Mix pictured on the catalog cover.

From an organic gardener’s point of view, there’s a lot to like about Seeds of Change.

Since 1989 the company has supported sustainable organic agriculture and all of its flower, vegetable and herb seed are 100% certified organic–1200 varieties in all.

The company has a large seed donation program and it also donates 1% of net sales to help organic growers around the world.

The Seeds of Change catalog is filled with heirloom, traditional, medicinal, rare and new seeds. New introductions this year include 6 salad mixes, White Sicilian Garlic, Dark Star Zucchini, Totem Strawberry and Fordhook Giant Chard–to name just a few.

Unusual varieties, like Red Swan Beans, share catalog space with old favorites like Kentucky Wonder green beans. Heirloom tomatoes include dependable growers like Stupice, tasty Brandywine and rare black tomatoes like Paul Robeson.

Fingerling potatoes are narrow little tubers shaped like fingers or crescents and have colorful names like Swedish Peanut, Rose Finn Apple and Russian Banana.

When I posed the question to readers about their favorite seed catalogs, I learned about the Wood Prairie Farm in Maine from TheYarden’s LaManda Joy.

She mentioned she likes the Wood Prairie Farm catalog for its graphics, but she loves the potatoes, too.

Wood Prairie Farm is a family farm in the small town of Bridgewater in the northeastern corner of the state, population 612.

All of its food and seed items are certified organically grown, with most of the crops grown right there on the farm.

The farm has a lot to offer, but organic gardeners will certainly appreciate that owners Jim and Megan Gerritsen have signed the Safe Seed Pledge to not buy or sell genetically engineered seeds or plants.

Tomato Growers Supply Company sent the seeds for my Giant Belgium tomatoes as a free bonus offer for ordering last year. This nearly two-pound tomato lived up to its name.

If tomatoes are the most popular “vegetable” grown in home gardens, then the Tomato Growers Supply Company catalog must be one of the top catalogs in the country.

Although technically a fruit, tomatoes are grown as a vegetable and just about every gardener I know will go to great lengths to ensure a hearty tomato crop.

Tomato Growers Supply Company is based in Fort Myers, Fla., and carries about 400 varieties of tomatoes, including 10 new varieties for 2010. Despite its name, the Tomato Growers Supply catalog also carries many kinds of peppers, eggplants and tomatillos, too.

Last season I ordered 1 packet of Poblano peppers and 5 kinds of tomato seeds: Marianna’s Peace, Green Zebra, Sprite, Black Cherry and Paul Robeson.

Brian, the Garden Gnome, will no doubt bring good luck and more wild birds to my organic garden this year.

Happy New Gardening Year to you! I hope your year is off to a great start.

If you’re like many other gardeners, you spent some of the cold days of December thinking about your 2009 garden and planning ahead for the 2010 growing season.

Some of the resolutions gardeners posted here for our resolutions contest in December, appeared on the Baltimore Sun Newspaper’s website in Susan Reimer’s “Garden Variety” blog on January 1.

I think every gardener can relate to other gardener’s resolutions. Who hasn’t vowed to set a garden budget and then blow it at the first garden sale in spring? I’m also guilty of going plant crazy, buying too many beautiful plants and then searching for a spot to plant them.

The beautiful colors of this novelty poinsettia are due to unstable genetics.

Poinsettias are the traditional potted plant for the holiday season and most people prefer those with brilliant red bracts.  Others opt for snowy white or shades of pink to match their decor.

Then there are other plant lovers (like me) who can’t keep their hands off the most unusual plant on the pallet.

That was the case the other day when I was at Home Depot looking over the fresh shipment of poinsettias and caught a glimpse of the one that stood out from all the rest of the picture-perfect specimens. It was the only one like it in the entire display.

The Sonora Glitter has crinkly, red bracts speckled with white and dark green foliage, but some of its bracts are pink and white. I just had to learn more about this plant and tracked down the grower, TGE, from the plant tag.

If you won’t have the chance to visit the Denver Botanic Gardens and its holiday light show, here’s a glimpse into the Blossoms of Light winter wonderland. John Pendleton captured these images using the night scenery setting on his camera and a tripod for each long exposure.

Click on “view all images” to see the slide show and to enjoy each scene individually. Be sure to look for the full moon captured in the Peace on Earth photo.