What's in your mailbox?

It's that time of year in the frozen north...when the only thing keeping you from slitting your wrists to see a little color is the arrival of

TAA DAA!

Gardening catalogs!

And my favorite pastime of all gardening related pastimes, is reading through my Richter's Herb Catalogue (yes, they're Canadian, I spelled that right).

What's so entertaining about herb catalog(ue)s is that the plants are filled with centuries of history and I love the feel of their names in my mouth.

I give you my perfect herb garden (all herbs can be found at Richter's):

Allheal

Prickly Ash

Quedlingburger Lemon Balm

Gecofure Basil

Nufar Basil

Envigor Basil

Sacred Basil

Beardtongue

Bishopsweed (What the bishop smokes before eating all the communion wafers)

Bladderwrack (why do I guard my pelvis when I hear that name?)

Bloodflower

Bloodroot (found attached to the end of bloodflower I suspect)

Boneset

Boldo (this would be great if it helped to grow hair)

Bistort

Bupleurum (I make this sound after too much Mexican food)

Butterbur (a slightly forgetful bartender at the Prancing Pony)

Cancer Bush (Does it cure it or cause it?)

Catsfoot

Cat's Claw

Cinquefoil

Cnidium

Cockscomb

Codonopsis

Coltsfoot

Creeping Comfrey

Couchgrass (Grow it next to your Recliner Plant)

Cowslip

Crampbark (Medieval Pamprin)

Devil's Club

Devil's Claw

Dittany of Crete (Sounds like a royal family member to me)

Dropwort (it causes extreme clumsiness)

Slippry Elm (Wasn't this a porn film?)

Gipsywort (named by a poor speller perhaps?)

Mouse-Ear Hawkweed

Heartsease

Honesty

Horny Goat Weed (I need a WHOLE GARDEN of this!)

Laserwort

Live-Forever (Did Voldemort know about this????)

Liverwort

Lungwort

Lovage

Maralroot

Milkvetch

Monkshood (As Snape said, it's also known as Aconite)

Motherwort (there used to be a fatherwort but it was found to be good for nothing)

Mugwort

Nightshade

Pennyroyal

Pokeroot

Sweet Rocket

Rupturewort

Diviners Sage

Scullcap

Scurvygrass

Smartweed

Speedwell

Fuller's Teasel (I want to give this name to my next Corgi)

Blessed Thistle (once called 'damned thistle' but those subscribing to intelligent design theory found it offensive)

Toothache Plant

False Unicorn

Virgins Bower

Wahoo

and

Waterpepper