Kicking off the new year in one degree weather, looking out my kitchen window was, truthfully, “warm” as I went from the window to a recliner and sat in front of the television, watching the Rose Bowl parade. Those floats made me dream of a flower garden filled with colorful blooms.

I won’t be plucking petals to make a float, but I am thinking ahead to a certain flower arrangement.

In 2021, we traveled with friends to Cape Cod. Yes, we saw some cool gardens. We also saw a few lighthouses which prompted us to buy lighthouse-shaped bottles of wine.

Those bottles, when empty, will make great conversation pieces filled with flower stems. So the challenge was sent to fellow travelers to take their bottles with flower arrangements to the August 2022 county fair.

I love sending out challenges. I usually am not a winner in the contests, but they are just fun and great conversation among friends

So, with a new supply of garden catalogs, I’m scanning the pages for flowers that might be used to fill the wine bottle.

There are some things I should have thought of before I sent out the challenge. Number 1 - what will look good in the blue glass bottle. Number two - what will be in bloom in August. The third and, probably, most important, is just what is going to fit in the tiny bottle opening.

I want something to drape down the bottle. Something to stand tall and spiky out of the bottle and, of course, something to fill in the middle space.

The rule of filler, spiller and thriller apply to the bottle arrangement, just like when filling a garden planter. It must be a pretty good guide to follow.

January is a good month to dream of what your spring and summer garden might look like. I am thinking color. I like to predict the colors that might be popular in the coming year. Of course, I often gain my insight from garden catalogs and internet. In 2022, you just might see a lot of rose tones, lavender and purple in the garden again.

Those color tones make me think of some of my favorite annuals and perennials. They include an old-time favorite, delphinium. They are a stately English garden flower. I also like a more modern flower in the purple/lavender tones, supertunia Bordeaux petunia. It just might replace my ever favorite, supertunia bubblegum vista.

The rose and lavender tones I just described may not be what I can use in my wine bottle container, but they could be lovely in the garden. So, as the thermometer still registers a frigid number, I will dream of color as I look out my kitchen window, until I can again dig in the garden and smell the fresh spring soil.

Happy garden dreaming months to you.